The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

Language Cover

Language, Culture and Decolonisation discusses the importance of language in decoloniality from a global perspective, and the decolonisation process from the disciplinary vantage points of history, politics, philosophy, and literary studies.

The book makes original contributions to our understanding of how, in Fanon’s words, colonialism gets under the skin of the colonised by taking control of a people’s history, language and culture, and denigrating all three. This edited volume examines classic and contemporary arguments that make the case for the importance of indigenous languages, including creole, in the cultural formation and expression of one’s identity. It also looks at arguments that make the case for the appropriation of the language of the coloniser as a method of subversion. French and English, for example, became the lingua franca of an elite pan-African intelligentsia.

This insightful book also shows how the coloniser, in promoting indigenous cultures and languages, may defuse and control potential political resistance, as we see in the case of the South African government and the Zulu nation.

Product information

Format : 240mm x 168mm
Pages : 384
ISBN 13 : 978-0-7969-2612-8
Publish Year : August 2022
Rights : World Rights

Introduction: Language and Decoloniality in Context

David Boucher

  1. Language and liberation

David Boucher

  1. Decolonization and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Circulations and Language in the Postcolonial World’

Caio Simões de Araújo

  1. Language in Africa and the Impossibility of African Philosophy

M. John Lamola

  1. The place of colonial languages in Decolonial philosophy and practice

Brian Sibanda

  1. The Need to Decolonise the Language of Personhood (?)

Mpho Tshivhase

  1. African literature as Self-interpretive: the Prospects of Indigenous Reading Modes

Ignatius Chukwumah

  1. Decolonisation and the (Im)possibilities of Literary Language’

Sule Emmanuel Egya

  1. Revealing the Power of Language and Developing Theory from Historical Artefacts

Siseko H. Kumalo

  1. Colonialism, politics of belonging and reinvention of African cultures: The case of South Africa

Sifiso Ndlovu

  1. The Turn to Tradition: Colonialism, Class and the Making of the Zulu Identity

Bongani Ngqulunga

  1. The Politics of Knowledge Production and Publishing: The Case of the Zulu Society

Jabulani Sithole

  1. Minority Language Revitalization: European Conundrums

Colin H. Williams

Notes about the Authors and contributors

Index

David Boucher is Professor of Political Philosophy and International Relations, Cardiff University and Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg. He has published on a wide variety of subjects, including colonialism and decolonization; international relations; history of political thought; British Idealism; the political philosophy of R. G. Collingwood; and, cultural studies. He has held visiting fellowships in Oxford, the University of Johannesburg, Canterbury University, New Zealand, The Sun Yat Sen University, Taiwan; and the Australian National University. His most recent books are The Limits of Ethics in International Relations (2009), British Idealism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2011 with Andrew Vincent), Appropriating Hobbes: Legacies in Politics, Law and International Relations (2018), and Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen: Deaths and Entrances (2021 with Lucy Boucher). Boucher is the editor of the Special Issue, International Journal of Social Economics (2019), entitled Social and Economic Injustices of Colonialism.

Share this

You might also consider these related books

Granting Justice 1

Granting Justice
Cash, care, and the child support grant

The book thus takes issue with the characterisation of the South African state as “developmental”. The crucial aspect of care is missing from the practice for this to be the case. Thus, while the grants address the immediate survival needs of many South Africans, social justice requires quite a different approach, an approach of care that would grant agency and dignity to recipients.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 240mm x 168mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 256
ISBN 13 : 978-0-7969-2620-3
Publish Year : March 2022
Rights : World Rights
Price R R200 |$13,17 |£10
2023

PRODDER Southern African Development Directory 1999-2000

This directory provides a comprehensive overview of the southern African Development Community's (SADC) development role-players. More than 5 000 organisations are listed including government departments, parastatals, research institutions, business organisations, corporate social investment programmes, NGOs, CBOs, training institutions, local and international donor agencies, United Nations agencies and diplomatic representation in southern Africa.

Product information

Format : 295mm x 205mm
Pages : 565
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-1926-7
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-1926-7
Publish Year : 1999
Price R 291.00
1943  Large

Coping Strategies of the Unemployed

In this report, the responses of almost 2 000 unemployed individuals in South Africa in a survey conducted in six provinces are considered. The results are supported by the findings of several local and international research projects on job creation. Strategies to optimise the impact of job creation efforts are also suggested.

Product information

Format : 210mm x 280mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 110
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-1922-4
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-1922-9
Publish Year : 1999
Rights : World Rights
Price R 137.00
Fmf New Cover

#FeesMustFall and its Aftermath
Violence, Wellbeing and the Student Movement in South Africa

This is a book of the experiences of violence and well-being of #FeesMustFall student activists from a range of South African universities. It is also a book of the sacrifices that this student generation made for the benefit of many to be able to access higher education.

Product information

Format : 260mm x 260mm
Pages : 224
ISBN 13 : 978-0-7969-2634-0
Publish Year : August 2022
Rights : World Rights
Price R R270.00