Archive: past updates

Dear members of our informal Circle,

Most of you will have seen it – on 23 May, we went public with the inaugural issue of the Language Planning in Africa journal, featuring an editorial on the relevance of language policy in Africa, an opinion piece by Salikoko Mufwene and seven peer-reviewed articles. Since then, it has been accessed more than 800 times, which we think is a great score for a publication of this type. We are working to further improve the Journal and to get it indexed and we welcome new submissions on an ongoing basis. We would especially like to welcome book reviews of relevant recent literature.

We’re very happy that we managed to keep the Editorial Team together and working in good spirits during the full 18-month preparation process. Recently, however, Dr Lynn Kisembe of Moi University (Kenya) has had to step down from her editor role. She will…

Dear members of our slowly-growing informal Circle,

We are busy making the last tweaks to the inaugural issue of the new Language Planning in Africa journal, but it is not quite ready yet – we hope to be able to share information on it with you very soon. Your help in promoting the Journal, once it is out, will be greatly appreciated!

New members since the last update:

• Dr Maryam Jaffar Ismail, The State University of Zanzibar (SUZA), Tanzania; and

Dear colleagues interested in the promotion of African languages,

There are a number of pots on our fire, so to speak, which we hope will lead to some interesting news in the months to come. But for now, there is nothing much to report, except that we are welcoming three new members to our Circle:

• Dr Budzani Gabanamotse-Mogara, University of Botswana;

• Dr Philpo John, Mkwawa University College of Education, Tanzania;

Dear members of our informal Circle,

Today, 21 February, marks the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day. This day helps to remind us (if indeed reminding is needed) of the importance of people’s languages for the preservation of their culture, for their economic development, for the efficiency of their educational systems and indeed for the full and authentic development of all the talents available to mankind.

For Africa, there is still a long way to go before indigenous languages get the status and use in official domains that would benefit the continent most. However, I think that most of us in the Circle believe this time will come – it is up to us to study, publish and be active for the best possible transition to an increased use of African languages in all domains.

There is a special celebration going on today at the UNESCO headquarters in…