African Literacy & Languages

Globalization & Internationalization in EducationKasey Rios Asberry Spring 2014

Your perspectives

Visualizing literacy

Competing trajectories

Whose project?

South Africa: literacy and languages

Back to the future

African Literacy & LanguagesGlobalization & Internationalization in EducationSpring 2014

Your perspectives

• Should education systems invest in teaching people in more than one language? All 14

• Would / do you educate your children in more than one language? All 14

Our objective > Visualizing literacy

Competing Trajectories

• Global vs local

• Commodification vs heritage

Literacy: whose project?

• Literacy objectives: who defines

• Literacy implementations: who succeeds?

• Literacy outcomes: who benefits?

Business Languages of Africa

Literacy: whose project?

Washington Consensus

Capability deprivation

Control of educational purpose

Language and liberation

Frantz Fanon

“To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture”

Paulo Freire

“Without a sense of identity

there can be no

struggle”

“Language is never neutral”

“to alienate humans from their own decision-making is to turn them into objects”

Neville Alexander

“Only those who do not consider political questions deeply can ignore language questions in South Africa”

Rock art & alphabets

Families

Endangered languages

• between 6000 - 7000 languages currently spoken

• 50-90% of those will have become extinct by the year 2100

• The top 20 languages spoken by more than 50 million speakers each, are spoken by 50% of the world's population, many of the other languages are spoken by small communities, most of them with fewer than 10,000 speakers.

South African Linguistic Context

Languages of South Africa

South African Literacy Context

Literacy: whose project?

• Neville Alexander, rights in education

• Reclamation goals

• Languages and revolution

Concept map: Visualizing literacy

Back to the future

ReferencesAllais,S. (2003) The National Qualifications Framework in South Africa: a democratic project

trapped in a neo-liberal paradigm? Journal of Education and Work. Vol 16:3

Alexander, N.(1989) Language Policy & National Unity in South Africa/Azania. Buchu Books

Babaci-Wilhite,Z., A. Macleans, M. Geo-JaJa, S. Lou (2012) Education and Language: A human right for sustainable development in Africa. Int Rev Educ (2012) 58:619–647 DOI 10.1007/s11159-012-9311-7

Fanon, F.(1959) A Dying Colonialism. Grove Press: New York

Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum: New York

The Economist (2010) No One Gets Prizes. http://Economist.com./world/middle-east/

Omolewa, M. (2008) Adult Literacy in Africa: The Push and Pull Factors. International Review of Education (2008) 54:697–711

Mafundikwa, S.2004. Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. Mark Batty LLC: New York

Figures• Map: Business Languages, AfroGraphique• Map: Rock Art & Alphabets in Africa, Mafundikwa• Map: Language Families in Africa• Map: Language Distribution in South Africa, AACLAN• Fanon, Frantz, Wikimedia• Alexander, Neville, Wikimedia• Paulo Freire, The Freire Project• African syllabary: Adinka, Mafundikwa• Non-verbal language: Bantu ideograms, Mafundikwa

These slides were prepared for ISED 740: Globalization &

Internationalization in Education, a graduate seminar in Education at San Francisco State University,

David Hemphill, Professor.

African Literacy & LanguagesGlobalization & Internationalization in EducationSpring 2014