Short CV

David Drengk is an Africanist with a focus on African History who currently works at the History Department at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany.

As a doctoral research fellow, he is part of the wider interdisciplinary research group “A Global History of Technology, 1850-2000” (funded by the European Research Council). David’s PhD project, tentatively entitled “The triangularity of People, Technology, and Nature: Changes and Continuities in the technological landscape of the humid evergreen forest in lower Ivory Coast, c. 1890-1930”, aims at building a bridge between African History, Anthropology and History of Technology. Informed by methodological pluralism, David’s research examines the technological landscape of the evergreen rainforest, emphasizing aspects, such as the co-existence and human meaning-making of technologies, in which the ingenuity and agency of West Africans is put at the forefront. Scrutinizing five different environments—the natural, political, socio-economic, hunting and warfare, and the labour environment of maintenance and repair— his work dives into the daily lived realities of Ivorian forest inhabitants and illustrates the triangular interconnection between people, technology, and nature.

David has graduated from the Humboldt University in Berlin and Leiden University/the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASC). He holds a diploma in area studies Asia/Africa, Agricultural Sciences (B.A.) as well as African Studies (M.A. Research). His special interests are social and oral history in a Southern and Western African context. Previous research projects have led the young researcher to Malawi and South Africa where he conducted fieldwork in several local villages on historic social structures and social interactions. He wrote his bachelor thesis about the impact of a local Malawian NGO on local social structures and organization in two villages in Southern Malawi entitled “Social Order and Hierarchy in Che Mboma and Likotima village: Of the Transformation from Deprived Children to Knowledgeable Leading Lights – The Social Positioning of Jacaranda Children in Their Respective Communities”. His MA thesis is entitled “Pushing Social Boundaries: Social history of Surfing and People between 1960 and 1990 at South Africa’s Wild Coast”. It illustrates interracial contact between young white surfers and local black community members in rural Transkeian settings along the Wild Coast and presents people’s perception of each other against the historic background of apartheid.

Curriculum Vitae

Since October 2022: Research assistant and lecturer at the chair of History of Technology and Economy, Institute of History, Technische Universität Dresden.

Since November 2017: Doctoral Research Fellow in the project “A Global History of Technology, 1850-2000”, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany (funded by the European Research Council)

2015-2017: Public Relations and Communication Officer, AMBERO Consulting, Kronberg i.Ts., Germany

2016 (July-October): Scientific assistant COMIFAC Summer School, GIZ/Centre for Interdisciplinary African Studies/Goethe University Frankfurt

2013-2015: MA, African Studies Research (RESMAS), African Studies Centre Leiden (ASC)/Leiden University, the Netherlands

2014-2015: MA research project in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (scholarship by the Fundatie van de Vrijvrouwe van Renswoude, LUSTRA+ and the Leiden University Fund, LUF)

2010-2013: BA, Area Studies Asia/Africa + Agricultural Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany (scholarship by the foundation Marga and Kurt Möllgaard)

2011-2012: BA, African Languages and Cultures, Leiden University, the Netherlands (ERASMUS exchange program)

Academic Country experience:

Malawi (oral history research)

South Africa (oral history research)

Togo (archival research)

Ghana (archival research)

Côte d’Ivoire (archival research)

France (archival research)

Scholarships/Funding

2014-2015 (September-February): Leiden University Funds (LUF), the Netherlands

2014-2015 (September-February): Fundatie van de Vrijvrouwe van Renswoude, the Netherlands

2014-2015 (September-February): LUSTRA+ Scholarship, the Netherlands

2010-2012 Academic Foundation Marga und Kurt Möllgaard, Germany

References

Publications

  • Drengk, David, “Instandhaltung und Reparatur als Rückgrat kolonialer Eisenbahnen. Zentrale und mobile Werkstätten und Krankenstationen im ivorischen Wald„ [“Maintenance and Repair as the Backbone of Colonial Railways. Centralized and Mobile Workshops and Infirmaries in the Ivorian Forest“], Technikgeschichte 89:2 (2022): pp. 149-180. Open Access
  • Osorio Tarazona, Alejandra, Drengk, David, and Animesh Chatterjee, „Rethinking Global History of Technology from Alternative Archives“ 88 (2), 2021: 202-206. download as pdf (wird in neuem Tab geöffnet)
  • David Drengk, “Beyond South Africa’s Draconian Racial Segregation: Transkeian Surfing Narratives, 1966 – 1994”, in: Sports in Africa, Past and Present, edited by Tood Cleveland, Tarminder Kaur, and Gerard A. Akindes, 111-124. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2020.
  • David Drengk. 2018. “Mysterious Wild Coast.” Waves & Woods 2 (3): 118–23.
  • David Drengk, Stephan Dohm. 2017. “Lima- Peru: Anpassung der städtischen Wasserwirtschaft an den Klimawandel.” Beratende Ingenieure – Fachmagazin für Planen und Bauen (11/12): 34–37.
  • David Drengk, Jürgen Charzinski. 2015. “Unterstützung beim Aufbau der maritimen Industrie: Timor-Leste – maritimer Sektor.” Beratende Ingenieure – Fachmagazin für Planen und Bauen (11/12): 34–37.
  • David Drengk, Maik Hamjediers, Lisa Reiber, Stefanie Reuter, Hannes Storm, Paula Zöhl. 2013. Entwicklungshilflos? Entwicklungshilflos? (documentary), Berlin.

