Acknowledgements
The study about conversational strategies in Acholi; the research, data annotation and translation; the writing of this book; none of this would have been possible without the help of many people. Before I begin to try to verbalize my thanks to those who helped me during the progress, many thanks go to the German Research Foundation (DFG). They kindly funded my research and gave me the opportunity to do fieldwork in East Africa.
When it comes to people who helped me with this study, first and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude and warmest thanks to Prof. Dr. Gerrit J. Dimmendaal. The English term ‘supervisor’ does not grasp the full meaning of his role in this work, whereas the German expression Doktorvater (‘doctoral father’) truly does. I am overgrateful for his advice, the knowledge he shared with me, for the time he spent reading the manuscripts of this book and for the fact that he kept a free space in his calendar for an appointment with me whenever I needed one. I am especially thankful for his never-ending patience and his wonderful human attitude, which allowed me to be weak, stressed, confused, at times, and it gave me the chance to grow, not only academically, but also personally. Heel hartelijk bedankt!
Secondly, my deepest gratitude goes to the most important people in this study: the Acholi speakers I worked with. Without all of you and the various facets that you brought to my research, this study would not have been possible, nor would it have been as multifarious. Many thanks to Daniel Obina and Susan Ajok for helping me find people to work with, and for the support to transcribe, annotate, and translate the data we collected. I am so happy that all the work-loaded hours we spent were still filled with fun and we became friends in the progress! I enjoyed and appreciate the time that Paul Acaye spent to show me around Gulu when I first arrived, to connect me to people in town, and to introduce me to the great organization ‘Girls kick it!’, his colleagues and friends. Just like Daniel and Susan Ajok he was part of the research, along with Susan Lakica, who on top of that gave her best to teach me Acholi. To all the other ones whose names the readers of the study will find familiar soon, Hellen, Betty, Rita, Tonny, Richard, Martin, Francis Olara, Joyce, Brenda, and Patrick, Junior, Joseph, Geoffrey, Maliki, Muzee Okello and Emmanuel, and to those who were a precious part of the research, even though their names may not frequently appear: Jennifer, Irene, Mirriam, Lillian, Isaac, Jimmy Akema, Francis Ouma, Sam, Stephen, Jimmy Laber, Morrish, Ibrahim, Amos, Maloba, Janan, Okeny Francis, the Gulu wheelchair basketball team, everyone else involved—thank you so much, without your time and acceptance, nothing would have been there to analyze.
I would like to thank my second supervisor Prof. Dr. Anne Storch who gave me new ideas on what more there could be to my topic. In doing so she opened my eyes for new approaches and this was very helpful and inspiring. Moreover, she gave me insight into her own data on Acholi and Chopi, which I appreciate very much. Vielen Dank! Further warm thanks go to my colleagues, especially Jun.-Prof. Dr. Nico Nassenstein, Dr. Gertrud Schneider-Blum, Dr. Angelika Mietzner, Prof. Dr. Felix Ameka, Dr. Mark Dingemanse, Megan Göttsches and Nataliya Veit, for discussions, comments, advices, and the sharing of experiences and material. I thank Janine Traber who helped me segment parts of the data and never hesitated to scan when I could not access resources from the field, and Monika Feinen, for the creation of all the maps. I am also greatly indebted to Kieran Taylor for proof reading the manuscript. Thank you all!
I owe my thanks to the colleagues from Uganda, especially Jackson Kizza Mukasa and Saudah Nyamalo from Makerere University for helping me in-situ and during the application of the research permit, as well as to Dr. Lioba Lenhart for being my contact person in Gulu. My deepest gratitude goes to all those who filled in my long and tiresome questionnaires, and to Vanguard Police Primary School and Cwero Village Primary School for allowing me to visit their classes for research purposes. Thanks to Denish as well as the team of Serenity (Sankofa); you all gave me a good time during my work and in my breaks, thanks for always having my coffee ready. To all of you and whomever in Gulu I forgot: you welcomed me warmly and made me part of a big family from the beginning, apwoyo matek!
Finally, I want to express special thanks those people who were not part of the scientific progress, but rather the personal one. April Buggy, to whom I dedicate this book, for being the sister I never had: In the past years, no one saw me like you did, and no one took care of me like you did, with all the ups and downs during the research and especially writing phases. Four years ago I would have never thought that we would ever have any conversation. Thank you for starting to talk to me in the first place—things happen for a reason. To my mum Christina, who never quit to cheer me up on my way, and my grandparents Ingrid and Erhard, who never stopped sending me good thoughts. To Elli—she knows for what. I am thankful to Jaqueline Biering, whose encouragement-postcards came regularly and always put a smile on my face, and Sarah Ehlers, who fondly spurred me on with a carrot and a stick as only she could, ich danke euch! And, last, but not least, my deepest gratitude to Calisto Owuor, for everything. Nibiro kaokan’geyo, kasto mane adware, nokiwuok. Erokamano nikech neokiluor bedo koda e chandruok. Gika nan’geyo e igni mokadho, nan’geyo kuom in.
Cologne, June 2018