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CURRICULUM VITAE
MAG. DR. BIRGIT ENGLERT
/ Birgit Englert
Department of African Studies
University of Vienna
Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 5.1.
A-1090 Vienna, Austria

January 2010

Personal Data:

Full Name:Birgit Kristine Englert

Date of Birth:February 5th 1977

Place of Birth: Mödling, Lower Austria

Citizenship:Austrian (Mother Danish, Father Austrian)

Current Residence: 13 Cours de la Marne, F-33800 Bordeaux, France

[Seeböckgasse 33/8, A-1160 Vienna, Austria]

Professional Positions in Academia:

06 – 07/2010Guest lecturer and researcher at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, financed by an Erasmus Mundus Global Studies Scholarship

03/2009 – 05/2010Postdoctoral researcher at the l’Université Michel de Montaigne (Bordeaux III), financed by an Erwin Schrödinger Scholarship of the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF)

09/2005 - presentPost-Doctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna:

Assistentin Säule 2, part-time (= 50%)

09/2001 – 08/2005Post-Graduate Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna: Vertragsassistentin, part-time (= 50%)

10/2000 – presentEditor in Charge and Managing Editor of the Africanist Journal Stichproben. Wiener Zeitschrift für kritische Afrikastudien/Vienna Journal of African Studies

10/2000 – 02/2002Research Fellow at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna:

Database-project Basic Vocabulary of Modern Swahili (funded by the Hochschuljubiläumsstiftung, City of Vienna)

Professional Positions outside of Academia:

05/2007 – 01/2008Consultant for the Regional Government of Salzburg, Austria:

Evaluation of development projects implemented within the Sister-City-Programme Salzburg (Austria)-Singida (Tanzania) from 1994-2008

02/2006 – 09/2008Consultant for the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC):

Deskstudies on “Gender and land rights” in Tanzania (2006), Zimbabwe (2007), South Africa (2008), Comparative Study (2008)

Education:

10/2005 – presentHabilitation project in African Studies:

Working title of the habilitation thesis: “Mixing it up! Youth and popular culture in Tanzania”

10/2000 – 04/2005Doctorate in African Studies at the U. of Vienna:

Title of the doctoral dissertation: “Land Tenure Security of Women and Men in Tanzania. A case study of the Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region.”

Received degree: Dr.Phil. (passed with distinction)

Examiners: Prof. Dr. Walter Schicho, Head of Department of African Studies at the University of Vienna and Dr.habil. Henning Melber, then Research Director at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) in Uppsala, Sweden, now Head of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala.

07/ 1998 - 09/2000Second Part of the Graduate Curriculum in African Studies at the U. of Vienna

MA-thesis (Magisterarbeit): „Die Geschichte der Enteignungen. Landpolitik und Landreform in Zimbabwe 1890-2000.“ [„The history of expropriation. The politics of land and land reform in Zimbabwe 1890-2000.”]

Received degree: Mag.Phil. (passed with distinction)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Walter Schicho

09/1997 - 06/1998ERASMUS study year at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, United Kingdom:

Courses at the Department of African Languages and Cultures, the Department of Politics and the Department of Geography

10/1995 - 08/1997First Part of the Graduate Curriculum in African Studies at the University of Vienna:

Major: African Studies, focus on African History and Swahili (passed with distinction)

Minor: International Politics and Social Geography

09/1987 - 07/1995High School (Gymnasium):

Perchtoldsdorf, Lower Austria (A- 2380),

graduation on June 20th 1995 (with a special emphasis on French)

Research Interests:

1. Popular Culture in Contemporary Africa

  • Language, Politics and Identity in Youth Cultures
  • Music and Film

2. Contemporary History of Africa and Development Studies

  • Youth/Generation in African History
  • Land Reform Processes in Africa
  • Gender and Land Rights

3. Research Methodology

  • Qualitative Research Methods in African Studies and Development Studies

Regional Focus of Research:

Eastern and Southern Africa,

with a special focus on Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa

Language Skills:

German: first language

English: fluent in spoken and written

French: fluent in spoken and very good knowledge in written

Swahili: fluent in spoken and very good knowledge in written

Danish: fluent in spoken and very good knowledge in written

Spanish: good knowledge in spoken and written

Computer Skills:

MS Office:Word, Excel, Access, Power Point and Internet

HTML and Front Page:Website creation (e.g. of the Department of African Studies)

Adobe Photoshop:Graphic design (e.g. cover of the Vienna Journal of African Studies)

Research Stays in Africa:

09/2009Tanzania, Pwani and Morogoro Region:

Research on youth and popular culture (funded by the French ANR SWAHILI project)

02-03/2009Tanzania, Mtwara and Lindi Region:

Research on youth and popular culture

08 – 09/2007Tanzania, Singida and Morogoro Region:

Research for evaluation study in Singida (funded by the Regional Government of Salzburg)

Research for habilitation project in Morogoro (privately financed)

