15/08/2026
Call for Applications - Courants du monde 2027 Residency Programme at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The French National Library (BnF), with the support of the French Ministry of Culture is inviting applications for its Courants du monde 2027 residency programme.
https://www.bnf.fr/en/programmes-hosting-visiting-international-professionals
https://na.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/call-applications-courants-du-monde-2027-residency-programme-bibliotheque-nationale-de-france-0
Project Brief
The Ovahimba Years / Rina Sherman:
Translation, Access, and Return
The Ovahimba Years / Rina Sherman is a long-term Franco-Namibian project to preserve, interpret, translate, and return a major multimedia record of Otjiherero-speaking communities in north-western Namibia.
Between 1996 and 2004, anthropographer, author, and artist Rina Sherman spent seven years in the Kunene North Region, documenting the intangible cultural heritage of Otjiherero-speaking communities, particularly the Ovahimba. Through approximately 400 hours of film, alongside photography, sound recordings, and writing, she created an irreplaceable record of languages, cultural practices, landscapes, and everyday life.
Since 2014, the audiovisual corpus has been preserved at the BnF - Bibliothèque nationale de France as The Ovahimba Years / Rina Sherman Collection, within the wider Fonds Rina Sherman Files. In 2015, the BnF presented the archive at its François-Mitterrand site in a multidisciplinary exhibition of film, photographs, texts, and cultural artefacts. The BnF has since digitised the entire video corpus from its original magnetic tapes, creating preservation masters of exceptional quality and securing the foundation for the project’s next phase.
The Residency
This residency is the first practical stage of a wider programme of access, training, and cultural return. Working with Rina Sherman and BnF specialists, the resident will help develop a rigorous methodology for the transcription, translation, English adaptation, and subtitling of the collection.
The work will establish protocols for:
• Identifying and logging recordings, speakers, places, languages, and themes.
• Transcribing Otjiherero and other languages and regional variants represented in the archive.
• Producing accurate, culturally attentive English subtitles.
• Reviewing translations for linguistic, historical, and cultural precision.
• Creating metadata and working procedures for the corpus’s long-term treatment.
The method will be informed by the word-by-word translation practice transmitted to Rina Sherman by Jean Rouch, under whose supervision she completed her PhD in 1998. Its aim is not merely technical access, but subtitles that remain faithful to the rhythm, nuance, and expressive force of the original voices.
A Shared Future
The ideal resident will be from the Kunene North Region, or have deep knowledge of its cultural and linguistic environment; be fluent in spoken and written Otjiherero, including, ideally, northern Kunene forms; and be able to work across oral, written, audiovisual, and intercultural contexts.
Following the residency, the project aims to establish a research and translation unit at the University of Namibia, or another institution chosen by Namibian partners. It would oversee the gradual treatment of the full 400-hour corpus and train a new generation of translators, researchers, and audiovisual archivists.
Rina Sherman will remain closely involved, sharing her firsthand knowledge of the archive and training translators in audiovisual adaptation and subtitling. Professor Jekura Kavari, a leading authority on Otjiherero language and culture, has agreed in principle to undertake final linguistic and cultural review.
The completed English-subtitled collection is intended ultimately as a gift to Namibia. Rina Sherman’s return to the communities where she lived and worked is essential to the project’s next stage, grounding its implementation in dialogue, recognition, and shared participation.
This is not a selective anthology. It is an effort to make an entire audiovisual heritage corpus accessible, as a living resource for the communities represented in it, and for researchers, students, and audiences in Namibia and around the world. Subject to the agreement of institutional and community partners, the project may culminate in a public exhibition at the National Theatre of Namibia and/or the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre, bringing together moving image, photography, archival materials, public discussion, and scholarly exchange.
https://www.rinasherman.com/photographie/les-annees-ovahimba/unesco-africa-week-namibia/
Embassy of France to Namibia - Ambassade de France en Namibie
of Namibia in France
Call for Applications - Courants du monde 2027 Residency Programme at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The French National Library (BnF), with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, is inviting applications for its Courants du monde 2027 residency programme.
As part of a unique cultural heritage project, the BnF - Bibliothèque nationale de France is seeking a Namibian candidate whose native language is Otjiherero to contribute to the translation and subtitling into English of a selection of audiovisual archives documenting the daily and ceremonial life of Otjiherero-speaking communities in Namibia, collected by anthropologist and filmmaker Rina Sherman.
This residency offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the preservation and international accessibility of Namibia's cultural heritage while working alongside experts at the BnF in Paris.
Profil sought:
- Native speaker of Otjiherero
- Excellent command of English
- Background or experience in translation, audiovisual media, languages, humanities, communication or cultural professions
- Strong interest in Namibian history, languages, visual anthropology and cultural heritage
📅 Application deadline: 10 September 2026.
For more information and to apply, please visit
1) the BnF website : https://www.bnf.fr/en/programmes-hosting-visiting-international-professionals
2) the French Embassy website : https://na.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/call-applications-courants-du-monde-2027-residency-programme-bibliotheque-nationale-de-france-0
SOAS University of London New York University Visual Ethnography Journal Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Espace Ministère de la Culture Embassy of France to Namibia - Ambassade de France en Namibie
