معرفی
Dr. Katrien Pype is an Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven University and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. Her work bridges anthropology, media studies, and African studies with a particular focus on urban Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has established herself as a leading scholar in the anthropology of communication technologies, Pentecostalism, and urban social dynamics in Central Africa.
Dr. Pype received her academic training at KU Leuven, earning an MA in Literature (German literature), an MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology, and an Advanced Masters in Social and Cultural Anthropology, before completing her PhD in Anthropology in 2008. Her doctoral research examined the production of evangelizing TV drama in Kinshasa. Following her PhD, she held prestigious postdoctoral positions including a Newton International Fellowship at the University of Birmingham (2009-2011) and a Marie Curie Fellowship at MIT and KU Leuven (2011-2013).
Dr. Pype's research centers on the social and cultural contours of communication in urban Africa, particularly examining how people make sense of communication technologies in their daily lives and how these technologies impact urban lifeworlds. Her work spans multiple interconnected themes: the anthropology of Pentecostal media and religious expression, digital cultures and social media in African urban contexts, intergenerational dynamics and aging in relation to technology, and the politics of urban space and state-citizen relations. She approaches these topics through long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Kinshasa, employing participant observation and in-depth interviews to understand communication practices and their broader social implications.
Her extensive publication record reveals a scholar deeply engaged with theoretical developments in media anthropology while maintaining empirical grounding in Central African contexts. Over time, her work has evolved from studying television media to examining mobile phone cultures, digital technologies, and their implications for social relations, political expression, and religious practice. A consistent thread throughout her scholarship is attention to how communication technologies mediate social relations, power dynamics, and cultural transformations in urban African settings.
- Newton International Fellowship (2009-2011)
- Marie Curie Fellowship (FP7-2009) (2011-2013)
- Odysseus grant (FWO G.A005.14N)
- FWO-ERC-Runner Up Budget (FWO G.0.E65.14N)
Dr. Pype actively mentors students interested in popular culture, technology and society interactions, gender, and aging. She leads a research team working on technology cultures in urban DR Congo and beyond (1960-present), which includes five doctoral and postdoctoral scholars. This project, funded by an Odysseus grant and an FWO-ERC-Runner Up Budget, produces ethnographies of medical, energy, and communication cultures in Kinshasa, Kikwit, and Nakuru. Additionally, she is involved in a comparative research program on New Media Practices in a Changing Africa, funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Beyond her formal mentorship, she fosters academic community through the Congo Research Network, which she founded in 2009 to connect scholars working on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dr. Pype directs the Congo Research Network, which brings together humanities scholars studying the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her current research team investigates technology cultures across urban Africa, examining how digital technologies intersect with medical practices, energy systems, and communication patterns. This work positions her at the forefront of scholarship on digital transformations in African urban contexts, while maintaining deep connections to historical trajectories and local cultural practices.