The Dean of the School of Languages, Literature and Communication cordially invites you to a talk titled “Multilingualism, Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Africa”. The talk will be given by Professor Hannah Gibson (University of Essex, UK), in collaboration with Dr. Angiachi Esene Agwara (University of Essex, UK), Dr. Fiona Tumusiime (Cavendish University, Uganda), and the MCCRA. This talk is scheduled to take place on September 18th, 2025, in the Social Sciences Smart room from 01:00 to 02:00. Please encourage graduate students in your respective departments to also attend. And feel free to share this announcement, as the study is interdisciplinary.
Multilingualism, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution in Africa
Hannah Gibson, Angiachi Esene Agwara, Fiona Tumusiime, and the MCCRA project team
This talk presents an introduction to the ongoing project ‘Multilingualism, Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Africa’. This 4-year project examines how the practice of multilingualism can shape the risk of violent conflict and the prospects for conflict resolution in Africa. While there has been a substantial amount of research emphasising primary languages as a source of ethnic group identification, and the role of language differences in ethnic mobilisation and violent conflict, we know that multilingualism is widespread, across both Africa and the world more broadly, and people share strong affinities with more than one ethnic group. Individuals with different primary languages are often able to communicate and interact using a common language in their everyday lives. However, we lack systematic, comparative studies on how these dynamics of practised multilingualism shape security and conflict resolution. This talk will present an introduction to this interdisciplinary collaborative research project, which examines these issues with a focus on Cameroon, the DRC, Mozambique, Uganda, and Nigeria. We will present a general overview of the project as a whole, as well as provide some insights from data collection in Cameroon and Nigeria.
More information about their project is accessed here: https://sites.google.com/view/mccrafrica/