Michael Wairungu graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Swahili and Geography at Moi University, Kenya. He taught Swahili at Kirimara and Githumu High School before joining Stanford University-California where he worked as a  Swahili FLTA for one year.

He has been an active sportsman and has actively participated in youth sports’ development programs in his home country. More so, he has been actively involved in promoting Swahili language and culture both in Kenya and U.S.A.

He is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Linguistics in Anthropology at University of Virginia where besides learning, he also designs On-Line materials aimed at promoting Swahili language and culture.

His research project focuses on ways in which Sheng is continuously being used as an anti-language among various group-affiliations in major towns in Kenya.

Sheng is a code which has its grammar based on Swahili, while it’s vocabulary is mainly borrowed from English alongside other vernacular languages such as Kikuyu, Luyia, and Luo. The rise of Sheng has mainly been attributed to code switching and code mixing among teenagers residing in the middle class estates in Nairobi in the early 70’s. Just like other anti-languages, Sheng is used in a very secretive, highly coded, and all but incomprehensible manner to the outsiders, resulting in the creation and reinforcement of solidarity amongst their users.

Though Sheng has been very popular among the youth living in the middle-class estates in major towns in Kenya, its use among criminals and people in the fringe of the society has been reported in the recent past. This way, Sheng qualifies to be studied as an Anti-language.

Besides researching on Sheng as an Anti-Language, he is also interested in studying the various forces killing the endangered Kenyan languages and the use of technology in teaching and learning of the less commonly taught African languages.

His career goal is to become a resourceful Linguistic Anthropologist after his PhD in the same field.