Author: Leonard Muaka
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498572286
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
Language in Contemporary African Cultures and Societies examines language in contemporary Africa by positioning language at the center of interrelationships between individuals, society, and culture. Because of how language permeates every aspect of human existence within each society, this book has assembled contributions by researchers and scholars who focus on different topics within African languages and cultures. By presenting African languages as resources and subject and subject of the study, this book discusses Africa’s multilingualism, language policy, preservation, and their uses in development, security, liberation, and identity formation in the diaspora. Based on empirical research and analysis of texts, this book takes a closer look at the continent and the diaspora by situating African languages, cultures, and literatures at the center, and shows how African languages are used in the liberation, transfer of knowledge, and promotion of literacy among Africans globally. It is a book that seeks to bridge the gap between the continent and the diaspora. All contributors are experienced scholars of language, literature, education and linguistics. The chapters provide a major means for examining the interplay of language, literature, and education.
Author: H. Ekkehard Wolff
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108417983
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive state-of-the-art study of 'African languages' and 'language in Africa' since its beginnings as a 'colonial science' at the turn of the twentieth century in Europe. Compiled by 56 internationally renowned scholars, this ground breaking study looks at past and current research on 'African languages' and 'language in Africa' under the impact of paradigmatic changes from 'colonial' to 'postcolonial' perspectives. It addresses current trends in the study of the role and functions of language, African and other, in pre- and postcolonial African societies. Highlighting the central role that the 'language factor' plays in postcolonial transformation processes of sociocultural modernization and economic development, it also addresses more recent, particularly urban, patterns of communication, and outlines applied dimensions of digitalization and human language technology.
Author: Abebe Zegeye
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136659897
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172
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Book Description
European and African works have found it difficult to move past the image of Africa as a place of exotica and relentless brutality. This book explores the status and critical relationship between politics, culture, literary creativity, criticism, education and publishing in the context of promoting Africa’s indigenous knowledge, and seeks to recover some of the sites where Africans continue to elaborate conflicting politics of self-affirmations. It both acknowledges and steps outside the protocols of analysis informed by nationalism, differentiating the forms that postcolonial theories have taken, and arguing for a selective appropriation of theory that emerges from Africa’s lived experiences.
Author: Yale Richmond
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
ISBN: 1931930619
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
"An invaluable source for anyone wanting to experience Africa. The authors begin with a subject of unimaginable scope and somehow make it concise and comprehensible ... a truly magnificent work for both scholar and novice." - Warren M. Robbins, Founding Director Emeritus, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Across the globe, Africa is seen as the final frontier for economic development and has experienced renewed attention from both Western and Eastern nations, particularly in the last decade. The U.S., India, China and parts of Europe have all increased foreign direct investment in Africa, and yet the complexity and diversity of this vast continent pose risks and challenges for those investments. For more than a decade, Into Africa has provided valuable advice to those who are interested in traveling to, living in or working in sub-Saharan Africa - businesspeople, human rights and development workers, diplomats, academics and trainers - and anyone else who seeks a better understanding of the cultural characteristics of this dynamic part of the world. With depth and sensitivity, Into Africa examines the effects of community, ethnicity and language on doing business and establishing professional and personal relationships in African countries. The book explores regional differences, offers detailed guidelines for conducting training programs in Africa and examines issues that reflect the complex relationships involved. This new and expanded edition of Into Africa brings a fresh view on sub-Saharan Africa, showing how the nations of Africa have adapted to Western ways while retaining their cultural traditions and diversity. Authors Yale Richmond and Phyllis Gestrin explore contemporary Africa in great depth, discussing increased trade with the U.S. and Europe, the role of politics and business, changes in mass communication and the continuing threat of HIV/AIDS. A thorough, lively and carefully researched book, Into Africa is the perfect companion for anyone wishing to gain a more rounded perception of Africa and its diverse cultures.
