African 204: Tree of Knowledge: Language Practices and Africa’s System of Knowing

Language constitutes a symbolic capital for constructing knowledge, disseminating thoughts, and expressing linguistic and sociocultural identities. Focusing on the linguistic background of Africans prior to colonization and the impact of the brutal experience of colonization and transatlantic slave trade on Africa’s linguistic practices, this course explores the shifts in language practices in multilingual African nations and amongst Africans in diaspora to highlight the impact of this experience on Africa’s expression of knowledge. What policies are enacted in and out of educational contexts to construct literacy? How might educational structures acknowledge linguistic plurality and difference to challenge the old and broken visions of power in classroom curriculum? To find answers to these questions, we will explore various readings on language practices in educational contexts, language policies, and various experiences of Africans across diverse social and academic settings. Based on your understanding of the relationship of language practices, literacies, power, policies of education, and African system of knowing, you will develop your research project through effective use of library resources, oral presentation of your work, and writing multiple drafts of your paper based on the writing convention in the humanities and feedback from your peers and me.