Team > Prof. Dr. Clarissa Vierke
Prof. Dr. Clarissa Vierke
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Clarissa Vierke, is on research leave until 31st March 2022. In the meantime, guest professor Dr. Joseph Basil Okong’o from Moi University (Eldoret, Kenya) teaches African Language Literatures.
Clarissa Vierke, born in 1979, has been professor of Literatures in African Languages at the University of Bayreuth since 2014. With a scholarship of the German National Merit Foundation, she studied African Languages, Anthropology and Literatures in African Languages at the University of Bayreuth and the Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. She wrote her PhD about the specific poetics of a narrative peotic genre from the Swahili Coast in Eastern Africa. Since then, she has worked on manuscript cultures in Eastern Africa and travelling texts along the East African Coast from Kenya to Mozambique and across the Indian Ocean. She has also expanded her interest in Aesthetics to focus on other poetic genres.
In 2012, she won the Wissenschaftspreis of the University of Bayreuth and the Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz-prize of the German Research Council (DFG).
Academic Degrees
| 2010 | Doctorate: African Studies, BIGSAS, University of Bayreuth, supervisor: Prof. Dr. Said Khamis |
| 1999 – 2005 | Studies in African Studies, Social Anthropology and Literatures in African Languages, University of Bayreuth and Rijksuniversität Leiden |
Professional Background
| Since 2014 | Professor of Literatures in African Languages, University of Bayreuth |
| 2013 – 2014 | Visiting Professor, Department of Kiswahili and Other African Languages, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya |
| 2010 – 2012 | Assistant Professor („Akademische Rätin auf Zeit“) at the Institute of African Linguistics I, University of Bayreuth |
| 2009 – 2010 | Research Associate at the Institute of African Linguistics I, University of Bayreuth |
| 2006 – 2008 | Scholarship of the German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des dt. Volkes) |
| 2005 – 2006 | Research Associate; Institute of African Linguistics I (Prof. Dr. Gudrun Miehe), University of Bayreuth |
Other
- Co-editor of journal “Matatu – Journal of African Literatures, Languages and Cultures”
- Co-editor of the book series “Archiv afrikanistischer Manuskripte” Rüdiger-
- Köppe-Verlag, Cologne
- Advisory Board Member, journal
- Scholarship in the Robert Bosch Foundation's Fast Track Programme
- Co-editor of the Online Journal Swahili Forum, hosted by the University of Leipzig
- Since 2015 Chairperson of the Afrophone Caucus of the African Literature Association (ACALA)
- Organizer of the annual Swahili Colloquium
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
I am a specialist of Swahili Language and Literature with an interest in more far-reaching literary connections and entanglements across the Indian Ocean and the African continent. My research has often taken a historical perspective: having widely worked on various poetic genres found in Swahili manuscripts of the 18th and 19th century. However, I have also extended my focus on contemporary poetry, like hiphop and newspaper poetry. A question that recurs throughout my research is how poetic form creates its powerful effect, echoes ideas of aesthetics, and shapes people’s lifeworlds.
Research topics:
- Comparative Literary Studies with a focus on Africa
- Swahili Literature and Popular Culture
- Manuscript Cultures in Africa
- Orality and Literacy
- Poetics and Aesthetics
- Travelling Texts in the Indian Ocean area
- Swahili Intellectual History
- Literature in Multi-lingual Contexts
- Research History with respect to African Languages and Literatures
Regional:
- Kenya
- Mozambique
- Tanzania
Current Research Project:
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Publications
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Prof. Dr. Clarissa Vierke
Professor for Literatures in African Languages
University of Bayreuth
Literatures in African languages
95440 Bayreuth
Room: Room: 1.10 (GW I)
Fax: +49 (0)921 / 55-3641
Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-3550
E-mail: clarissa.vierke@uni-bayreuth.de