About me

The primary areas of my interest are listed below.

Linguistic Fieldwork

I have been doing linguistic fieldwork since 2008. I witnessed linguistic fieldwork changing overtime from a traditional fieldwork where I had to go to far-away places to work with speakers of languages, to the present-day setting where I work over the internet with speakers in different parts of the world. The languages I work with now have exceptionally challenging phonetics and morphophonology. The fact that it is possible to study these languages remotely is truly amazing, as well as reassuring to anyone who is thinking about doing linguistic fieldwork but cannot go to the field site.

With a Nuer collaborator – Rebecca – in Kikuyu
Reel speaker David learning how to use recording equipment in Rumbek

Capacity building

A question that I always ask myself – what will the people I work with get from working with me? A big part of what motivates my work is capacity building among the speakers of the languages that I study.

Places

I have lived in a number of countries, including the U.K., Russia, Kenya, India and Indonesia.

Crossing the equator in Kenya
With Teo and Shivana in their birthplace Bali

Parenting

I am also a parent. I have some interesting experiences in this respect, including doing my fieldwork-based PhD as a single parent with very small children in tow, relocating with them a number of times and living in culturally diverse places, having my children in a mainstream school, worldschooling and homeschooling them.

Contact

I am always happy to meet new people, so please do not hesitate to write to me by clicking here

Petals in a muddy bathtab in Kitisuru

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