Uni Köln Phil-Fakultät Institut für Afrikanistik MitarbeiterInnen

Prof. Dr. phil. Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig (a.D.)

born September 2, 1934 at Essen/Germany

• E-Mail: ama13@uni-koeln.de (Prof. Dr. phil. Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig)

Tasks at the Institute

Retired professor, casual lectures on special topics

Editor of the Series: Verbal Art and Documentary Literature in African Languages, since 1990: 29 vols.

Chief-Editor of the Journal of African Law, two issues per year, since 1998

Together with Bernd Heine: Editor of the following two series:

• East African Languages and Dialects, 21 vols.
• Grammatische Analysen afrikanischer Sprachen [Grammatical Analyses of African Languages], 38 vols.

Together with Axel Fleisch (Univ. of Helsinki):

• Southern African Languages and Dialects, 3 vols.

Summary

After his official retirement in 2000, Wilhelm Möhlig continued running a research project together with Axel Fleisch until 2007 on the History of Settlement and Cultural Expansion on the Basis of Linguistic Sources in Northern Namibia and Southern Angola. This project was part of the Collaborative Research Centre on Arid Climate and Cultural Adaptation in Africa ACACIA supported by the German Research Foundation since 1995. Möhlig was the director of ACACIA until his retirement.

During the final phase Möhlig and his team organized two international conferences in Königswinter near Bonn. One was held from October 1^st to 3^rd, 2003 on Cultural Change in the Prehistory of Arid Africa. Perspectives of Archaeology and Linguistics, the second took place in March 28-30, 2007 on Language Contact, Change and History based on Language Sources in Africa. The results of the first conference are published in SUGIA. Sprache und Geschichte 18, 2007, those of the second conference in SUGIA 20, 2009. Since right from the beginning ACACIA was meant to be an interdisciplinary enterprise, therefore Möhlig together with Olaf Bubenzer (geography) and Gunter Menz (ecology) organized a discussion circle dealing with the interdisciplinary experiences and results among sixteen former scholars working within ACACIA and coming from different disciplines. The results were published in 2010 under the title of: Towards Interdisciplinarity. Experiences of the Long-term ACACIA Project.

After the end of ACACIA, Wilhelm Möhlig has returned to his earlier long-term project, which was originally started in the 70ies together with Bernd Heine, the Language and Dialect Atlas of Kenya. It had to be interrupted because of ACACIA. Möhlig is actually preparing two publications relating to the former research program:

• a synopsis of the lexical material of Kamba, the major Bantu dialect cluster of Central Kenya and
• a dialect atlas of Kenyan Coastal Bantu (Swahili, Mijikenda, Pokomo, Ilwana) comprising more than 240 distributional maps, synoptic lists on the basis of the 600-word list that was used as dialectological questionnaire together with a questionnaire of the basic morphological items. A dialectological comparison of the sound systems will also be included.

Academic Education

1958-63	Studies of law at the Universities of Cologne and Geneva
1963	State examination of Law at the Regional Court of Appeal in Cologne
1963-67	Second course of studies at the University of Cologne in African Studies, Phonetics, General Linguistics and Ethnology
1967	Ph D-thesis at the University of Cologne, opus eximium [with distinction] Title: Die Sprache der Dciriku. Phonologie, Prosodologie und Morphologie [The language of the Dciriku. Phonology, Prosodology and Morphology]
1972	Habilitation thesis at the University of Cologne Title: Die Stellung der Bergdialekte im Osten des Mt. Kenya. Ein Beitrag zur Sprachgliederung im Bantu [The Classification of the Mountain Dialects East of Mt. Kenya. A Contribution to Language Classification in Bantu]

Academic Assignments

1962	Scholarship of the ‘Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes’ [German National Academic Foundation]
1967	Assistant Professor
1972	Venia legendi [right to act as academic teacher] of the Faculty of Arts, University of Cologne for African Studies (Languages, History and Cultures of Africa)
1973, 1976-79	Extraordinary Professor at the University of Cologne
1973-75	Guest Professor at the University of Nairobi
1980-2000	Full Professor of African Studies at the University of Cologne Köln. Acting Head of the Institute of African Studies for several times
1995-2000	Director (Speaker) of the Collaborative Research Centre on Arid Climate and Cultural Adaptation in Africa ACACIA

Research Interests

Comparative Bantuistics, Language Documentation and Analysis, African Verbal Art, Dialectology, Pre-Colonial and Early Colonial History of Africa, Informal (non-state) Laws and Basic Human Laws in Africa

Field Research in Africa

1964	Tanzania - Topic: Informal Law of Torts (in Collaboration with the Restatement of African Law Project at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London)
1965	Namibia - Topics: Languages of the Kavango River, North Namibia – Linguistic Structures, Verbal Art, Social Anthropologic Structures
1969-1988	Kenya and Tanzania (several research visits per year) – Topics: Dialectological Research of all Bantu Languages spoken in Kenya and in the North of Tanzania (Chagga, Meru)
1983-1988	Sierra Leone (several visits) – Topic: Verbal Art of the Temne (West Atlantic)
1989, 1990	Tanzania – Topics: Human Rights, Basic Laws and Informal Law at Village Level
1995-2002	Namibia (several research visits per year) – Topics: Linguistic Structures, Verbal Art, Oral History of all Bantu Languages spoken in Namibia (Herero, Owambo, Kavango)

