Literature and languages into the 21st century

During 2003 the second stage of one of the most fundamental developments in the use of indigenous African languages will take place in Johannesburg. Buwa: African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century is a continuation of Against All Odds, an African renaissance initiative that got underway in Asmara, Eritrea in January 2000. Over 250 African writers, scholars, publishers, cultural activists, political figures, civic groups, students, artists, and children from 20 African countries, from the African Diaspora and from around the world attended Against All Odds.

Beginning from the premise that African languages speak to those on whose behalf African governments exercise power, the movement’s objective is to recognise the primacy and enhance the use of African languages throughout the continent in fostering people-centred development, education, administration, communication, and decolonisation.

The founding conference adopted a set of guidelines for the development of African languages, The Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures, which has been hailed as the sine qua non for the African renaissance, much like the African Union and its programme, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

The empowerment of African languages offers the simplest, fairest, most democratic, economic, holistic, and achievable way to improve African lives and livelihood through the application of knowledge, education, science and technology.

The Asmara conference resolved to meet again in South Africa. A plenary session will take place in Gauteng in September 2003, preparatory to the African Congress scheduled for August 2004.

Buwa will bring together specialists and lay people to examine language policies and practices in Africa, in general, and South Africa, in particular and spell out ways in which African languages can be developed to accelerate the empowerment of the overwhelming majority of African peoples. Seminars and workshops will also take place for teachers of African languages, translators and interpreters, and nascent writers in African languages. In addition, there will be a festival of performances and other events to celebrate Africa’s vibrant and diverse cultures.

Under the leadership of three Presiding Chairs – Mbulelo Mzamane, Nawal el Saadawi, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o – the African renaissance initiative for the development of African languages and literatures has outlined an ambitious programme of conferences, festivals, seminars, publications, video production, and other cultural activities.

This project includes the development of a permanent Africa-based secretariat with an international extension as well as the publication and dissemination in book and video form of the ‘new knowledge’ generated. This secretariat is oversee the:
1. Translation of a classic on African fiction into four geographically representative African languages;
2. Translation of a distinguished African woman writer similarly into four African languages;
3. Translation of a famous African play similarly into four African languages;
4. Translation of a celebrated African poet similarly into four African languages;
5. Foundation of a literary prize for African language writing;

The Buwa conference will discuss practical means of promoting writing, mass literacy and a reading culture on the continent in all languages, with special attention given to indigenous African languages and literatures. The sessions will explore ways of extending African language use for mass communication in the quest to attain universal access to education and development as well as deepen democracy and decolonisation in Africa.

Buwa will re-examine some key propositions and seek to provide answers to the following questions, among others, along with articulating steps that must be taken to resolve challenges Africa faces:

1. Pedagogy: Notwithstanding the resolve of many African governments to elevate the status of African languages, the crisis in African languages persists. In education, this crisis is most graphically manifested in dropping enrolments in departments of African languages. African languages command low status in educational institutions owing to the fact that they continue to have little social, political, economic, and educational value. What strategies can nations in general and educators in particular implement to revitalise and advance the teaching and status of African languages and literature? What can be done to advance the use of African languages in education?

2. Foreign/Indigenous Languages: Some languages enjoy dominance in Africa, despite originating outside the continent. Is it feasible or desirable to reduce their status? What should the relationship between these languages and other African languages be in education, politics, commerce, communication etc.? What lessons can we gain from minority languages continentally and internationally that have carved for themselves a vital, meaningful and central role?

3. Minority/Majority Languages: In addition to the uneven relationship between indigenous and colonial/foreign languages, smaller African languages, owing to a lack of critical mass among speakers, continue to be marginal. In such situations, what projects and programmes of empowerment can individuals, institutions and states devise to ensure evenness? What feasible local, regional and national initiatives can people undertake to realise the objectives of revitalisation?

4. Translation: Growth prospects for African languages and literature into the 21st century finally rest on cultivating a sustainable culture of reading. This, in turn, depends on growing literacy that is most effectively stimulated and achieved through mother-tongue usage. The Bible illustrates such a proposition as the most widely translated and, therefore, the most widely read text on the continent. How do we advance translation as a major feature in an endeavour to bring people, in their own languages, the best thoughts of humanity throughout the ages?

