Rosette Sifa Vuninga

Fellow: Department of History, PhD

Rosette Sifa Vuninga is a doctorate fellow in History at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). After completing a BA degree majoring in History, Sociology and Tourism, she immediately registered for a Honours degree in History. For the later, she researched 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 the ways in which ethnic and regional identities are experienced among Congolese of Cape Town. More particularly, her research focuses on the juxtaposition of Baswahili (Swahili-speaking people of the former Kivu region of DRC) and Bato ya Mangala (inhabitants of Kinshasa who speak Lingala) identities and the role of homeland politics, and the South African migration politics applied on Congolese in Joseph Kabila era.  Rosette’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.