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Introduction

Transformative Power and Resourcefulness of African Languages in the Information and Knowledge Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Russell H. Kaschula  and
H. Ekkehard Wolff
Edited by
Russell H. Kaschula  and
H. Ekkehard Wolff
Russell H. Kaschula
Affiliation:
Rhodes University, South Africa
H. Ekkehard Wolff
Affiliation:
Universität Leipzig
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Summary

This chapter serves as general introduction to clear the ground and explore the transformative nature of language in relation to knowledge creation and how it relates to current and burning issues of (mental) decolonisation in postcolonial Africa. It centres around language as a key factor, particularly in higher education at university level, with due recognition of strategies for the intellectualisation and re-empowerment of formerly dis-empowered languages under the colonial regime, encompassing digital literacy, translations from and into African languages and challenges for lexicography. It outlines the overall structure of the book and provides chapter summaries.

Keywords

African languagessocietal transformationmental decolonisationknowledge societylanguage intellectualisationlanguage re-empowermentdigital literacylexicographytranslation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Transformative Power of Language
From Postcolonial to Knowledge Societies in Africa
 , pp. 1 - 30
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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