Research Explorer

Research Unit

UGent Centre for Bantu Studies
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Acronym
BantUGent
Duration
01 January 2016 → Ongoing
Other information
Research disciplines
  • Humanities and the arts
    • Material culture studies
    • African history
    • African languages
Keywords
Archaeology Art History Language technology Linguistics 15th Century 16th Century 17th Century 18th Century 19th Century 20th Century Contemporary African languages Africa Comparative Field research Geographic and map based Iconography and analysis of images Language and text analysis Quantitative Surveys Bantu linguistics Historical linguistics Comparative linguistics Corpus linguistics Lexicography Dialectology Language technology Language documentation and description Transdisciplinary studies Material culture studies Art history Historical anthropology Economic anthropology
Description
 A transdisciplinary approach to the past and present of Bantu languages, Bantu speech communities and their (im)material worlds, both in Africa and in the diaspora. The research starts from the data-driven study of language and/or material culture and is combined — whenever and wherever possible or needed — with methods and theoretical insights from (historical) linguistics, archaeology, (historical) anthropology, art history, (ethno)history, ethnobotany, ethnozoology, genetics, etc. This research group aims to continue and to broaden the work undertaken within the ERC-funded KongoKing (2012-2016) and BantuFirst (2018-2023) projects, the BELSPO-funded CongoConnect (2015-2019) project, as well as associated projects within the field of Bantu Studies, and formalises the de facto research culture of about two dozen researchers who work together towards similar goals.