scholarly journals Vehicular Cross-Border Languages, Multilingualism and the African Integration Debate: A Decolonial Epistemic Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Finex Ndhlovu

The proposition that African vehicular cross-border languages are best positioned to facilitate African integration is underpinned by a hegemonic and colonial philosophy that misdirects the African multilingual debate. This becomes apparent when the perceived utility of this category of languages is considered against the backdrop of contestations surrounding language definition traditions and the incidence of language multiversity in Africa1. Drawing on the ideas of decolonial scholarship from the Global South, this article provides a critical analysis of African vehicular cross-border languages and perceptions about their ability to resolve the anticipated intercultural communication problems of an integrated Africa. The article seeks to bring to the limelight some of the fundamental omissions and blind spots of such projective conclusions about the potential of vehicular cross-border languages and how such projections are shaped by dominant, neo-liberal and conservative language ideologies and ideologies of (or about) language.

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Lomeu Gomes

AbstractThis article derives from a three-year ethnographic project carried out in Norway focusing on language practices of Brazilian families raising their children multilingually. Analyses of interview data with two Brazilian parents demonstrate the relevance of examining intersectionally the participants’ orientation to categorisations such as social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, I explore how parents make sense of their transnational, multilingual experiences, and the extent to which these experiences inform the language-related decisions they make in the home. Advancing family multilingualism research in a novel direction, I employ a southern perspective as an analytical position that: (i) assumes the situatedness of knowledge production; (ii) aims at increasing social and epistemic justice; (iii) opposes the dominance of Western-centric epistemologies; and (iv) sees the global South as a political location, not necessarily geographic, but with many overlaps. Finally, I draw on the notions of intercultural translation and equivocation to discuss the intercultural encounters parents reported. The overarching argument of this article is that forging a southern perspective from which to analyse parental language practices and beliefs offers a theoretical framework that can better address the issues engendered by parents engaged in South–North transnational, multilingual practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82
Author(s):  
Enna Sukutai Gudhlanga

The advent of colonialism relegated the traditional African woman to the fringes of the family and society through codified customary law. The Shona women of Zimbabwe were some of the worst affected as they were re-defined as housewives who had to rely on their husbands for the up-keep of the family. However, in as much as globalisation has been accused of having brought some crisis on the African continent and side-lined a significant number of indigenous players, for the African woman in the global south it has brought some form of re-awakening. Globalisation seems to have re-opened the avenues for Shona women and enabled them to re-negotiate their entry back into the economic activities of the family and the public sphere. Despite the general lack of interest in the activities of women and in the strategies used by the poor for survival, it is a known fact that Shona women have become a force to reckon with in terms of cross-border trading in Zimbabwe. This research was prompted by the general hub of activity at the country's borders before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic and the predominance of women traders who traverse the borders but whose activities have either not attracted enough attention to get their work recognised, or simply because they are taken for granted. Despite such strides, women in the cross-border trading business have instead garnered a certain stigma around them to the extent that the magnitude of their work is largely unrecognised. Yet elsewhere, the significance of women in informal trade is well documented. This study argues that women have not been left out in the global arena of trade. Desai (2009) acknowledges that the global economic openings in the informal sector have afforded women the opportunity to become active players in the markets of the global South. It is the aim of this research to investigate how globalisation has influenced the nature of the activities of Shona women in the cross-border trading business in Zimbabwe and their impact on the social well-being of the family and the nation’s economy at large. The research is largely qualitative in nature. Purposively selected Shona female cross-border traders at the Gulf Complex and Copacabana Market in Harare were interviewed before the COVID pandemic. The study revealed that the transnational activities of these Zimbabwean women are more wide-spread than has been anticipated. The study also revealed that women are unrecognised pillars in the economy of Zimbabwe as reflected in their success stories that have benefited Zimbabwe as a country. The study was informed by Africana Womanist theory which is embedded in African culture with special leaning on Ubuntu/ Unhu philosophy which recognises the complementary roles and partnerships of both men and women in resolving society's challenges.


2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-185
Author(s):  
Lisa Sowle Cahill

While Roman Catholic ethics of war and peace develops more restrictive criteria of just war and reprioritizes nonviolence, an important strand of Protestant theology defends war as a God-given instrument of government’s multiple ends. A newer ethics of just peace and peacebuilding emerges from Christian initiatives to transform armed conflict at intra-state and cross-border levels. This essay assesses these approaches and pacifism, concluding with a perspective from the Global South.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 853-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona B. Adamson ◽  
Gerasimos Tsourapas

How do states in the Global South manage cross-border migration? This article identifies Hollifield’s “migration state” as a useful tool for comparative analysis yet notes that in its current version the concept is limited, given its focus on economic immigration in advanced liberal democracies. We suggest a framework for extending the “migration state” concept by introducing a typology of nationalizing, developmental, and neoliberal migration management regimes. The article explains each type and provides illustrative examples drawn from a range of case studies. To conclude, it discusses the implications of this analysis for comparative migration research, including the additional light it sheds on the migration management policies of states in the Global North.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (261) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Alexandra Jaffe

AbstractIn this article, we question one of the important notions of the Corsican normative conceptual apparatus: the polynomie. This concept is particularly interesting as a language ideological position that calls into question dominant ideological perspectives on standardization and normalization. This article puts the polynomie in an ideological process that calls for a critical sociolinguistic analysis that first accounts for the interaction between sociolinguistic, economic, political and ideological domains. That critical sociolinguistic perspective emphasizes that all language ideological frameworks – even those which recognize diversity – impose particular criteria and give value to some ways of speaking and being over others.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bronwin M. Boswell

<p>I have been involved in policing and crime prevention for many years. I was a sworn member of Victoria Police (Australia), a crime prevention coordinator in a New Zealand community, and am currently employed by New Zealand Police (NZP). My interest in international policing grew as I realised more and more police were serving in a number of roles overseas. At first, I thought this a nice departure from normal duties for those lucky enough to take up opportunities to contribute to policing in other countries. Deeper thought followed about the juxtaposition of western models of policing, international relations and the customs of developing countries. The more I tried to find out the more questions were raised. Soon it was evident that little had been written about international policing and even less about international policing in relation to the Pacific. The need for research that combines the study of cross-border policing of crime and criminality with international relations scholarship has been identified by Peter Andreas and Ethan Nadelmann in their 2006 co-authored book. A growing body of literature examines policing and development in the Pacific, but is mainly centred on conflicts in Melanesia with particular emphasis on the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Apparently, no single work discusses the needs of police services in the Pacific in relation to domestic policing and international cooperation. This work seeks to fill that gap.</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Chiara Bonfiglioli

Abstract This article addresses women’s cross-border internationalist connections within the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), focusing on the exchanges between women’s organizations in socialist Yugoslavia and the Global South during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as during the UN Decade for Women (1975–1985). As a result of the Soviet-Yugoslav split, Yugoslavia was expelled from the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), the main organization federating antifascist, communist, and socialist women, in 1949. To overcome international isolation, Yugoslav representatives established their own bilateral connections with women’s organizations internationally, particularly in the Global South. Throughout the Cold War, the main figure behind women’s internationalism in Yugoslavia was Vida Tomšič (1913–1998), a former partisan and leading politician, trained as a lawyer, who had a fundamental role both in nonaligned and UN settings. In this article, I further analyze Vida Tomšič’s visits to India, and examine her correspondence with Indian scholar and Women’s Studies pioneer Vina Mazumdar (1927–2013). The exchanges between Vina and Vida, as they amicably addressed each other, exemplify the significance of the alliance between activists from socialist countries and activists from the Global South during the UN Decade for Women.


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