07/2006Tanzania, Morogoro and Dar-es-Salaam:

Research on youth and popular culture (funded by the Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna)

06/2006Kenya, Nairobi and Nyeri:

Conference participation and research visit on youth culture (funded by the Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna)

07 – 09/2003Tanzania, Morogoro Region:

Research for PhD-project (funded by the University of Vienna, “Förderstipendium”)

06/2003South Africa, Pretoria and Gauteng Region:

Conference participation and research visit with the South African NGO Nkuzi Development Association (funded by the University of Vienna)

07 – 08/2002Tanzania, Morogoro Region:

Research for PhD-project (funded by the University of Vienna, “Förderstipendium”)

07 – 09/2001Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar:

Research for database-project Swahili (funded by the Hochschuljubiläumsstiftung, City of Vienna)

07 - 09/1998Zanzibar/Tanzania:

Language and research stay: Interview recordings in Swahili for the book project „Masimulizi Visiwani“, published in 2000 (financed with the Awards received from the University of Vienna, see below)

08 - 10/1996Kenya and Uganda:

Project and research stay in Buswale: Assistance with the recordings for the Music-CD „Matu Tegasula Njala - Amaloboozi ge Buswale, published in 1998 (privatly financed)

Attended Workshops for Skill Enhancement offered by the University of Vienna

06/2008“Professional Coaching of Students” (“Professionelle Betreuung Studierender”), 1 day

05/2008“Introduction to Web CT Vista” (“Web CT Vista Einführung”), 1 day

09/2006„Voice, Language, Presence“ („Stimme – Sprache - Präsenz für alle MitarbeiterInnen“), 3 days

10/2005„Research Writing“, 2 days

2004/2005Curriculum „The Art of Teaching“ (“Die Kunst der Lehre”),

consisting of the following five modules:

  • “The Job Profile of a University Teacher” (“Das Berufsbild des/der Universitätslehrers/in”), 2 days
  • “Steering Learning Processes and Team Development” (“Steuerung von Lernprozessen – Teamentwicklung”), 2 days
  • “Planning and Structuring Courses” („Planung und Gestaltung von Lehrveranstaltungen“), 2 days
  • “Examinations at University” (“Prüfen an der Universität”), 2 days
  • “Gendersensitive Cultures of Learning and Teaching” (“Geschlechtssensible Lernkulturen”), 2 days

04/2003„Creative Presentations“ („Der kreative Vortrag“), 2 days

11/2002“Professional Sponsoring and Fundraising” („Professionelles Sponsoring und Fundraising“), 2 days

11/2002“Introduction to Photoshop” („Photoshop Einführung“), 2 days

04/2002“Creative Development of Didactic Methods for University Teaching“ („Kreative Entwicklung Hochschuldidaktischer Methoden“), 2 days

03/2002“Rhetorics for Women in the Sciences” („Rhetorik für Frauen in der Wissenschaft“), 3 days

Functions and Memberships at External Institutions

2008 - present:Member of the Editorial Board of the book series “Gesellschaft – Entwicklung – Politik” (“Society – Development – Politics”), Vienna: Mandelbaum

2007 - present:Member of the Executive Board of the “Mattersburger Kreis für Entwicklungspolitik an den österreichischen Hochschulen” [Mattersburg Circle for Development Politics at Austrian Universities]

2001 – present:Member of the Executive Board and Cashier of the Working Group for Applied African Studies (ECCo) at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna

Administrative Functions at the University of Vienna

2005 - 2008:Member of the internal Commission for Curriculum Development at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna

2005 - present: Coordinator of the Occasional Papers Series at the Department of African Studies

2004 - present:Member of the Conference of the Study Board (Studienkonferenz) of Oriental Studies, African Studies, Indian Studies, Tibetian Studies (SPL 14)

2003-2007:Coordinator of the Joint-Study Programme with the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

2004-2006:Substitute member of the Faculty Conference of Philology and Cultural Sciences, University of Vienna

Further Activities:

Reviewer of research proposals (e.g. for the Commission for Development Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, KEF) and articles (e.g. for Swahili Forum)

References:

Prof. Dr. Walter Schicho

Head of Department

Department of African Studies

Project International Development

University of Vienna

Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 5.1.

A-1090 Vienna

Austria

Tel: +43/(0)1/4277-43212

Prof. Dr. Alain Ricard

Research Director (Directeur de Recherche)

Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Langage, Langues et Cultures de l'Afrique Noire (LLCAN), UMR 8135

7 rue Guy Môquet

F- 94 801 Villejuif

France

Tel: +33/(0)5/56426949

Dr. habil. Henning Melber

Executive Director

Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

Övre Slottsgatan 2

SE-753 10 Uppsala

Sweden

Tel: +46/(0)184101000

Dr. Robin Palmer

Senior Land Policy Advisor

Mokoro

87 London Road

Headington, Oxford

GB-OX3 9AA

United Kingdom

Tel: +44/(0)1865741241