The “Recalibrating Afrikanistik” (RecAf) project invites young researchers and lecturers working in the field of African Studies to submit abstracts for the conference ‘Beyond the Recalibration of African Languages through Education’. The conference is organized by the Stellenbosch University and will be held in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNESCO) proclaimed the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages , to draw global attention to the critical situation of many indigenous languages and to mobilize stakeholders and resources for their preservation, revitalization and promotion. In 1952, UNESCO echoed the sentiments that knowledge is transferred best when it is done in the first language of the children. These sentiments are further endorsed by the Recalibrating Afrikanistik project (RecAf) , that in a globalized village, language regiments the flow of knowledge.

The conference intends to actively engage African languages through the context of African language teaching and classroom practices. Furthermore, it aims to engage with the communities speaking about, making literature, researching and teaching in African languages in a mutual dialogue. It will thus bring together different stakeholders who wish to develop the potential of tudying, researching and creating in these languages in academic contexts (school and university) and in the wider community, effectively adding to the agenda of recalibrating and repurposing African languages as a means of accessing epistemology.

Application deadline: 21 October 2023

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