Lecturer in History
Joshua Castillo defended his PhD at BU in 2023, in African history with a dissertation entitled: “Lingala Franca: Experiencing and Navigating Language and Political Power in Congo-Zaire – 1965-1997.” His research focuses on the historical relationship between language, political power, and conflict in Central Africa, with a particular focus on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has learned and done research in Congo’s four national languages, Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, and Ciluba and he has conducted multi-sited interdisciplinary historical research across DRC. His articles have appeared in History in Africa and in the International Journal of African Historical Studies and are under review in The Journal of African History and the African Studies Review. Joshua has received funding from the Social Science Research Council, and from the US Department of Education. He teaches classes on subjects including modern African history, colonialism(s) in Africa, Catastrophe and Memory, and Language and Power in Africa.