37.1207, FYI: Webinar 10 April: Salikoko Mufwene: "Multilingualism is not a Barrier to African Economic Development; Bad Economic Policies are."

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1207. Wed Mar 25 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1207, FYI: Webinar 10 April: Salikoko Mufwene: "Multilingualism is not a Barrier to African Economic Development; Bad Economic Policies are."

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Date: 24-Mar-2026
From: Bert van Pinxteren [afrilang at outlook.com]
Subject: Webinar 10 April: Salikoko Mufwene: "Multilingualism is not a Barrier to African Economic Development; Bad Economic Policies are."


Webinar Series: Conversations on Language Policy in Africa
Multilingualism is not a barrier to African economic development; bad
economic policies are.
Registration link:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/99882eae-9667-46d6-b794-7d8fbd175b77@d400387a-212f-43ea-ac7f-77aa12d7977e
Abstract
Since the dawn of Independence in the early1960s, African leaders have
been advised, especially by economists, but also by some linguists
that the multitude of languages is expensive and an obstacle to
economic development. They have not realized that the current
stratification of the languages with European languages at the apex
and indigenous languages at the bottom for the ladder perpetuates the
colonial socioeconomic structure of subordination and exploitation.
Indigenous rulers are the new colonizers from within invested more in
self-enrichment and the economic development of the Global North. They
use the European languages both to marginalize those who do not speak
them and exploit those who produce raw materials that the Global North
has always coveted since the rise of the Industrial Revolution. The
illusion to develop Africa in the model of its European former
metropoles has engendered a socioeconomic class system in which the
overwhelming majority of disenfranchised is getting increasingly
dispossessed and poorer. While this regime of languages has worked
well for the under-development of Africa, reversing it to where the
current official languages are stipulated as foreign languages for the
few who need them can help empower indigenous languages economically
and politically, provided political corruption is eradicated and
development plans become inclusive and altruistic.
Speaker:
Salikoko S. Mufwene is the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service
Professor in the Dept. of Linguistics; the Dept. of Race, Diaspora,
and Indigeneity; and the College at the University of Chicago. His
research area is evolutionary linguistics, focused on the phylogenetic
emergence of languages and language speciation, and on language
vitality. He has authored and (co-)edited dozens of books and has
published hundreds of articles, book chapters, and book reviews. He is
a fellow of the Linguistic Society of America, of the American
Philosophical Society, and of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. He assumed the Chaire Mondes francophones at the Clollège de
France for the 2023-24 academic year.
Moderator: Dr. Djouroukoro Diallo
Djouroukoro Diallo graduated with a PhD in Applied Linguistics from
the University of Bern. He works as Head and Coordinator of Initiative
Afrique at the Vice-Rectorate of Research and Innovation. He oversees
the Executive Board of Initiative Afrique and is in charge of all
international collaborations with African and European partners. He
serves as the spokesperson for Initiative Afrique at conferences and
seminars held in Switzerland and abroad.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Sociolinguistics




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