A Linguistic Renaissance for an African Renaissance
Language Policy & Language Planning
By Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu
Reviewed by Omar Abdel Fatah

As obvious from the title of his article, Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu debates whether an African renaissance can be achieved through European languages. Kamwangamalu maintains that no such renaissance is possible without a linguistic renaissance of the local languages in the continent. He holds that local languages should be used in school education.

The ultimate goal, which the author sees for this is to educate the general public so that they could efficiently participate in the political, scientific and social development of their countries.

In the first part of his article, Kamwangamalu traces the historical roots of the term renaissance. The term goes back to the Europe of the Middle Ages (14th Century) and it was used to describe the revival of European culture and art. The term has since re-emerged and spread globally in various forms.

Take, for instance, Marcus Garvey’s Black Nationalism, otherwise known as the Harlem movement in 1922, which sought to acquire economic power and to infuse among blacks a sense of community and group feeling. Another example is the Bigsby movement in the 1950s, which sought a redefinition of the African personality, and which placed great emphasis on education. The Bigsby movement held positive indications.

It called for the death of the old man residing inside Africans in order to give life to a new generation.

But the question keeps nagging: Can Africa’s renaissance be achieved through the use of European languages. According to Tollefson, a language represents a basic component of human societies.

It affects people’s life in communicating with family and friends either at home or at work and affects also the sum of income earned by an individual.

On the other hand, Boloka describes Africa’s renaissance as an attempt to recapture the past.

An impossible achievement. He maintains that Africans are involved in a desperate quest for an identity lost during the period of colonialism.

Nicola Jones agrees with Boloka on the fact that an ordinary African would not know what is intended by the term renaissance. She maintains that it is an empty and meaningless term used by the public for economic gains.

Vic Webb on the other hand believes that Africa’s renaissance is possible only if local languages are used in education. An African child is usually started in primary school using only the local languages in the first four years.

A European language is taught as just one subject. Beginning from a student’s fifth year, the pre-colonialist language becomes the only tool of education.

As it stands now and since the early 1960s, the situation has rendered the issue of education in local languages a thorny one indeed. A further complication is the widespread illiteracy among Africans even in respect of their own local languages.

Although European languages have been used in the African education system for over three hundred years, they have failed to root out illiteracy. The reason is that the Western system of education is unsuitable for Africa. Which means that local languages should be revived and made to become the basis of an African revival. European languages should either take second place or turn into community languages.

Kamwangamalu then moves to discussing the means of marketing local languages. The pricing of a local language, he maintains, depends mostly on its weight. As with everything else, a language is a commodity on a market, the selling of which depends on its value compared to other products. A linguistic product is assessed in relation with its equivalents within the context of the global economy. It is from this premise that African communities have found that their former colonialists’ languages are more attractive.

Kamwangamalu concludes that whether accepted or rejected, the issue of using local languages as a means of education is no less important than any other aspect of the African renaissance. Multi-linguality means that the use of local languages is an elementary human rights question. Hence the need for Africans to reassess their languages. As with any process of linguistic planning, institutions should be created to promote and encourage education in African languages. The curriculum should be upgraded, teachers trained and funds made available.