Dr Abdoul Aziz Dieng is a Senegalese-born, UK-based Senegal Country Expert and Sociolinguistic Consultant specialising in Senegalese language, culture, migration, diaspora identity and multilingual practices. His doctoral research focused on Senegalese transmigrants and their cultural and language practices and is the author of Urban Wolof across Borders: Translanguaging while Transmigrating (2024, Palgrave).
His expertise is particularly relevant to asylum and immigration matters involving Senegal, including Wolof and Fula/Pulaar language issues, cultural plausibility, family and community dynamics, migration histories, diaspora experience, reintegration, and the interpretation of Senegalese social and linguistic practices. He is also NRPSI-registered and a full member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
Dr Abdoul Aziz Dieng’s country expertise focuses primarily on Senegal, with additional regional expertise on The Gambia where relevant to Senegambian language, culture, migration and cross-border social practices. He is Senegalese-born and UK-based, with specialist knowledge of Senegalese society, multilingualism, family and community structures, migration histories, diaspora experience and the cultural contexts in which UK asylum, human rights and immigration claims may arise.
He can assist legal representatives with Senegal-related matters involving cultural plausibility, language and identity issues, Wolof and Fula/Pulaar-speaking applicants, family or community dynamics, social belonging, return and reintegration, and the interpretation of Senegalese cultural and linguistic practices within asylum and immigration evidence. His expertise is particularly relevant where case facts require careful assessment of local context, language use, social norms, migration background or diaspora-linked experience.
Dr Abdoul Aziz Dieng prepares independent country expert reports for UK solicitors and barristers handling cases involving disputed age, Senegalese birth records, family relationships, and questions of language and identity. His reports explain the relevant Senegalese practices and procedures, providing reasoned answers to the specific questions raised in each instruction.
His country expert work includes evidence for judicial review proceedings concerning disputed age. He examines how births are registered, how civil-status documents are obtained and used, and how children acquire knowledge of their dates of birth through family life, schooling and administrative procedures. His analysis draws on official sources, published research and ethnographic knowledge to assist the court’s assessment of documentary evidence and personal accounts.
His consultancy also encompasses linguistic analysis in Wolof and Fulah, addressing meaning, language variation and the interpretation of spoken evidence. His current engagements include specialist Wolof consultancy for forensic speaker-comparison work in Italy.
Dr Dieng brings more than a decade of UK professional experience across court interpreting, asylum and immigration assignments, specialist translation and public services. These roles give him practical insight into the cultural and communication issues that arise in legal proceedings. Together with his ethnographic research among Senegalese transmigrants, this experience informs his assessment of identity, family relationships, migration experiences and cultural plausibility.
Book: Dieng, A. A. (2024). Urban Wolof across Borders: Translanguaging while Transmigrating. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57812-0
Article: Dieng, A. A. (2022). Research Methodologies in Urban Wolof Studies: A Critical Review of the Literature and Suggestion for New Analytical Perspectives. European Scientific Journal. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2022.v18n20p22
Conference paper (Oct 20, 2023). Guest speaker - African Languages Day University of Salamanca, Spain. Presented on transmigration and translanguaging ahead of publication of Urban Wolof across Borders.
Conference paper (May 10, 2019). Language in Africa international conference University of Portsmouth, UK. Presented research on Urban Wolof among Senegalese diasporans, including urban diasporicity, translanguaging and transmigration.