book notice: Language and National Identity in Africa

[Harold Schiffman]

Language and National Identity in Africa
Published: 2008
Publisher: Oxford University Press
                http://www.oup.com/us

Book URL: http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199286751

Author: Andrew Simpson

Abstract:

This book focuses on language, culture, and national identity in Africa.
Leading specialists examine countries in every part of the continent -
Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Senegal, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast,
Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanbia, South Africa, and the
nations of the Horn, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. Each chapter
describes and examines the country's linguistic and political history and
the relation of its languages to national, ethnic, and cultural identities,
and assesses the relative status of majority and minority languages and the
role of language in ethnic conflict. Of the book's authors, fifteen are
from Africa and seven from Europe and the USA.

Jargon-free, fully referenced, and illustrated with seventeen maps, this
book will be of value to a wide range of readers in linguistics, politics,
history, sociology, and anthropology. It will interest everyone wishing to
understand the dynamic interactions between language and politics in
Africa, in the past and now.



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