Brief update, November/December 2024
Dear Members,
I hope this message finds you well, as we are approaching the festivities of the end of 2024. Again, a few brief pieces of information:
Call for Papers: ECAS Conference 2025 in Prague, June 2025 - deadline for proposals is 15 December!
There will be a panel organised by our Circle, on ‘Belonging in Africa, belonging in the world – the role of language’. If you think you would like to contribute (or know of others who might), submit via this link.
Journal progress
The first submissions for ‘Language Policy in Africa’ have now received two reviews. The review process has taken longer than expected – as a consequence, we are looking at publishing the inaugural issue of the Journal in early 2025. Please respond to requests for review, if you receive them! In the meantime, the Journal remains open for new submissions.
Member activities
Recently out: a special issue of ‘African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning’. One of the guest editors is Circle member Berrington Ntombela. This open access Journal is based at the University of Limpopo and carries a number of interesting articles devoted to different aspects of using indigenous languages at higher education institutions in South Africa.
Most of you will be familiar with the African Studies Global Virtual Forum, led by Sinfree Makoni. On 13 December, undersigned will give a talk on ‘Dismantling toxic ideas on language and education in Africa’ (see flyer attached).
Linguapax Prize
Some of you may be interested in the Linguapax Award. It carries a financial prize of up to € 6000 and is given annually to an individual, group, or institution in recognition of ‘actions in favour of global linguistic diversity that can be of different types: projects to revitalise threatened languages, activism in favour of the use of minoritized languages, promotion of the use of these languages in the artistic world, in the digital environment, and in other areas of life and work, promotion of mother tongue-based multilingual education, promotion of favourable language policies, defence of the liguistic rights of minoritized communities, research on the relationship between languages, well-being, and sustainability, and much more.’
Nominations are open until Feb. 21, 2025. If you know of an appropriate candidate, please consider nominating them. Here you can read the full information about the award and download the award's terms of reference.
New members
Three new members have joined since last time: Dr Ruth Emsley and Mokgadi Modiba, both of the University of Limpopo, South Africa, and Bolatito Kolawole, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Of course, things can change – people change jobs, job titles and interests. Do let us know if this is the case.
As always, if you have things or hear of things that you think might be of interest to Circle members, don’t hesitate to send a short message, either via the mail or via WhatsApp - we will be happy to share the information.
Best regards,
Bert (also on behalf of Comfort, Sarita and Taiwo).