Language Shift Meets Digital Activism: Cross-continental Initiative to Stem Indigenous Language Loss

• In Event: Protesting through and with language

Proposal

Introduction
In the dynamic struggle against epistemicide in post-colonial contexts, linguistic considerations stand forefront to the quest for decoloniality and de-westernization and to nurturing contextually relevant and culturally sustaining knowledge ecologies (Ndlovu-Gatsheni,2018; Mignolo2012; Nyamnjoh,2012). While debates about the trajectories of Mignolo’s concept of“pluriversality” versus “universality” unfold, the need for advocacy for linguistic diversity in education, especially considering continuing indigenous language loss among youths, remains critical. The struggle for linguistic diversity is manifested as an act of public contestation, anchored in political,social, and structural ideas. With the understanding that students play a pivotal role in propelling social transformations, this project seeksto transcend traditional advocacy methods centered primarily on academic and state actors by using vlogs as powerful digital advocacy tools targeting African urbanites. Using the power of digital advocacy to amplify diverse voices and perspectives, this project sparks and analyzes conversations to explore new frontiers for bridging innovation in applied linguistics and the potential to transform linguistic and decolonial landscapes.
Conceptual Framework
The convergence of innovations in applied linguistics (see Pennycook & Makoni, 2020), including translanguaging/translingual perspectives (García & Wei, 2013) and decolonial thought (see, e.g., Mignolo & Walsh, 2018) compels us to rethink traditional approaches to linguistic diversity in education, including through so-called indigenous language-based multilingual education (see Ouane & Glanz, 2011). Scholars of language issues in CIE now recognize the epistemological traps of treating languages (including indigenous languages) as fixed entities. That recognition is evident in the view of language as discourse (Mccarthy & Carter, 1994), language as invention (Makoni & Pennycook, 2007), and (in education) “translanguaging” as pedagogic practice (see e.g., García & Wei, 2013) and “translingual practice” in macro political policy climate (Canagarajah, 2013). These help scholars to take seriously social contextual markers of linguistic phenomena, which are often at odds with the fixities of “official language” policies. By highlighting the fluidity, dynamism, and indeterminacy of linguistic practices, these conceptual tools help us to relax rigid and invariant rules about language and to prioritize the holistic nature of interactions. Importantly, it allows us to extend thinking about language and knowledge production beyond the classroom, especially since education itself (including language policies in education) and ideas of progress remain tied to imperialism.
Similarly, decoloniality and Southern perspectives highlight the need to finally transcend imaginations of development as westernization. The persistence of “development” crises and struggles for cultural identity, which historically challenged modernist assumptions about development as progress and education’s role in it, seem to still struggle to result in widespread policies favoring linguistic diversity in education. Yet, that body of work has done much to clarify the colonial matrix of power and knowledge and how schooling, like other aspects of that matrix, work to deepen public perceptions of monolingualism in European languages as both norm and ideal in most African contexts (Ouane & Glanz, 2011; Odugu, 2019, 2023). The consequence of the institutionalization of monolingual policies and the popularization of Eurocentric ideals result in real indigenous language loss and a concomitant deracination resulting from desires about the value for western-style formal schooling.
Data
Students participating in a faculty-led research program at a Midwestern university from summer 2021, worked with Professor Desmond Odugu to examine salient and emerging issues pertaining to language, education, and social change. Our initial focus was on the African context, with extensive academic inquiry conducted on scholarly advocacy practices in nations including Botswana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, and Ghana (see Ouane, Glanz, & ADEA, 2010). However, our scope has expanded over time to incorporate interrogations of experiences in the Middle East. Convinced of the unique opportunities (and challenges) presented by the pervasive adoption of social media across Africa for extending scholarly advocacy to grassroots engagement, we have embarked on creating short vlogs (video logs) designed to engage non-expert audiences on matters of linguistic diversity in education through use of biographical narratives. Each video, rendered in a translingual format, furnishes opportunities for viewers to grapple with complex questions relating to language choices and education within their own linguistically heterogeneous contexts. Narrated from the standpoint of students subjected to linguistically deracinating ("Western") models of education, these videos seek to stimulate rigorous dialogue and critique regarding the value of exoglossic monolingual schooling for effecting meaningful social change. Dissemination of the vlogs leverages social media platforms (e.g., YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook), with each episode centered on elucidating specific concepts within distinct contextual backdrops. We actively monitor and periodically contribute to user comments across each platform to enable analysis of emergent data patterns, elucidate additional insights to further advocacy efforts, and explore potentially transformative innovations warranting greater exploration.
Results
Our purpose in this project was to understand and contribute to the complementary modalities through which research ideas filter to local contexts and how locally generated ideas inform research practices. Much of the research ideas in focus are evidently contrary to the intuitive myths about language, education, and development. Preliminary finding point to discernible benefits and pitfalls of recent developments in applied linguistics that inform current advocacy for linguistic diversity. First, students’ regret about indigenous language loss, which often emerges as they encounter other linguistic communities overseas, signal a disconnect between public and scholarly understandings of language issues. Secondly, students’ educational experiences remain trapped in Eurocentric monolingual, long after researchers demonstrated the widespread value of linguistic diversity in education (see Ouane & Glanz, 2011. Odugu, 2015). Third, new developments in applied linguistics, education, and decoloniality could benefit from digital activism that target non-scholarly community members whose roles as change agents are crucial.
Significance
The simultaneous rapid urbanization and resurgence of cultural ties in an era of deepening political and economic transformations suggest that scholarly advocacy for linguistic diversity that remains modally segmented can result in disparate discourses that defuse the potential cultural impact of critical advances in research. This project is significant because it seeks to bridge disparate discourses by drawing into dialogue growing urban dwellers who live the opportunities and crises of modernity and its epistemic linguistic challenges. Conference participants will view and access vlogs for their own advocacy and research needs.

Authors

• Fatma Allam, Lake Forest College

• Ian Cox, Lake Forest College

• Andrew Kame, Lake Forest College

• Desmond I Odugu, Lake Forest College