Brief update, February 2024
Dear members of our informal Circle on the Promotion of African Languages,
We've been silent for a while, but by no means idle! Here are a few things to share for now...
Language Policy in Africa journal
On 19 January, we had a very constructive meeting of the Editorial Board of the new Journal we are trying to set up. It led to a final choice of the name ('Language Policy in Africa') and a final mission/vision statement. If you are interested: read it on the website. We have also been working with the people at the University of Bern's Open Publishing department to make all the behind-the-scenes arrangements that will be necessary before we can open the Journal for submissions. We hope to be ready quite soon (in a couple of weeks) and will send out an alert as soon as the setup has been completed. So if you (or colleagues you know) have papers that you think might be in scope for the journal - just be patient a bit longer and then please submit your work!
Upcoming Conferences
Our Circle will be present at the upcoming at the WOCAL Congress in Kenya and at the VAD Conference in Germany. If there are other conferences where you think you would like to submit or present together with other Circle members, do let us know!
New members
We welcome three new members: Dr Claudius Kihara, Chuka University, Kenya; Dr Sandiso Ngcomo, Mangosuthu University of Technology, South Africa; and Dr Elvis ResCue, University of Essex, UK.
Happy Mother Language Day, 21 February!
Changes? People change jobs, get promotions, change e-mail addresses etc. Please check if the information we have about you on the website is still accurate and let us know about any changes or updates you would like us to make.
Whatsapp group: there are now 30 members in our 'Afrilang' Whatsapp group (it is not a very intensive group, at the moment). If you are already a member - don't hesitate to share your triumphs, frustrations, tips, and questions! If you are not in but would like to be, send your Whatsapp number as a reply to this message or to +3162241925.
All the best,
Bert (on behalf of Comfort, Sarita, and Taiwo).