Career
| Since Dec. 2007 | Lecturer in Swahili Language and Literature, Department of African Studies, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University Berlin |
| 2000-2007 | Lecturer in Swahili Language and Literature, Institute of African Studies, University of Cologne |
| 2002-2006 |
PhD in African Studies (Swahili Literary Studies), University of Cologne (“summa cum laude”); Thesis “Die Ausweitung der Gesellschaftskritik in den swahilisprachigen Romanen der Schriftsteller Euphrase Kezilahabi und Said Ahmed Mohamed” (The Swahili Novel Beyond Criticizing Society: A Comparative Dialogical Reading of Euphrase Kezilahabi’s and Said Ahmed Mohamed’s Novels); scholarships by Heinrich Böll Foundation and Sulzmann Foundation |
| 2003/2004 |
Expert interviews und archival research, University of Dar es Salaam, State University of Zanzibar (both Tanzania), University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University (both Kenya), University of Botswana (Gaborone, Botswana) |
| 2001 |
Project of establishing a permanent exhibition on German-Tanzanian colonial history in Arusha, Tanzania, financed by the CDG/ASA programme |
| 1995-2001 |
M.A. in African Studies, Medieval and Modern History, and Political Science, University of Cologne (“with excellence”); Thesis “Metaphern und Allegorien im Frühwerk des swahilisprachigen Schriftstellers Euphrase Kezilahabi” (‘Metaphors and Allegories in the Early Works of Swahili Writer Euphrase Kezilahabi’; Best Thesis Award, Philosophische Fakultät (Faculty of Humanities) |
| 1999 | Expert interviews, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| 1998/1999 | East African Studies, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, academic year abroad sponsored by ERASMUS |
| 1997 | Intensive course Swahili, Taasisi ya Kiswahili na Lugha za Kigeni (Institute of Kiswahili and Foreign Languages), Zanzibar, Tanzania, sponsored by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) |