5. Lexicography, Standardisation and Harmonisation: Standard forms of African languages are largely a creation of missionaries and Europeans. Standard Xhosa was invented, for example, when missionaries and Europeans reduced to writing the dialect that was spoken along the Tyume River valley. Regional variations persist, however, and the dialect of the Tyume River valley is not the dialect of the Maluti region. But there is a relationship that obviously derives from some prototype of the ‘different’ languages, some ur-Nguni language. What function can ‘harmonisation’ play in creating a critical mass for language clusters such as Nguni and Sotho languages? For example, can literature in Nguni ‘languages’ by writers such as SEK Mqhayi (isiXhosa), BW Vilakazi (isiZulu), and Phola Dube (isiSwati) be taught in schools, colleges and universities the way Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, DH Lawrence, and Gabriel Okara are taught simply as English authors?

6. Lingua Patria/Lingua Africana: Where people speak a common language communication is enhanced and misunderstandings minimised. Kiswahili in Tanzania as lingua patria and a ‘language of inclusion’ helps forge common links and facilitates communication at the national level. Yet other countries in Africa and Eastern Europe that speak a common language have not avoided civil strife and war? Is language, therefore, a sufficient condition for promoting civic consciousness or a national patriotic culture? How must the process be understood or advanced? In the African Union era, it becomes pertinent once more to raise the issue of a lingua Africana. Is such a venture quixotic? Must we despair of the quest for a lingua Africana? While the status of African languages is reduced and continues to fall, is the African renaissance attainable? Questions thus arise that nations in general and Africans in particular need to address over what are the social, cultural, political, and economic benefits of inclusive language policies; and how can the use of African languages ensure positive spin-offs at local, national, regional, and international level.

7. African languages and the mass media: As a vehicle of mass communication, radio is the most widely used medium in Africa. The reasons go beyond its relative cheapness over television. Even more than print, radio in nearly every state in Africa broadcasts in several indigenous languages. Examples of thriving African newspapers in local languages abound, and this success can probably be replicated in other languages. Television may enjoy prestige but its more limited footprint coupled with restrictions in terms of languages of broadcast put it beyond the reach of ordinary people. What must the broadcast and print media do to reach ordinary Africans in their languages? What constraints do media practitioners that use African languages encounter and how can the mass media employ African languages in sustainable ways?

8. African Literature into the 21st Century – Challenges and Prospects: Literature depends on literacy and literacy benefits from literature. The fastest, most effective way to foster literacy is through mother-tongue instruction that in turn requires appropriate literary materials to succeed. The hierarchical structure that exists between colonial/foreign languages and indigenous African languages is inimical to the growth of literacy and literature in Africa. Closing the hierarchical gap can be the function of African language writers. What are the necessary conditions for such practices to take root in the African environment and for African language literature to flower?

9. Women’s Literature: The true worth of a nation must be measured by the character of its womanhood. Women are the heroines of continuance, who sustain life, making sure life continues from one era to the next. African women have the most untold stories to narrate. They have known the agony and the ecstasy; they have known betrayal and rejection; they have also known triumph, validation, and vindication. Without womanstory, humanstory (history) is incomplete. What measures must a nation put in place to promote writing and publishing by women authors?

10. Children’s Literature: Children’s literature, when it is appropriate to a given society, is crucial to promote awareness of the environment in which children live, socialise them to the dominant ethos in their respective communities, and propagate humanising values in every nation. Children’s literature should not be regarded as an appendage to ‘mainstream’ literature. The dearth of children’s literature specifically written for African children militates against cultivating a reading culture and against education and, therefore, development in many African states. What measures must individuals and nations put in place to promote children’s literature?

11. African markets for African language literature: Publishing in African languages is not a usually lucrative proposition for publishers that venture beyond school readers. What marketing measures can publishers and authors put in place to popularise African language literature? In addition, books in general are priced beyond the pockets of target African readers. What needs to happen to drive the price of books down in ways that make books affordable and do not cripple business?

12. HIV/Aids: Africa faces the frightening phenomenon of HIV/Aids. But Africans must not be so emotional as to lose sight of the fact that the real debate is between pursuing the ‘individualised curative care’ system that dominated the colonial state, on the one hand, and the ‘public healthcare’ model that African governments advocate, on the other hand. The political economy of health is about ensuring the health of the population on a sustainable basis. These are grave matters about which African governments wish to educate people, the vast majority of whom only speak African languages. But billboards, ministerial speeches, conferences, etc. are all in foreign languages. We believe a case must be made for politicians, educators, artists, writers, etc. to reach their African audiences on such matters in their own languages.

For further information email raks@writeassociates.co.za