[lg policy] South Africa: Lessons From India On Decolonising Language and Thought At Universities

[Harold Schiffman]

South Africa: Lessons From India On Decolonising Language and Thought At
Universities

By Dilip Menon, University of the Witwatersrand

Foundation essay: Our foundation essays are longer than usual and take a
wider look at key issues affecting society.

Susa lo-mtunzi gawena. Hayikona shukumisa lo saka

"Move your shadow. Don't rattle the bag." - JD Bold, Fanagalo Phrase Book,
Grammar and Dictionary, the Lingua Franca of Southern Africa, 10th Edition,
1977

In South Africa's bad old days white people spoke English or Afrikaans.
These were the languages of command. When needing to engage with those who
didn't speak English, whites could use Fanagalo - a pidgin based on Zulu
and peppered with English and some Afrikaans. It was developed on the
country's mines and was good for giving orders, if not having a
conversation.

In this piece I want to look in particular at the question of knowledge and
our universities in South Africa. There is a struggle afoot to change the
racial composition of the faculty and students at universities to move
towards transformation.

It is abundantly clear that equal attention is not being paid to the
questions of both the language of instruction and the content of syllabi in
South African universities. English still dominates instruction at the
major universities, as does Euro American knowledge.

There are some small steps towards change. The University of Witwatersrand,
where I work, recently tabled a multilingual policy. It will incorporate
Sesotho and isiZulu as co-languages, along with English as an official part
of campus life, in and outside the classroom.

Are there any lessons that South Africa's universities can learn from India
on this journey? After all, from the very moment of independence in India,
a debate began about the landscape of language in the university space.

A three-language policy

India's three language formula - mother tongue, regional language and
English - was hammered out in 1956. It represented a whittling down from
the original six language formula which envisaged the learning of Sanskrit,
Persian/Arabic, and a European language.
-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
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)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150901/3a9b0dde/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list