The power of Babel : language & governance in the African experience

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Title:

The power of Babel : language & governance in the African experience

Author:

Mazrui, Ali AlʾAmin.

ISBN:

9780226514284

9780226514291

9780852558072

9780852558089

Personal Author:

Mazrui, Ali AlʾAmin.

Publication Information:

Oxford, England : J. Currey ; Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1998.

Physical Description:

xii, 228 p. ; 25 cm.

Contents:

Introduction: Africa's Linguistic Legacy: Between Expansionism & Nationalism / Ali A. Mazrui and Alamin M. Mazrui -- Pt. I. Global Africa. 1. Language & Race in the Black Experience: An African Perspective / Ali A. Mazrui. 2. African Languages in the African-American Experience / Alamin M. Mazrui. 3. Linguistic Eurocentrism & African Counter-Penetration: Ali Mazrui & the Global Frontiers of Language / Alamin M. Mazrui. 4. Language & the Quest for Liberation: The Legacy of Frantz Fanon / Alamin M. Mazrui -- Pt. II. Continental Africa. 5. Language in a Multicultural Context: The African Experience / Alamin M. Mazrui and Ali A. Mazrui. 6. Language Planning & Gender Planning: Some African Perspectives / Ali A. Mazrui. 7. Language Policy & the Foundations of Democracy: An African Perspective / Alamin M. Mazrui. 8. Language Policy & the Rule of Law in 'Anglophone' Africa / Alamin M. Mazrui and Ali A. Mazrui -- Pt. III. Regional Studies.

9. Dominant Languages in a Plural Society: English & Kiswahili in Post-Colonial East Africa / Alamin M. Mazrui and Ali A. Mazrui. 10. A Tale of Two Englishes: The Imperial Language in Post-Colonial Kenya & Uganda / Alamin M. Mazrui and Ali A. Mazrui. 11. Roots of Kiswahili: Colonialism, Nationalism & the Dual Heritage / Alamin M. Mazrui. 12. The Secularization of an Afro-Islamic Language: Church, State & Marketplace in the Spread of Kiswahili / Ali A. Mazrui and Pio Zirimu. 13. The Linguistic Balance Sheet: Post-Cold War, Post-Apartheid & Beyond Structural Adjustment / Alamin M. Mazrui and Ali A. Mazrui.

Subject Term:

Sociolinguistics -- Africa.

Geographic Term:

Africa -- Languages.

Added Author:

Mazrui, Alamin M.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025429230	409.6 M476P 1998	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Linguists estimate that there are currently nearly 2,000 languages in Africa, a staggering figure that is belied by the relatively few national languages. While African national politics, economics, and law are all conducted primarily in the colonial languages, the cultural life of the majority of citizens is conducted in a bewildering Babel of local and regional dialects, making language itself the center of debates over multiculturalism, gender studies, and social theory. In The Power of Babel , the noted Africanist scholar Ali Mazrui and linguist Alamin Mazrui explore this vast territory of African language.

The Power of Babel is one of the first comprehensive studies of the complex linguistic constellations of Africa. It draws on Ali Mazrui's earlier work in its examination of the "triple heritage" of African culture, in which indigenous, Islamic, and Western traditions compete for influence. In bringing the idea of the triple heritage to language, the Mazruis unravel issues of power, culture, and modernity as they are embedded in African linguistic life.

The first section of the book takes a global perspective, exploring such issues as the Eurocentrism of much linguistic scholarship on Africa; part two takes an African perspective on a variety of issues from the linguistically disadvantaged position of women in Africa to the relation of language policy and democratic development; the third section presents a set of regional studies, centering on the Swahili language's exemplification of the triple heritage. The Power of Babel unites empirical information with theories of nationalism and pluralism--among others--to offer the richest contextual account of African languages to date.