The Power of Babel Introduction: Africa’s Linguistic Legacy: Between Expansionism & Nationalism

Africa’s vulnerabilities They did not have a culture of territorial expansionism They were not linguistically nationalist They had cultures of oral tradition, not cultures of numeracy, precise measures, and technology

The borders that came with colonialism Were artificial Could not follow any cultural borders, since there were no such borders there in the first place Did not result in border clashes; most conflict is internal, civil wars

Linguistic frontiers and national boundaries Weak nationalism made Africa vulnerable to Euro-linguistic penetration “The national boundaries of most African states lack the underpinning of any national linguistic identity” Most sub-Saharan countries are multilingual Africans are often nationalistic about race, land, or tribe, but not about language

Linguistic frontiers and national boundaries, cont’d. Sub-Saharan cultures are traditionally oral, with no sacred scripture Nationalism is motivated more as a quest for racial dignity than to protect languages African countries are often thought of as “Francophone” or “English-speaking”, but very few people speak the imperial languages Educational systems promote European languages and often ignore the indigenous languages

Language in the public arena Business & legislation are entirely in the imperial languages and in most countries speeches to the nation are given in a European language African politicians make know many languages, but MUST know the relevant European language in order to serve in government Sub-Saharan constitutions are written in European languages and unintelligible to most of their populations