John Nimis
Office: 2115 FLB
Phone: 333-0446
Email: jnimis2@illinois.edu
John Nimis comes to the Department of French from New York University. He holds Masters degrees in both French (Miami University) and Music Performance (U of Michigan). His interdisciplinary research focuses on the literary aspects of oral/aural cultures, with a focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo, combining the study of Francophone literature, music and African languages.
He has lectured about Congolese music in Africa and the U.S., and has written a book chapter entitled "Miroirs obscurs: langue française et images de « l’Europe » dans la chanson congolaise" in Ethnographie de l'écoute, forthcoming from L'Harmattan in 2009. He has secondary interests in the literature of North Africa, Haiti and French literature of immigration, and in literary theory.
He has lived and studied in several countries in Africa, and speaks Lingala, a Bantu language from the Congo region.