UCHRI Welcomes Munyao Kilolo, Graduate Student Researcher

I am a PhD student in the comparative Literature department at UC Irvine, and I come to the department with a journalism background. My research involves comparing African and European languages, their interactions, and futures while also studying translation technologies and theory. I am interested in how machine language and artificial intelligence, in general, will affect the future of languages, especially those languages in Africa and other native communities around the world that are considered marginalized, endangered, or facing extinction. I came to this research after some practical translation projects, including leading the Jalada Africa language and translation project, which saw one story that was originally written in an African language translated into 100 languages from around the world. Most of the translations were into African languages.

My published work includes book chapters in the Routledge Handbook for Translation and Activism (2020), and in the Bloomsbury volume, African Literature as World Literature (2023). My translation into Kikamba (my mother tongue) has appeared in Absinthe, a literary journal that is run out of the Department of Comparative Literature, at the University of Michigan. I am also the editor of Ituĩka, a Literary platform devoted to African languages and translation.

At UC Irvine, I worked as a communications fellow for the School of Humanities, writing feature-length articles in medical humanities and alumni profiles for the SOH newsletter. Following the experience, I am excited to support the ongoing efforts of UCHRI and the Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network (WUICAN). 

I love cycling and exploring Irvine’s trails and parks in my free time. While my preference is always hiking and finding joy in the mountains, I have also developed a love for the beach, where I spend fun summer evenings with friends.