Panel: Culture, Language Policy and Power
When: 08.11.2019 15.00-17.00 Uhr
Where: Rautenstrauch-Joest Bibliothek, 2. OG
In the "UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages“, the question of language policies and their influence on culture and socio-political power relations arises - both internationally and nationally. The significance of language as an essential medium of self-understanding and world knowledge, of historical consciousness and knowledge, of unmistakable cultures and their ethics and aesthetics is undisputed. Anyone who lives as a member of a minority or as a dissident in a dictatorship appreciates the freedom of the word, as much as the respect for mother tongues. The Kenyan Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o criticizes the language policies of the colonial powers through which the elites (to this day) secure their rule and exclude the majority of people from education and democratic participation.
In which languages do international conferences take place? Which "world languages" dominate education and the media? What would Africa look like without the Goethe Institutes, the Commonwealth and the Francophonie? What about the awareness of African languages in the continent's literary scene and what does all this have to do with Europe? Shouldn't we soon be able to travel the world with our handful of European "foreign languages"? What if, like South Africa after 1994, we changed our system to eleven national languages?
What sounds unimaginable at first glance could also be an enticing perspective, because multilingualism also brings more culture, more knowledge, more mutual understanding.
Here you can find the program for printing: programm.-veranstaltungen_compressed.pdf
Mit/ with/ avec:
• Mukoma wa Ngũgĩ (KE/ US)
• Bibi Bakare-Yusuf (NG/ GB)
• Elnathan John (NG/DE)
Moderation: Sarah Ladipo-Manyika (NG)
The panel will be held in english.
Jutta Himmelreich translates English <-> German
Azizè Flittner translates whispering English <-> French
Visitors* who need whispered interpreting, please let us know on admission.
Hier finden Sie das Programm zum ausdrucken: programm.-veranstaltungen_compressed.pdf
Guests
Presentation
Förderer
