Membering the Rhodesian Linguistic Agenda in Zimbabwe

Membering the Rhodesian Linguistic Agenda in Zimbabwe
Author: Isaac Mhute
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2023-07-28
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1000966860

Membering the Rhodesian Linguistic Agenda in Zimbabwe reports on a study carried out in Zimbabwe to ascertain the degree and effect of honouring the colonial linguistic agenda. The book employs an interpretivist philosophy and qualitative research approach that relies on participatory observations, interviewing purposively sampled informants and focus group discussions involving snowball sampled graduates. It was inspired by the Critical Language Policy Theory that considers language choice a critical determinant factor in how communities are administered politically, economically, socioculturally and educationally. It establishes that whereas linguistic imperialism meant to serve as the lifeblood of the Southern Rhodesian colonial machine, the former coloniser ensured coloniality in Zimbabwe by presenting the English language as a sacred media in political, economic, sociocultural and educational settings forever. The study establishes that the only way Zimbabwe and other such post-colonies could find redemption is by eradicating the sacredness of former colonisers’ languages by adding value to all their languages and the indigenous knowledge systems associated with them. It also demonstrates that the bigger the delay, the more is irretrievably lost together with custodians of the languages. This book will be informative for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in linguistics, communication, sociology, anthropology and history. It may also serve well as a resource to government researchers, politicians and other policymakers.

Language Matters in Contemporary Zimbabwe

Language Matters in Contemporary Zimbabwe
Author: Collen Sabao
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2024-06-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 104003974X

Speaking to a broader global preoccupation with the state of languages and language development, this book considers issues surrounding the diverse languages, linguistic communities, and cultures of Zimbabwe. Reflecting on Shona, Xitsonga, Sotho, Xhosa, Tjwao, Nambya, IsiNdebele, Nyanja, Tshivenda, English and Braille, the book uncovers both the internal and external factors that impact language structures, language use and language ideologies across the country. The book considers how colonial legacies and contemporary language domination and minoritisation have led to language endangerment. It considers the fate of communities whose languages are marginalised and, in the process, poses questions on what can and should be done to preserve Zimbabwean languages. The authors' offerings range across subjects as diverse as music, linguistic innovation, education, human rights, literature, language politics and language policy, in order to build a rich and nuanced picture of language matters in the country. Coming at a critical moment of increasing mobility, migration, cultural plurality and globalisation, this book will be an important resource for researchers across African literature, linguistics, communication, policy and politics.

Author:
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 240
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 3031484312

Sub-Saharan Political Cultures of Deceit in Language, Literature, and the Media, Volume II

Sub-Saharan Political Cultures of Deceit in Language, Literature, and the Media, Volume II
Author: Esther Mavengano
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2024-01-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031428838

This two-volume set charts a cross-disciplinary discursive terrain that proffers rich insights about deceit in contemporary postcolonial Sub-Saharan African politics. In an attempt to produce a nuanced and multifaceted academic dialoguing platform, the two volumes have a particular focus on the aspects of treachery, fear of difference (oppositional politics), and discourses/semiotics of mis/self-representation. The major aim of the proposed volumes is to contribute toward the often problematised conversations about the unfolding (post)colonial Sub-Saharan world which is topical in decolonial and Pan-African studies.The volumes seek to place political thinking and postcolonial political systems under the scholarly gaze with the view to highlight and enhance the participation of African cross-disciplinary scholarship in the postcolonial political processes of the continent. Most significantly, it is through such probing of the limitations of our own disciplinary perspectives which can help us appreciate the complexity of the postcolonial Sub-Saharan African politics. The first volume uses Zimbabwe as a case study, while the second volume examines postcolonial politics in Sub-Saharan Africa more broadly.The first volume uses Zimbabwe as a case study, while the second volume examines postcolonial politics in Sub-Saharan Africa more broadly.The first volume uses Zimbabwe as a case study, while the second volume examines postcolonial politics in Sub-Saharan Africa more broadly.

