Department of African Languages and Cultures
News
Conference Language – Culture – Literature: East African Perspective (II)
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New address
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New address
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Dr Amirbahram Arabahmadi from the University of Teheran
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About the Department
Some history
- African Studies (Africanistics) as a major, is a programme offered by the Faculty of Oriental studies (The Oriental Institute till January 2008), University of Warsaw.
- The tradition of African studies at the University of Warsaw dates back to the 1950s. The first Department of African and Semitic Studies was founded in 1969.
- The Department of African Languages and Cultures was founded in 1977 as a centre for interdisciplinary area studies. Since the beginning until now it has had three regional sections: Ethiopian, Hausa and Swahili studies. In addition to intensive language courses of Amharic, Hausa and Swahili, the department focuses on social, cultural, linguistic, historical and literary studies.
- From the beginning until 1988 it was directed by Prof. Joanna Mantel-Niećko, then by Prof. Stanisław Piłaszewicz, Prof. Nina Pawlak, Prof. Iwona Kraska-Szlenk and now the Head of the Department is Prof. Beata Wójtowicz.
BA level studies
The depa
rtment offers a three-year BA programme, whose aim is to provide students with a basic knowledge of geography, history, art, anthropology, linguistics, and current social issues. During the programme students acquire a good command of one African language in speaking and writing, as well as in reading literature and other source texts. The programme also includes courses of two other African languages and cultures. A graduate has the competence to understand and interpret a range of cultural issues of the chosen region and gains methodological skills needed to do research in the broad area of cultural studies.
MA level studies
The M.A. programme is open for candidates having the B.A. in African studies. Graduates can continue professional and in-depth studies in a two-year MA programme which offers advanced language courses at the level of fluent communicating in speaking and writing. Starting from the academic year 2013/14, also the holders of B.A. degrees in other disciplines may apply for M.A. studies at the Department. A student can specialize in a preferred field of studies, such as literature, history, linguistics or anthropology.
Ph.D. in African studies
The Department is subsumed under the University’s programme for Ph. D. students. Ph. D. students of the Department write their theses in one of the following areas: African linguistics or African literature.
All students, also from Africa, qualify for a student grant.
More information is available at the Doctoral School of Humanities website.
Research
Staff members are engaged in research in the following disciplines: linguistics, literature, history, sociology and anthropology. They carry out individual research projects, which are part of a long-termed topic “Languages, literatures and societies in the process of change”. The results are presented during conferences in Poland and worldwide. The list of publications and current activities of the staff members are available at this webpage. The Department maintains academic contacts with African and European universities and invites researchers from outside research institutions.
Students’ activities
Students of the Department are active members of The African Studies Research Group of the University of Warsaw (https://mkauw.wordpress.com/o-nas/) which organizes cultural events promoting African culture (“Days of Africa”), undertakes research trips to Africa and publishes its own magazine “African Review”. Students cooperate with local organizations focusing on Africa, such as those found on the web page www.afryka.org and the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw. Every year they work as volunteers to organize and carry out the annual African Film Festival “Afrykamera” (www.afrykamera.pl).
The Departmental Journal
Since 1984 current results of research of the Department staff members and students have been published in the Studies of the Department of African Languages and Cultures.
To further increase its international recognition, the editorial board decided to change the journal name to Studies in African Languages and Cultures, starting with the issue of 2018. The journal is a forum for presentation of the latest research in various fields of African Studies. It promotes studies on African languages, literatures, and cultures.
The library
The Department has a library for the use of its staff and students. The collection, which corresponds to our research and teaching profile includes various reference works, student books, journals, texts and monographs in African studies. Apart from scientific publications, the library maintains books, journals and recordings in African languages, mainly in Amharic, Hausa and Swahili (enter here)