Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Institute of Asian and African Studies

After completing my undergraduate program in Political Science at the Otto-Suhr-Institute of the Free University of Berlin, I started the M.A. program African Studies at Humboldt University with a focus on history and Kiswahili. In 2014/5, I studied for a semester at the University of Dar es Salaam where I attended history and sociology courses and extended my Kiswahili knowledge. Having conducted research in Nairobi, I received my M.A. in 2017 with a thesis on a labour history of matatu (minibus) workers in the Kenyan capital city. In my Ph.D. project I focus on automobility in 20th century Kenya, and seek to portray everyday practices and address intersectional issues in the “automobile” societies in Kisumu and Mombasa. My doctoral project is supervised by Prof. Baz Lecocq and funded by an Elsa-Neumann scholarship (Land Berlin).

In the winter semester of 2017/18, I was an assistant lecturer (Lehrbeauftragte) at the IAAW for co-supervision and organisation of a land use and transport-related study project in Dar es Salaam. The joint course for B.A. and M.A. students from HU and University of Dar es Salaam was an activity of the EAGER Trans-Net network.

Scientific discipline and sub fields:

• 20th century
• History of (Eastern) Africa
• History of transport , infrastructure and (intra-urban) mobilities
• Automobility
• Gender, race and class

Social Media:

hu-berlin.academia.edu/AlinaOswald