Nervous Conditions

Nervous Conditions
Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-10-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0571368131

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THIS MOURNABLE BODY, ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 WOMEN FOR 2020 ' UNFORGETTABLE' Alice Walker 'THIS IS THE BOOK WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR' Doris Lessing 'A UNIQUE AND VALUABLE BOOK.' Booklist 'AN ABSORBING PAGE-TURNER' Bloomsbury Review 'A MASTERPIECE' Madeleine Thien 'ARRESTING' Kwame Anthony Appiah Two decades before Zimbabwe would win independence and ended white minority rule, thirteen-year-old Tambudzai Sigauke embarks on her education. On her shoulders rest the economic hopes of her parents, siblings, and extended family, and within her burns the desire for independence. A timeless coming-of-age tale, and a powerful exploration of cultural imperialism, Nervous Conditions charts Tambu's journey to personhood in a fledgling nation. 'With its searing observations, devastating exploration of the state of "not being", wicked humour and astonishing immersion into the mind of a young woman growing up and growing old before her time, the novel is a masterpiece.' Madelein Thien

The Cult of Rhodes

The Cult of Rhodes
Author: Paul Maylam
Publisher: New Africa Books
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2005
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780864866844

Cecil Rhodes is the most written about and memorialised figure in southern African history, the subject of well over 25 biographies and numerous articles. Rhodes has featured in novels, plays and films.

Pioneers, Settlers, Aliens, Exiles

Pioneers, Settlers, Aliens, Exiles
Author: J. L. Fisher
Publisher: ANU E Press
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2010-03-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1921666153

What did the future hold for Rhodesia's white population at the end of a bloody armed conflict fought against settler colonialism? Would there be a place for them in newly independent Zimbabwe? PIONEERS, SETTLERS, ALIENS, EXILES sets out the terms offered by Robert Mugabe in 1980 to whites who opted to stay in the country they thought of as their home. The book traces over the next two decades their changing relationshipwith the country when the post-colonial government revised its symbolic and geographical landscape and reworked codes of membership. Particular attention is paid to colonial memories and white interpellation in the official account of the nation's rebirth and indigene discourses, in view of which their attachment to the place shifted and weakened. As the book describes the whites' trajectory from privileged citizens to persons of disputed membership and contested belonging, it provides valuable background information with regard to the land and governance crises that engulfed Zimbabwe at the start of the twenty-first century.

The Power of Babel

The Power of Babel
Author: Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui
Publisher: James Currey
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1998
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN:

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.

English as a Global Language

English as a Global Language
Author: David Crystal
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2012-03-29
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1107611806

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.

A Handful of Hard Men

A Handful of Hard Men
Author: Hannes Wessels
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2015-10-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612003451

During the WestÕs great transition into the post-Colonial age, the country of Rhodesia refused to succumb quietly, and throughout the 1970s fought back almost alone against Communist-supported elements that it did not believe would deliver proper governance. During this long war many heroes emerged, but none more skillful and courageous than Captain Darrell Watt of the Rhodesian SAS, who placed himself at the tip of the spear in the deadly battle to resist the forces of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. It is difficult to find another soldierÕs story to equal WattÕs in terms of time spent on the field of battle and challenges faced. Even by the lofty standards of the SAS and Special Forces, one has to look far to find anyone who can match his record of resilience and valor in the face of such daunting odds and with resources so paltry. In the fight he showed himself to be a military maestro. A bush-lore genius, blessed with uncanny instincts and an unbridled determination to close with the enemy, he had no peers as a combat-tracker (and there was plenty of competition). But the Rhodesian theater was a fluid and volatile one in which he performed in almost every imaginable fighting role; as an airborne shock-trooper leading camp attacks, long range reconnaissance operator, covert urban operator, sniper, saboteur, seek-and-strike expert, and in the final stages as a key figure in mobilizing an allied army in neighboring Mozambique. After 12 years in the cauldron of war his cause slipped from beneath him, however, and Rhodesia gave way to Zimbabwe. When the guns went quiet Watt had won all his battles but lost the war. In this fascinating biography we learn that in his twilight years he is now concerned with saving wildlife on a continent where they are in continued danger, devoting himself to both the fauna and African people he has cared so deeply about.