Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe

The struggle against the hegemony of English in the education system and literary practice in Africa became vigorous from the late 1950s and the early 1960s when the British colonies of Africa began to attain political independence. This article uses Zimbabwean university education and literary...

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Main Authors: Charamba, Tyanai, Mutasa, Davie E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: NISC (Pty) Ltd and Routledge 2016
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author Charamba, Tyanai
Mutasa, Davie E.
author_facet Charamba, Tyanai
Mutasa, Davie E.
author_sort Charamba, Tyanai
collection DSpace
description The struggle against the hegemony of English in the education system and literary practice in Africa became vigorous from the late 1950s and the early 1960s when the British colonies of Africa began to attain political independence. This article uses Zimbabwean university education and literary practice to discuss the approaches which have so far been used by African people in that struggle. The effectiveness of those approaches are considered using different scholarly research findings and drawing examples from what happened and/or is still happening in Zimbabwe and relating it to what is happening in other African and non-African countries. Furthermore, the article explores the effectiveness of those approaches from an understanding that the hegemony of the English language is closely linked to superpower politics in general. Superpower politics has a direct and an indirect influence on the manner in which Zimbabweans and Africans in general choose languages of university education and literary creation. The article concludes that, as long as world politics is superpower politics, and as long as the superpower is an English-speaking nation, the hegemony of English will remain a force to be reckoned with in Zimbabwe’s university education and literary practice.
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spelling ir-11408-8252022-06-27T13:49:06Z Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe Charamba, Tyanai Mutasa, Davie E. African Education English Language The struggle against the hegemony of English in the education system and literary practice in Africa became vigorous from the late 1950s and the early 1960s when the British colonies of Africa began to attain political independence. This article uses Zimbabwean university education and literary practice to discuss the approaches which have so far been used by African people in that struggle. The effectiveness of those approaches are considered using different scholarly research findings and drawing examples from what happened and/or is still happening in Zimbabwe and relating it to what is happening in other African and non-African countries. Furthermore, the article explores the effectiveness of those approaches from an understanding that the hegemony of the English language is closely linked to superpower politics in general. Superpower politics has a direct and an indirect influence on the manner in which Zimbabweans and Africans in general choose languages of university education and literary creation. The article concludes that, as long as world politics is superpower politics, and as long as the superpower is an English-speaking nation, the hegemony of English will remain a force to be reckoned with in Zimbabwe’s university education and literary practice. 2016-04-07T14:48:37Z 2016-04-07T14:48:37Z 2014 Article 0257-2117 www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02572117.2014.997058 en The South African Journal of African Languages; none NISC (Pty) Ltd and Routledge
spellingShingle African Education
English Language
Charamba, Tyanai
Mutasa, Davie E.
Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe
title Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe
title_full Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe
title_fullStr Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe
title_short Challenging the hegemony of English in African education and literature: The case of Zimbabwe
title_sort challenging the hegemony of english in african education and literature: the case of zimbabwe
topic African Education
English Language
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