Workshop in Belval: Mobility as a Struggle

Mobility as a struggle: Luso-African perspectives

A workshop we're hosting in our new campus in Beval. With a keynote talk by Clementina Furtado of the University of Cape Verde, who's visiting the University of Luxembourg this week with a grant from the UL's Office of International Affairs, and contributions by Noémie Marcus (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Samuel Weeks (University of California at Los Angeles), Roberto Gómez (University of Luxembourg) and ourselves.

Thanks to journalist Aleida Vieira, we made it to the newspapers (Contacto, in Luxembourg, and A Semana, in Cape Verde). And we were invited for a private encounter on Tuesday evening with the Ambassador of the Republic of Cape Verde to Luxembourg, Mr. Carlos Semeda. We seem to be doing something good...
 

Fieldwork and conference planning first half 2015

We've planned our second and extensive fieldwork trips as follows:  

• Kasper to Guinea Bissau (via Senegal), 10 January - early April 2015
• Bernardino to Cape Verde, mid-January - mid-April 2015

We've also started submitting abstracts to conferences, and hope to be able to present our work in progress at:

• The Sociolinguistics of Globalization Conference in Hong Kong, 3-6 June 2015
• The First Annual Conference on Cape Verdean Studies, Bridgewater, USA, 12-14 June 2015
• The 14th International Pragmatics Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, 26-31 July 2015

Meeting with American-Cape Verdean delegation at UL's International Relations Office

On the 27th of November, Kasper and Bernardino participated in a meeting hosted by our International Relationss Office at Limpertsberg Campus with a delegation of the newly established Pedro Pires Center for Cape Verdean Studies of Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, USA. The delegation, consisting of its Director, Dr. Joao J. Rosa, and Luxembourg-born consultant Val Lopes, targeted the University of Luxembourg as a potential partner in the collaboration they are setting up with the University of Cape Verde and other institutions in Cape Verde. The University of Luxembourg and the University of Cape Verde have established a bilateral agreement for student and staff exchange several years ago, but not much students and staff have benefited from this partnership so far. The initiative of our American colleagues will hopefully lead to revitalise this existing agreement. We hope that the STAR project can contribute to this in whatever capacity, e.g. through our advisor Clementina Furtado.

Fieldwork in Cape Verde

For a report of Bernardino's exploratory fieldwork trip to Santiago (Praia), São Vicente (Mindelo) & Santo Antão, see research brief #5 here.