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EN
ES
FR
Réf.
41858
Type
conference item
Titre
Language planning in Zimbabwe: The conservation and management of indigenous languages as intangible heritage
Langues
English
Auteurs
Viriri, Advice
Date
2003
Pagination de section
1-9
Titre de conférence
14th ICOMOS General Assembly and International Symposium: ‘Place, memory, meaning: preserving intangible values in monuments and sites’
Lieu de conférence
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Date de conférence
27 – 31 oct 2003
Mots-clés
languages / oral tradition / intangible heritage / conservation / management / policy / Aboriginal cultures / conservation of cultural heritage
Résumé en anglais
It is necessary to promote and enhance African languages asintangible cultural heritage. This heritage needs conservation
and management in the form of language planning and policymaking that would contribute towards the restoration of the
indigenous speakers’ humanity, identity and culture. Ourindigenous languages seek to focus on African philosophy,
aesthetics, art, performing arts, politics, sociology, sport andother subjects. These languages would explore ways in which
the forms of African cultural life and expression will help to
shape, inform and influence cultures and intellectual traditionsacross the globe. It is necessary to transcend colonial alienation
as “part and parcel of the anti-imperialist struggles of[Zimbabweans]
and African peoples” whose indigenouslanguages “were associated with negative qualities of
backwardness, underdevelopment, humiliation andpunishment.” (Ngugi, 1981:28). This paper will testify the
superiority of our indigenous languages to English. Theresearcher believes in the maxim “free your mind”: the mind
must be liberated even from the confines of biased Afro-centricthought. These languages will convey the profound need for the
Zimbabwean people to be re-located historically, economically,socially, linguistically, politically, and philosophically. For a
number of years, Africans have been devoid of their cultural,economic, religious, political and social heritage. They have been
living on the periphery of Europe. It is this “illusion of thefringes” that this paper seeks to eliminate and restore “the
African person as an agent in human history…” (Asante,2003:1)This will answer questions on how African cultural and
intellectual traditions radically and indelibly shape the world.In demanding to know the total system of truth about the world,
the first step is to know the reality of our own existence throughour indigenous languages.
and management in the form of language planning and policymaking that would contribute towards the restoration of the
indigenous speakers’ humanity, identity and culture. Ourindigenous languages seek to focus on African philosophy,
aesthetics, art, performing arts, politics, sociology, sport andother subjects. These languages would explore ways in which
the forms of African cultural life and expression will help to
shape, inform and influence cultures and intellectual traditionsacross the globe. It is necessary to transcend colonial alienation
as “part and parcel of the anti-imperialist struggles of[Zimbabweans]
and African peoples” whose indigenouslanguages “were associated with negative qualities of
backwardness, underdevelopment, humiliation andpunishment.” (Ngugi, 1981:28). This paper will testify the
superiority of our indigenous languages to English. Theresearcher believes in the maxim “free your mind”: the mind
must be liberated even from the confines of biased Afro-centricthought. These languages will convey the profound need for the
Zimbabwean people to be re-located historically, economically,socially, linguistically, politically, and philosophically. For a
number of years, Africans have been devoid of their cultural,economic, religious, political and social heritage. They have been
living on the periphery of Europe. It is this “illusion of thefringes” that this paper seeks to eliminate and restore “the
African person as an agent in human history…” (Asante,2003:1)This will answer questions on how African cultural and
intellectual traditions radically and indelibly shape the world.In demanding to know the total system of truth about the world,
the first step is to know the reality of our own existence throughour indigenous languages.
Document joint
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