Webinar “The Circulation of #AfricanLanguages in #African Public Space” on September 29, 2022. In 3 languages : #English, #French and #português (see below).

“Development by the Government in a foreign language is impossible unless the acculturation process is completed, which is where the cultural meets the economic.
Socialism by the Government in a foreign language is a trickery, this is where the cultural meets the social.
Democracy by the Government in a foreign language is a lure, and it is there that the cultural meets the political.”
Cheikh Anta Diop, Taxaw, n°6, 1977.

More than sixty years after the accession of African countries to #independence, one fact is clear: in most countries on the African continent, the working languages used in the circles of power, administrations, parliaments, and institutions in charge of education and the production of knowledge are still largely those inherited from the European colonial administration: English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Even if it is estimated that these foreign languages are mastered by a minority of the population, they nevertheless enjoy the status of official languages and are supposed to regulate the political, legal, cultural and economic life of the countries in question. As for the African languages, which are spoken by the majority of the population, they are, so to speak, relegated to the margins.

The speakers highlight the link that exists, particularly in the case of #Africancountries, between the national language and the emergence of #democracy, as well as between the national language and intellectual, social, cultural and economic #growth.

Speakers : Prof. Ramenga Osotsi (Dedan Kimathi University, #Kenya) ; Yoporeka Somet (Centre for African Renaissance Studies, Dedan Kimathi University, #Kenya) ; Jane Obuchi (Author and translator, #Kenya), Ezra Nhampoca (Eduardo Mondlane University, #Mozambique), Koulsy Lamko (Writer, playright, poet and director, #Senegal).