Theses:

  • David Drengk. 2015. “Pushing Social Boundaries: Social history of Surfing and People between 1960 and 1990 at South Africa’s Wild Coast.” MA, African Studies Centre Leiden (ASC), Leiden University/African Studies Centre Leiden (ASC). openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/37812.
  • David Drengk. 2013. “Social Order and Hierarchy in Che Mboma and Likotima village: Of the Transformation from Deprived Children to Knowledgeable Leading Lights – The Social Positioning of Jacaranda Children in Their Respective Communities.” BA, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

Presentations

  • David Drengk. 2022. „A History of Everyday Cycling Life in Zomba: Bicycle Transport and Repair Workshops Along the Road“, 3rd African Urban Mobility (AUM) Workshop: Historical and Scalar Dimensions of Contemporary Mobility Practices in Urban Africa, 2-4 November 2022, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2 November 2022.
  • David Drengk. 2022. „Coping with Disruptions: The role of maintenance and repair work in the everyday railway life of Southern Côte d'Ivoire“, presentation in the panel „Linear Dynamics and Local Disruptions“ at the Europalia Arts Festival „Trains & Tracks in Africa: A Dialogue on Infrastructures and Mobilities in Africa“, Tervuren, 17 March 2022.
  • David Drengk. 2021. „People, technology, and nature: Operating a railway in the evergreen rainforest of colonial Ivory Coast“, presentation in the panel „Everyday Mobilities in Africa (II)“ at the T2M Conference 2021 „Mobilities in Transition“, Lisbon, 3-5 November 2021.
  • David Drengk. 2019. “Controlling the African Forest: Daily Gun Use during the Abbey Revolt of 1910”, presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), Milano, Italy, 10-2019.
  • David Drengk. 2019. “Histories of African technological landscapes: The case of firearms”, panel organizer at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), Milano, Italy, 10-2019.
  • David Drengk. 2019. „Meeting in the Technological Landscape of the Ivorian Forest: Global and Local Perceptions of Space and Technology“. Workshop „Writing Global History of Technology from a Local Perspective: Stories from the South“, Darmstadt, Germany, 07-2019.
  • David Drengk. 2019. „Hunting the Iron Horse: Disruption of French infrastructure and social organisation in colonial Côte d'Ivoire“. 8th European Conference on African Studies 2019 (ECAS) „Africa: Connections and Disruptions“, Edinburgh, Scotland, 06-2019.
  • David Drengk. 2018. “Mehr als nur Importwaren: Eine transnationale Technikgeschichte von Schusswaffen in Westafrika.” Afrika-Kolloquium, Vortragsreihe des Instituts für Afrikawissenschaften, Vienna, 12-2018.
  • David Drengk. 2018. “(Transnational) West African history of weapon technology, 1850-2000.” ICOHTEC Summer School 2018, St. Étienne, France, 07-2018.
  • David Drengk. 2018. “From Fragmentation to Comprehensiveness: Towards a Profound and well-balanced African History of Technology.” The 45th ICOHTEC Symposium „Technological drive from past to future? 50 Years of ICOHTEC“, St. Étienne, France, 07-2018.
  • David Drengk. 2017. “Searching for Waves and Peace: Transkeian Surfing under Apartheid Rule.” Sports Africa Conference – Sporting Subalternities and Social Justice, Bloemfontaine, South Africa, 04-2017.
  • David Drengk. 2016. “Narratives From a Deserted Transkeian Beach.” Dutch Association of African Studies (NVAS), Africa Day Conference, Sport in Africa, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 10/2016.
  • David Drengk. 2016. “Afrikawissenschaften und Afrikanische Geschichte.” Tellerrand Alumni-Vortragsreihe, Geisenheim, Germany, 07-2016.