Project description DEENESFRITPL Bantu expansions in the heart of Central Africa’s rainforest The migration of Bantu languages and Bantu-speaking people from their homeland (located between present-day Nigeria and Cameroon) to most of central, eastern and southern Africa is known as the Bantu expansion. Dating back thousands of years, this expansion was remarkably and uniquely fast and mainly longitudinal in orientation. The EU-funded BANTURIVERS project will study a crossroads of different Bantu expansions in the heart of Central Africa’s rainforest, namely the eastern part of the Congo Basin. This region is of particular interest because it hosts multiple language groups from Bantu and other origins, complex ethnic identities and people practicing complementary subsistence strategies. This multidisciplinary project will study both present and past riverside communities in the Congo Basin. The focus will be on the historical relations between speech communities and the role of rivers. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The “Bantu Expansion”, a research theme within the precolonial history of Central Africa, unites scholars of different disciplines. Much research is focused on the initial expansions of Bantu subgroups, which are explained as farmers ever looking for new lands and therefore avoiding the rainforest, also in the recent research on the “Savannah Corridor”. We want to study a crossroads of different Bantu expansions in the very heart of the Central-African rainforest, namely the eastern part of the Congo Basin (the Congo River and its tributaries up- and downstream of Kisangani until Bumba and Kindu). The region hosts multiple language groups from Bantu and other origin, complex ethnic identities and people practicing complementary subsistence strategies. Considering that farming is complicated in a rainforest environment, we will investigate the role of rivers in the settlement of these speech communities into the area, both as ways into the forest and as abundant source of animal protein (fish).The project is multidisciplinary and will apply an integrated linguistic, anthropological and archaeological approach to study both present and past riverside communities in the Congo Basin. Historical comparative linguistics will offer insights into the historical relations between speech communities through language classification and the study of language contact, and will study specialized vocabulary to trace the history of river-related techniques, tools and knowledge. Anthropological research involves extensive fieldwork concerning ethnoecology, trade and/or exchange networks, sociocultural aspects of life at the riverside, and ethnohistory. Archaeologists will conduct surveys in the region of focus to provide a chrono-cultural framework. Fields of science humanitieslanguages and literaturelinguisticshumanitieshistory and archaeologyhistorynatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinshumanitiesartsmusicologyethnomusicology Keywords Bantu Expansion precolonial history of Central Africa historical comparative linguistics cultural anthropology ethnoecology archaeology Congo Basin Congo River equatorial rainforest Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2018-STG - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2018-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES Net EU contribution € 1 427 821,00 Address AVENUE FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT 50 1050 Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 427 821,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES Belgium Net EU contribution € 1 427 821,00 Address AVENUE FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT 50 1050 Bruxelles / Brussel See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 427 821,00
