Daniela Waldburger

Senior Lecturer for Swahili (50%) and Lecturer for Linguistics at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna. Serves as Deputy Head of Department and established key international cooperations with University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Moi University (Kenya).

Educational background includes Dr. lic. phil. degree with dissertation on Comorian diaspora multilingualism in Marseille. Completed FWF-funded post-doctoral project (P29566-G28) on employment-tied housing in postcolonial Africa (2017-2020). Previously taught at University of Graz and Centre Universitaire de Formation et de Recherche de Mayotte.

Research focuses on linguistic strategies in socioeconomic transitions, with current book project analyzing ex-mineworker nostalgia in Lubumbashi (DR Congo) through shared authority methodology. Expertise spans Swahili varieties, transnational multilingualism, and language-power dynamics across Tanzania, Kenya, DR Congo, Comoro Islands, and Mayotte. Methodological rigor in discourse analysis and sociolinguistic fieldwork defines her approach.

Active editorial roles with Swahili Forum (Germany) and Stichproben – Vienna Journal of African Studies. Teaching portfolio includes African Linguistics, Swahili language instruction (grammar/exercises/texts), literacy studies, sociolinguistics methods, and decolonizing multilingualism curricula.