Kiswahili Comes Of Age As Tongue For Decolonisation

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Kiswahili Comes Of Age As Tongue For Decolonisation

The Nation (Nairobi)
Posted to the web July 3, 2006

By Kimani Njogu
Nairobi

There is an aura of excitement among Kiswahili scholars because seeds
planted many decades ago have flowered and are beginning to bear fruit.
The language is now common in offices, in the streets and homes. It is
robust in the informal sector and has become an engine of economic
regeneration. Official business is being transacted in the language and it
is no longer viewed as "low status" to speak it. Listening to Kenyan
politicians, one recognises that they have seen the power of language in
attaining presence and legitimacy. It is still, however, disappointing
that a big number of our national leaders have to resort to English even
when it is quite clear that the audience would feel more comfortable if
addressed in a Kenyan language. But linguistic flexibility and sensitivity
is slowly asserting itself in our national psyche as it allows for ease in
communication and interaction.

Mode of communication

But language is not just a mode of communication, it also defines who we
are by giving us identity and a sense of belonging. It is a form of
cultural expression and a carrier of memory and history.  Languages play
an important role in resisting injustices and regenerating more just,
meaningful, and ecologically balanced lives. Through the facility of
language, localities are able to develop and nurture vibrant, innovative
and dynamic social processes. Languages facilitate self-organising - the
coming together of people in organic, contextual ways. They create self
and collective efficacy which is vital for social transformation by
injecting faith in one's ability - individually and with others - to move
things forward.

Our interest in indigenous languages such as Kiswahili is sound and well
motivated; it is an attempt to increase the memory of the African
continent and to release it from the constraints of the past and the
present. Ali Mazrui and Alamin Mazrui have, in The Tower of Babel, drawn
our attention to the fact that although Asia was also colonised, nobody
has divided it into zones on the basis of the imperial languages. Yet we
talk of Anglophone Africa, Lusophone Africa and Francophone Africa.
Through this strange division of Africa, we witness a linguistic anomaly
indicative of Africa's levels of dependence. According to these scholars,
the difference between Asia and Africa "lies in the scale of political
dependence on the imperial language, linking them much more firmly to the
African countries, and their identities, than to the former Asian colonies
of European powers".

It is time to we started creating a larger space for 'Swahiliphone Africa'
and extending its borders! The struggle for indigenous languages to
survive is interconnected with the larger struggles for democracy, access
to justice, rights, freedom and economic well being. Whereas there has
been a strong sense of linguistic nationalism in Asian countries, the same
cannot be said of many African nations. But there have been significant
moments in East Africa when Pan Africans have urged that the central role
occupied by Queen's English be reconsidered. They push for the development
of 'Englishes' and celebrate linguistic diversity.

But how do we develop a language policy that would both accommodate the
languages inherited from the colonial experience while at the same time
creating an important space for the development and promotion of
indigenous languages? Colonialism presented two scenarios for Africa
vis-a'-vis the language question: Whereas the British system of indirect
rule made use of traditional systems of knowledge and governance, whenever
possible, by making local languages important for the colonial
administrator, the French policy of assimilation gave little regard to
indigenous languages, prioritising instead the French language and
culture. . Towards the end of the colonial era, the British government in
the colonies seems to have accelerated the use of English among the people
as a way of preparing the local elite to take over and to perpetuate and
protect British interests.

The presence of languages that are in competition with each other in
Africa - with some being more prestigious and powerful than others -
creates a situation of contestation and the urge to realign the relations.
In a discussion on linguistic descriptions and language planning in
Africa, Paulis Djite argues for the ecological approach to language
planning, in which standardisation and uniformity of speech types are
questioned. Instead linguistic diversity, as a way of maintaining
cultural, biological and environmental diversity, is presented as the most
viable for Africa. The position advanced by Djite is similar, to a
significant degree, to the one proposed by many Kenyan linguists such as
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Okoth Okombo, Mohammed Abdulaziz, Alamin Mazrui and
myself, among others.