Author: Rajesh Kumar
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527522679
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 239
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Book Description
This book explores the instrumentality of language in constructing identity in contemporary society. The processes of globalization, hyper-mobility, rapid urbanization, and the increasing desire of local populations to be linked to the global community have created a pressing need to reconfigure identity in this new world order. Following the digital revolution, both traditional and new media are dissolving linguistic boundaries. The centrality of language in organizing communities and groups cannot be overstated: our social order is developed alongside our linguistic allegiance, shared narratives, collective memories, and common social history. Keeping in mind the fluidity of identity, the book brings together fourteen chapters providing cultural and social perspectives. The ideas reflected here draw on a range of disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, the politics of language, and linguistic identity.
Author: Lilian Lem Atanga
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027272301
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 345
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Book Description
Gender and Language in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tradition, Struggle and Change is the first book to bring together the topics of language and gender, African languages, and gender in African contexts, and it does so in a descriptive, explanatory and critical way. Including fascinating new work and new, often challenging data from Botswana, Chad, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, this collection looks at some ‘traditional’ uses of language in relation to the gender of its speakers and the gendered nature of the languages themselves; it also identifies and explores social change in terms of both gender and sexuality, as reflected in and constructed by language and discourse. The contributions to this volume are accessibly written and will be of interest to students and established academics working on African sociolinguistics and discourse, as well as those whose interest is language, gender and sexuality.
Author: Alfred B. Zack-Williams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351960431
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 173
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Book Description
The poor economic performance of some African countries since independence has been a major concern to both African leaders and policy makers. This volume, which draws together contributions from academics based in Africa and its diaspora, situates the continent within its historic and socio-political background: from the 1960s, the decade of independence, through to its development outlook as the new millennium unfolds. It examines a broad range of contemporary issues -- from development and culture to linguistics and is unique in identifying and examining issues that are common both to Africa and the diaspora.
Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 9781580462976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
An analysis of the ties between culture and every aspect of African life, using Africa's past to explain present situations. This book focuses on the modern cultures of Africa, from the consequences of the imposition of Western rule to the current struggles to define national identities in the context of neo-liberal economic policies and globalization.The book argues that it is against the backdrop of foreign influences that Africa has defined for itself notions of identity and development. African cultures have been evolving in response to change, and in other ways solidly rooted in a shared past. The book successfully deconstructs the last one hundred and fifty years of cultures that have been disrupted, replaced, and resurrected. The Power of African Cultures challenges many preconceived notions, such as male dominance and female submission, the supposed unity of ethnic groups, and contemporary Western stereotypes of Africans. It also shows the dynamism of African cultures to adapt to foreign imposition: even as colonial rule forced the adoption of foreign institutions and cultures, African cultures appropriated these elements. Traditions were reworked, symbols redefined, and the past situated in contemporary problems in order to accommodate the modern era. Toyin Falola is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria. He is the recipient of the 2006 Cheikh Anta Diop Award for Exemplary Scholarship in AfricanStudies, and the 2008 Quintessence Award by the Africa Writers Endowment. He holds an honorary doctorate from Monmouth University and he is University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin where heis also the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities. His books include Nationalism and African Intellectuals and Violence in Nigeria, both from the University of Rochester Press.
Author: Anthonia C. Kalu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429648278
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
This book is a powerful exploration of the role of women in the evolution of African thinking and narratives on development, from the precolonial period right through to the modern day. Whilst the book identifies women’s oppression and marginalization as significant challenges to contemporary Africa’s advancement, it also explores how new written narratives draw on traditional African knowledge systems to bring deep-rooted and sometimes radical approaches to progress. The book asserts that Africans must tell their own stories, expressed through the complex meanings and nuances of African languages and often conveyed through oral traditions and storytelling, in which women play an important role. The book’s close examination of language and meaning in the African narrative tradition advances the illumination and elevation of African storytelling as part of a viable and valid knowledge base in its own right, rather than as an extension of European paradigms and methods. Anthonia C. Kalu's new edition of this important book, fully revised throughout, will also include fresh analysis of the role of digital media, education, and religion in African narratives. At a time when the prominence and participation of African women in development and sociopolitical debates is growing, this book's exploration of their lived experiences and narrative contribution will be of interest to students of African literature, gender studies, development, history, and sociology.
Author: John Parker
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192802488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
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Book Description
Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.
