Away with Good Bantus: De-linking African language literature from culture, ‘tribe’ and propriety

Mkhize, Nomalanga

doi:10.1177/1474022215613600

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The only challenge which is very concerning and complex is the implementation of the South African language policies, especially for indigenous languages due to the the unavailability of resources including human resources, funding, facilities, materials and books. Other notable research discourses that have delved into the phenomenon of South African indigenous language, colonial and apartheid, and current development, but will not be examined here due to the journal's limitations and aims of the article, include Wildsmith (2013), Mkhize (2016), Zondi (2020), Moodley andDlamini (2021), andNgubane (2022).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The racial hierarchisation of the isiXhosa language in South Africa

Diko

2023

IJRBS

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The reality is that there is a relationship between language and race as advanced and qualified by ethnolinguistics. Such a relationship points to the subjugation of the isiXhosa language (habitually situated in South Africa), among other prescripts, which was fueled by racial hierarchization that ought to be debated within the paradigm of scholarly discourses. The subjugation, distortion and erosion of the isiXhosa language were led by the colonial, apartheid governance and administration that sought to impose censorship. Therefore, this article employs post-colonial theory to argue and scholarly prove that the language and many South African indigenous languages were oppressed based on racial notions that sought to accelerate neo-liberalist and imperialist perceptions. Hypothetically speaking, the isiXhosa language still suffers from the effects of (post)colonialism carried by colonial agents who continue to mock and humiliate the language. The debates and findings underline that such claims (racial hierarchization of the language) must be validated through theoretical and practical discourses. As a result, closing remarks infuse potential recommendations open to public scrutiny regarding the problematised phenomenon and/or conundrum.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The racial hierarchisation of the isiXhosa language in South Africa

Diko

2023

IJRBS

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“…The lphe ( 2002) positions English and Afrikaans as the model of what a language ought to be in order for it to be used in higher education. This provision speaks to larger colonial discourses inherent in Applied Linguistics: -It sets up dualistic discourses between English/Afrikaans and South African indigenous languages in terms of their 'legitimacy' for higher education, in terms of languages that are inferior and superior based only on their development in the formal aspects of language as opposed to the everyday uses of these languages -This provision is also complicit in developing a limiting discourse of multilingualism as quantifiable, and based on abstract definitions of language (Banda 2009;Makoni 1999) -It positions African languages as perpetually needing to 'catch-up' (Blommaert 1994 as cited in Makoni and Meinhof 2003: 5-6) These discourses have given rise to a conceptualization of language policies that consider universities as custodians of the development of African languages, what Mkhize (2016) calls the "institutionalisation model" (2016: 146). At this point in time, virtually all South African universities have language policies that support multilingualism, and has 'taken up' at least one African language to 'develop' .…”

Section: Situating the Language Question In South African Higher Educ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At this point in time, virtually all South African universities have language policies that support multilingualism, and has 'taken up' at least one African language to 'develop' . While positioning universities as the custodians for developing African languages has been critiqued for its conservatism to this poject (Mkhize 2016), I would add to this critique the frustratingly narrow view with which this project has been taken up by the post-apartheid university and its perpetual misrecognition of the lived experiences of the Black staff and students who occupy these spaces. Looking at the broader field of Applied Linguistics, Kubota (2014) has noted similar concerns: van der merwe Bandung 9 (2022) 279-299 Indeed, while our discipline engages with multi/plural frameworks, we continue to see not only the dominance of English and standard language ideology but also ethnic conflicts, civil wars, racism, xenophobia, and growing economic gaps both nationally and internationally.…”

Section: Situating the Language Question In South African Higher Educ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-considering orientations in South African Language Policies

Merwe

2022

Bandung

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What should be taken into account when language policies are developed? It is rarely the case that when language policies are developed, the focus is on issues outside of ‘language’. However, when issues of language are experienced in certain societies as a “cumulative disadvantage” (Piller 2016) together with other forms of domination, normative conceptualisations of language policy seem inadequate. The notion of ‘inhabitance’ is a generative lens through which to illustrate this. In the South African university space, since the #MustFall protests, the question of ‘inhabitance’ has taken centre stage in issues of curriculum and access. Through the act of throwing poo on the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, the #MustFall protests have firmly put on the agenda the need for universities to reflect upon itself, and to ask whose knowledges, bodies, histories and lifeworlds it legitimizes, and therefore, its complicity in maintaining coloniality. This has led to a wider call to decolonize universities. However, while the notion of ‘inhabitance’ has been central to the #MustFall protests, it has not been considered from the position of language and language policy. This paper reflects on institution-wide language policy conversations at a South African university arguing to shift attention from the orientations we take to language in language policy, to how policies “orient” (Ahmed 2007) bodies in university spaces. This paper seeks to add to the conversation in the South African Higher Education space in anticipation of the implementation of the new Language Policy for Higher Education (2020).

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“…As a result, translation of this material is based on English source texts as determinants even for how African languages should be written, and which ideas are normalised. Mkhize (2016) argues that, in many cases where African language literature exists, "textual production (fiction and non-fiction) has historically been heavily bent towards conservative themes, in which cultural pride, propriety and identity take centre stage -that is, a literature that speaks to 'Good Bantus'" (2016:147).…”

Section: Current Language In Education Policy In Practice and The Conmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving beyond artificial linguistic binaries in the education of African Language speaking children: A case for simultaneous biliteracy development

Guzula¹

2018

PiE

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Language policy debates in South Africa concern only Black African language speaking children rather than White English and Afrikaans speaking children. These debates construct Black African children as learners with deficits and fail to acknowledge their language resources. At the same time, policy makers fail to critique the unjust system to which they are subjected and of which they are victims. In this paper, I present a brief case study of children belonging to the Stars of Today Literacy Club to show the possibilities and ways in which these children are positioned as competent multilinguals and, in so doing, can resist the prevailing deficit view. The paper has three key aims: 1) to bring to light the racist ideology behind the current implementation of language policy, showing the specific ways in which, it constructs African language speaking children as inherently different from English and Afrikaans speaking children, evidenced by the fact that English and Afrikaans language speakers' medium is not even debated: eventually, English becomes the preferred language of instruction from Grade 4 onwards. 2) To describe how inequality is thus created and entrenched through undifferentiated language in education policies, curriculum, textbooks, and assessments, all of which are based on the unexamined idea of the child being a middle-class English-speaking child. 3) to demonstrate how bilingual children can be positioned as capable, rather than deficient, through hybrid language and literacy practices.

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Away with Good Bantus: De-linking African language literature from culture, ‘tribe’ and propriety

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

The racial hierarchisation of the isiXhosa language in South Africa

The racial hierarchisation of the isiXhosa language in South Africa

Re-considering orientations in South African Language Policies

Moving beyond artificial linguistic binaries in the education of African Language speaking children: A case for simultaneous biliteracy development

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