Prof. Dr. Axel Fanego Palat
Goethe University Frankfurt
Axel Fanego Palat holds the Chair for African Language Studies at Goethe University. His background is in empirical linguistics, focussing on questions of language description and typology based on cognitive and historical linguistic approaches. His most current research looks at minorities and the intersection of language and identity, focussing on Bantu and Berber languages. This corresponds to a regional focus in southern and northwest Africa, as well as language use among members of the African diaspora in Europe.
Axel Fanego Palat primarily contributes to the work in Working Area C: Archives and Cultural Heritage, in Working Area D: Regional and Transregional Circulation(s) and in Project 2.3 on Appropriation and Diffusion of Nigerian Media and Media Production In Kinshasa (DR Congo) in The Context of Linguistic and Socio-Cultural Change.
My CEDITRAA story
“Beyond the scope of CEDITRAA, my experience with cultural entrepreneurs in South Africa attests to a fundamental shift from NGO-based initiatives supporting local cultural practices and products to autonomous entrepreneurs creating companies that seek commercial viability. The entrepreneurs are convinced that their approach will result in a better sustained cultural industry. It draws on and combines practices at a local scale regarded as traditional with a global range of activities, linking rural or peri-urban South Africa with international markets in Africa and beyond. Cultural connectivity results from key figures acting globally, but works only when popular culture embraces novelty. As vibrant hubs of popular culture, Lagos and Kinshasa bear witness to such mechanisms – which we are excited to investigate.”
