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<a href="http://www.thehoya.com/apartheid-lingers-in-language-division/" title="Permalink to BOBROSKE: Apartheid Lingers in Language Division" rel="bookmark">BOBROSKE: Apartheid Lingers in Language Division</a>
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Oh The Places You'll Go </div>
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<p>Language is the foundation for community and culture. It allows
us to communicate, learn and collaborate with one another, but it can
also be exploited as a means to enforce segregation. The case of
Stellenbosch University in South Africa shows the power language can
have as a tool or as a weapon. Over the past few months, Stellenbosch
has been ground zero in the South African language war in terms of both
emotion and even violence.<br>
Until the fall of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, Stellenboch
University was a predominantly white Afrikaner university. While the
Afrikaner language was originally weaponized to uphold apartheid, the
country eventually adopted 11 official languages. Over the past two
decades, the university has slowly been integrating English with the
goal of it eventually reaching equal academic footing with Afrikaans.
For example, some classes are offered on parallel language tracks and
others are offered as bilingual.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many primary and secondary English-speaking students —
blacks, whites and Indians — feel Stellenbosch University is moving too
slowly to institutionalize English equally. Instead of using language
as a force for progress, they feel the university is using Afrikaans as
an apartheid relic that obstructs their academic opportunities.</p>
<p>Open Stellenbosch, an organization pushing for change, regularly
organizes protests on the Rooiplein — the equivalent of Georgetown’s Red
Square. It created a documentary in August called “Luister” (Listen)
highlighting stories of more than 30 students and faculty members who
have faced discrimination. In academic settings, some students cannot
understand the professor while other professors do not translate their
Afrikaans lecture slides to English. Because classes are only 50-minute
periods, every moment of confusion takes a toll. There are also stories
of discrimination in everyday life, such as being subjected to racial
slurs, or excluded at bars by bouncers for not being white. These
serious allegations caused a national and political thunderstorm as both
of South Africa’s major political parties called for investigations at
the university and demanded reform.</p>
<p>Reform is a popular buzzword, but it is much easier said than done.
Reconciling and building a diverse nation after a half century of
apartheid — literally, apartness — to include 11 national languages in
education, business and government is not an easy task. To ensure that
diverse identities are complementary identities under one unified South
Africa rather than competing identities that split the country apart is
an incredibly difficult domestic task for a country to face.<br>
Stellenbosch University’s administration must use its finite resources
to carefully prioritize which classes should receive more professors
instructing in different languages. It must determine how to change
curriculums to make classrooms a place for discussion and learning,
leaving room for flexibility in the case that someone can’t understand
everything said, rather than adhering to a model of lecturing all the
course material so that one must understand everything said to pass
exams.</p>
<p>Most importantly, the language policy at Stellenbosch cannot be seen
as a battle of good versus evil. This is a dangerous path, but it’s one
that some students have already taken. Afrikaans being institutionalized
to uphold apartheid is a form of racism, but Afrikaans being spoken in
an academic setting and not being systematically used to exclude
students is not apartheid.</p>
<p>Violent exploitation of issues like language to appease political
ideas is not new to South Africa. The Economic Freedom Fighter is a
radical Marxist political party known for its bright red uniforms and
disruptive protests. Following “Luister,” EFF members and student
supporters blocked predominantly white students from entering a testing
site at another college in Stellenbosch. They proceeded to violently
assault students with whips. The result? White students, especially
Afrikaners, were in fear. These acts impede reconciliation and dialogue
in South Africa.</p>
<p>While abroad, I’ve had the opportunity to make friends from all
different ethnicities and language backgrounds, and I’ve heard diverse
opinions on Open Stellenbosch and transformation at the university. Some
feel it is completely necessary to allow students of all backgrounds to
reach their full potential. Others, including English speakers, quite
frankly believe Open Stellenbosch is just making unnecessary noise.</p>
<p>Clearly the language policy and transformation at Stellenbosch go far
beyond signing a decree on paper to properly ensure students of all
backgrounds receive an equal education and an equal opportunity to
unlock their potentials.</p>
<p>What’s happening in Stellenbosch can serve as a learning experience
here at Georgetown. For example, I have heard an argument against Casa
Latina that creating a house for Spanish-speaking Hoyas to converse in
their native tongue will lead to self-segregation. Is it not possible to
have multiple, complementary identities? Do you yourself not feel
various amounts of salience and loyalties to overlapping communities —
your family, community, school and nation? Is it seriously not possible
to be a Baptist and a Democrat? Gay and Republican? A Spanish speaker
and a patriotic citizen of the United States?</p>
<p>If Stellenbosch is to achieve the transformation it aims for, and if
Georgetown is to be a welcoming home for Hoyas of all backgrounds, we
all must adhere to the virtues of patience and dialogue. It is the only
way we will unlock the potentials in ourselves and in one another.</p><p><a href="http://www.thehoya.com/apartheid-lingers-in-language-division/">http://www.thehoya.com/apartheid-lingers-in-language-division/</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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