We see the promotion and development of African languages as a necessary
prerequisite to political, economic, social and cultural emancipation. We
link language with the decolonisation of the African continent in all
domains of life; a position that has been articulated consistently in
CHAKITA-Kenya (Kiswahili national association). It is broadly recognised
that a key feature of Eastern African countries is their triglossic
nature; a consequence of the colonial encounter, which also assigned
prestige and status to the acquisition of foreign languages and
deliberately discouraged the teaching and learning of African languages,
except for evangelical purposes and basic functions of interpersonal
communication.

There are, naturally, pedagogical and instrumental constraints and
facilitation to the proposal of anchoring African languages; some of which
may be located in the colonial experience as well as the phenomenon of
globalisation, information technology and economic constraints. In view of
limited resources in Africa, for instance, how can we develop a set of
languages while keeping linguistic diversity alive? Despite the
constraints, how are African languages creating a place for themselves?
How are they responding to the challenges and opportunities presented by
the process of globalisation? How are they dealing with the threat of
loss?

Although globalisation - a process of cultural interconnectedness,
homogeneity, integration, and disintegration - is contributing to language
loss, there are other factors that might also accelerate to the loss of
some Kenyan languages, such as Suba, Ogiek, El Molo and so forth. One
factor is that languages which do not have a systematic and vibrant
writing and reading tradition and which rely heavily on orality, are
likely to die out if one generation fails to learn them. Current
generations are not learning, reading or working in the languages of their
parents. There is need to develop reading materials for children in local
languages.

Also, within the context of language loss, Kenyan linguists are urging the
government to rigorously and consistently support the development of
indigenous languages through structural actions and functional
facilitation. Another area of concern to us is national development.
Currently, 57 per cent of Kenyans live below the poverty line but by
addressing issues of language we may change this pattern. In my view,
Kenya's failure to address the language question in national development,
consistently and deliberately, has contributed in the widening of the gap
between the rich and the poor.

Increased school dropout and transition rates, rising poverty and
socio-economic inequities, and unemployment demand of us to think
creatively about imparting relevant knowledge and skills in the languages
available to the bulk of the people. Most school leavers operate within
the nation-state, and not internationally, and greater proficiency in
national languages would make them more productive than is currently the
case. According to a 2000 World Bank Human Development Report, Africa's
future economic growth "will depend less on its natural resources, and
more on its labour skills and its ability to accelerate a demographic
transition".

Also, the continent will require to invest in people in order to promote
their individual development. In order to achieve these, we need
education, health, flexibility and a certain amount of economic security.
But in the context of HIV/Aids, war and conflict, drought, urbanisation,
unemployment, and massive poverty, the situation does look grim. Yet by
focusing on protection against vulnerability, Africa can solve its crisis.
In view of the dismal levels of literacy, it is becoming quite important
to explore if using African languages as engines of development can help
solve the problem.

Bolster cross-border trade

They might open possibilities for the bulk of the people to be engaged in
productive labour, and participate in politics and economic activities.
African Regional languages, such as Kiswahili, Zulu and Hausa, could be
used to bolster cross-border trade, widen access to services especially
for the rural people and increase community involvement in construction,
maintenance and management of the infrastructure. Indeed, the link between
languages and cultures on development cannot be ignored. The Ghanaian
scholar Kwesi Prah is right when he says that language and culture
constitute the matrix and vehicular forms in which development endeavours
are meaningfully undertaken.

If development in Africa is to be achieved, then this has to be
inaugurated in the languages of mass society. The interest shown by the
United Nations General Assembly in declaring the United Nations Literacy
Decade (2003-2012) is indicative of some of the opportunities provided by
world bodies for the growth of African languages. In the context of the
forces of globalisation and the tendency to embrace the homogenising yet
stratifying forces, can African languages raise their heads? I think so.
But in order for them to be effective, more work will need to be done. At
CHAKITA-Kenya we believe that Kiswahili should be declared an official
language in the truly "Wanjiku" constitution. The language is one of the
official languages at the African Union and a lingua franca in the
envisaged East African Community.

With the establishment of the East African Kiswahili Council in 2006, the
region will be ready for a vibrant linguistic scenario. Prof Kimani Njogu
is the chairman of CHAKITA-Kenya and a member of the Task Force for the
East Africa Kiswahili Council

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