Bio

Rosette Sifa Vuninga is a doctorate fellow in History at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town (South Africa). After completing a BA degree majoring in history, sociology and tourism, she immediately registered for a Honours degree in history. For the latter, she did research on gender and migration focusing on Congolese women in Cape Town. For her MA mini-thesis in the same discipline, she worked on African films focusing on Congolese local films and how they portray Congolese diasporic identity. Rosette’s PhD project is entitled Baswahili and Bato ya Mangala: Regionalism and Congolese diasporic identity in the post-Mobutu era (1997-2018). It focuses on ways in which ethnic and regional identities are experienced among Congolese of Cape Town. More particularly, her research focuses on the tensions between Baswahili (Swahili-speaking people of the former Kivu region of DRC) and Bato ya Mangala (inhabitants of Kinshasa who speak Lingala). Vuninga is interested on the role of homeland politics, and how the post-apartheid South African migration politics fuel ethno-regional tensions among Congolese. Vuninga’s research is in the field of “migrating violence” and explores issues related to the politics of identity and belonging in ways in which Congolese negotiate their socioeconomic integration in South Africa. Rosette is also interested in youth networks of violence. She has researched and published on the dynamics around youth networks of peace and violence in Bukavu (in the South Kivu region of the DRC) and on gender youth gangsterism in South African townships (Nyanga East and Gugulethu).