Selection of Publications since 2004

• Les noms de lieu de la région du Kavango (Afrique du Sud-Ouest): une source ethnohistorique, in: Élisabeth Motte-Florac & Gladys Guarisma (Hrsg.) Du terrain au cognitif. Linguistique, Ethnolinguistique, Ethnosciences. À Jacqueline M. C. Thomas, Leuven/Paris/Dudley MA, Peeters 2004:351-364.
• Together with Rüdiger Köppe. Concepts of Violence and Peace in African Languages, in: Foblets, Marie-Claire & Trutz von Trotha (eds.) Healing the Wounds. Essays on the Reconstruction of Societies after War. Oxford/Portland Oregon, Hart Publishing 2004:24/45.
• Methodologische Überlegungen zum afrikanistischen Umgang mit historischer Dokumentarliteratur, in: Raimund Kastenholz & Anne Storch (eds.) Sprache und Wissen in Afrika. Beiträge zum 15. Afrikanistentag, Frankfurt a. M. und Mainz 30. September - 2. Oktober 2002. Köln, Köppe 2004:197-211.
• Together with Karl Peter Shiyaka-Mberema. A Dictionary of the Rumanyo Language. Köln 2005.
• A Grammatical Sketch of Rugciriku (Rumanyo). Köln 2005.
• Together with Rüdiger Köppe: Obstacles on the Postcolonial Path towards Constitutional Liberties: Tanzanian Examples. In: Jakob Rösel & Trutz v.Trotha (eds.) The Reorganisation or the End of Constitutional Liberties? La réorganisation ou la fin de l'état de droit? Köln, Köppe 2005:211-223.
• Proverbs in Legal Contexts, in: Dauphin-Tinturier, Anne-Marie & Jean Derive (eds.) Oralité africaine et création, Actes du coloque de l'Isola ([Chambéry] 10-12 juillet 2002). Paris, Karthala 2005:763-774.
• Zur Geschichte der Laut- und Toninventare des Herero. In: Winkelmann, Kerstin & Dymitr Ibriszimow (eds.) Zwischen Bantu und Burkina. Festschrift für Gudrun Miehe zum 65. Geburtstag. Köln, Köppe 2006:149-162.
• Edition of SUGIA. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 18 Special Volume: Cultural Change in the Prehistory of Arid Africa, Perspectives of Archaeology and Linguistics. Köln, Köppe 2007.
• Linguistic Evidence of Cultural Change. The Case of the Rumanyo Speaking People in Northern Namibia, in: SUGIA 18, Köln, Köppe 2007:131-154.
• Edition of: Die Witbooi in Südwestafrika während des 19. Jahrhunderts. Quellentexte aus der Archiv- und Museumsstiftung Wupptertal. – InterCultura. Missions- und kulturgeschichtliche Forschungen Bd. 8, Köln, Köppe 2007.
• Together with Jekura U. Kavari. Reference Grammar of Herero (Otjiherero). Bantu Language of Namibia. With a Glossary Otjiherero-English-Otjiherero. Köln, Köppe 2008.
• Naming Modern Concepts in RuManyo (Bantu Language of the Kavango). In: Limpricht, Cornelia & Megan Biesele (eds.) Heritage and Cultures in Modern Namibia - In-depth Views of the Country. A TUCSIN Festschrift. Windhoek/Göttingen, Hess 2008:78-87.
• Vorkoloniale Ordnungsformen der Gewalt bei den Manyo im Grenzland zwischen Namibia und Angola. In: Inhetveen, Katharina & Georg Klute (eds.) Begegnungen und Auseinandersetzungen. Festschrift für Trutz von Trotha. Köln, Köppe 2009:324-346.
• Two Ways of Conceptualising Natural Landscapes. A Comparison of the Otjiherero and Rumanyo Word Cultures in Namibia, in Bollig, Michael & Olaf Bubenzer (eds.) African Landscapes. Interdisciplinary Approaches. New York, Springer 2009:431-454.
• Together with Frank Seidel and Mark Seifert. Edition of SUGIA. Sprache und Geschichte 20. Special Volume: Language Contact, Language Change and History Based on Language Sources in Africa. Köln, Köppe 2009.
• Together with Frank Seidel and Mark Seifert. Language Contact, Language Change and History Based on Language Sources in Africa. In: SUGIA 20. Köln, Köppe 2009:11-29.
• Historiography on the Basis of Contemporary Linguistic Data: The Herero Case. In: SUGIA 20. Köln, Köppe 2009:159-186.
• Together with Thomas Bearth, Jasmina Bonato, Karin Geitlinger, Lorenza Coray-Dapretto, Thomas Olver Edition of: African Languages in Global Society. Papers read at the Symposium ‘Text in Context: African Languages between Orality and Scripturality – Les langues africaines à l’heure de la mondialisation – Lugha za Kiafrika kwenye enzi ya utandawazi. Köln, Köppe 2009.
• Epilogue, in Thomas Bearth, Jasmina Bonato, Karin Geitlinger, Lorenza Coray-Dapretto, Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig, Thomas Olver (eds.). African Languages in Global Society. Papers read at the Symposium ‘Text in Context’. Köln, Köppe 2009:497-499.
• Towards Interdisciplinarity: An introduction based on the experiences of the Collaborative Research Centre ACACIA, in: Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig, Olaf Bubenzer and Gunter Menz (eds): Towards Interdisciplinarity. Experiences of the Long-term ACACIA Project. Köln, Köppe 2010:1-20.
• Together with Frank Seidel and Marc Seifert: The interdisciplinary dimension of linguistic historiography, in: Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig, Olaf Bubenzer and Gunter Menz (eds): Towards Interdisciplinarity. Experiences of the Long-term ACACIA Project. Köln, Köppe 2010:79-104.

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