Overview

This book focuses on language, culture, and national identity in Africa. Leading specialists examine countries in every part of the continent - Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Senegal, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanbia, South Africa, and the nations of the Horn, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. Each chapter describes and examines the country's linguistic and political history and the relation of its languages to national, ethnic, and cultural identities, and assesses the relative status of majority and minority languages and the role of language in ethnic conflict. Of the book's authors, fifteen are from Africa and seven from Europe and the USA. Jargon-free, fully referenced, and illustrated with seventeen maps, this book will be of value to a wide range of readers in linguistics, politics, history, sociology, and anthropology. It will interest everyone wishing to understand the dynamic interactions between language and politics in Africa, in the past and now.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrew Simpson (, University of Southern California, Los Angeles)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.90cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 25.50cm
Weight:   0.831kg
ISBN:  

9780199286744

ISBN 10:   0199286744
Pages:   382
Publication Date:   07 February 2008
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors 1: Andrew Simpson: Introduction 2: Yasir Suleiman: Egypt: From Egyptian to Pan-Arab Nationalism 3: Moha Ennaji and Fatima Sadiqi: Morocco: Language, Nationalism, and Gender 4: Wendy James: Sudan: Majorities, Minorities, and Language Interactions 5: Fiona McLaughlin: Senegal: The Emergence of a National Lingua Franca 6: Ingse Skattum: Mali: in Defence of Cultural and Linguistic Pluralism 7: B. Akíntúndé Oyètádé and Victor Fashole Luke: Sierra Leone: Krio and the Quest for National Integration 8: Akosua Anyidoho and M.E. Kropp Dakubu: Ghana: Indigenous Languages, English, and an Emergine National Identity 9: Anne Moseng Knutsen: Ivory Coast: the Supremacy of French 10: Andrew Simpson and B. Akíntúndé Oyètádé: Nigeria: Ethno-Linguistic Competition in the Giant of Africa 11: Edmond Biloa and George Echu: Cameroon: Official Bilingualism in a Multilingual State 12: Eyamba Bokamba: D.R. Congo: Language and 'Authentic Nationalism' 13: Chege Githiora: Kenya: Language and the Search for a Coherent National Identity 14: Farouk Topan: Tanzania: the Successful Development of Swahili as a National and Official Language 15: David Appleyard and Martin Orwin: The Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia 16: Lutz Marten and Nancy C. Kula: Zambia: 'One Zambia, One Nation, Many Languages' 17: Rajend Mesthrie: South Africa: the Rocky Road to Nation Building References

Reviews

... the collection provides a fascinating and valuable new perspective on language policy and planning and emphasizes the constructed yet fluid nature of the language-identity nexus. * Tracy G. Beckett, Linguistlist *

... the collection provides a fascinating and valuable new perspective on language policy and planning and emphasizes the constructed yet fluid nature of the language-identity nexus. Tracy G. Beckett, Linguistlist

Author Information

Andrew Simpson is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics, University of Southern California. He has studied and travelled extensively in Africa, and is particularly interested in the dynamics of post-colonial language development in West Africa. He is the editor of the Language and National Identity in Asia (OUP 2007).

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