A Language for the World
This intellectual history of Standard Swahili explores the long-term, intertwined processes of standard making and community creation in the historical, political, and cultural contexts of East Africa and beyond. