Linguists estimate that there are currently nearly 2,000 languages
in Africa, a staggering figure that is belied by the relatively few
national languages. While African national politics, economics and
law are all conducted primarily in the colonial languages, the
cultural life of the majority of citizens is conducted in a
bewildering babel of regional vernaculars and local dialects. In
The Power of Babel, Ali Mazrui and Alamin Mazrui explore the
cultural and political implications of this linguistic diversity,
including the role of language in nationalism and expansionist
policies, gender roles, and social theory, to provide one of the
most comprehensive studies of the complex linguistic constellations
of Africa.
The Power of Babel draws on Ali Mazrui's earlier work in its
examination of the "triple heritage" of African culture, in which
indigenous, Islamic, and Western traditions compete for influence.
In bringing the idea of the triple heritage to language, the
Mazruis unravel issues of power, culture, and modernity as they are
embedded in African linguistic life. The first section of the book
takes a global perspective, exploring such issues as the
Eurocentrism of much linguistic scholarship on Africa; part two
takes an African perspective on a variety of topics from the
linguistically disadvantaged position of women in Africa to the
relation of language policy and democratic development; the third
section presents a set of regional studies, centering on the
Swahili language's exemplification of the triple heritage. The
Power of Babel unites empirical information with theories of
nationalism and pluralism -- among others -- to consider the future
of a linguistically pluralisticAfrica and to offer the richest
contextual account of African languages to date.
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