Unique collaboration between students UU and Anton de Kom University

Scan van een liedje in het Sranantongo
A scan of the first known erotic song in Sranantongo

In the 2022-2023 academic year, students from Anton de Kom University and Utrecht University will jointly research the history of Sranantongo under the supervision of linguists in Utrecht and Paramaribo. This project is made possible by an award from the Virtual International Cooperation Projects fund of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Project leaders are assistent professor of linguistics Margot van den Berg and Fresco Sam-Sim, who works at the Taalmuseum.

Using historical phrasebooks, dictionaries, songs, poems and other sources in Suriname and the Netherlands, students discover the cultural knowledge that is stored in Sranantongo words and expressions. They will share their insights on the website Stemmen van Afrika (in Dutch) and a new co-creative online Sranantongo-Dutch dictionary. The students also contribute to the Languages ​​of Suriname exhibition organised by the Taalmuseum.

Een globe afgebeeld op twee handen

Online International cooperation 

This project is a good example of online international cooperation, also known as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). Would you like to set up something similar within your teaching activities? In the coming years, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science will be organising a twice-yearly call for funding for Virtual International Cooperation (VIS). The funding offers a fixed amount of €15.000 to be used for extra time to start an online international collaboration.

Want to know more? 

Do you want to know more about the Sranantongo history project? Then you can contact Margot van den Berg or Fresco Sam-Sin. For questions about the VIS funding, please contact Sanne Boomsma, policy adviser for international affairs.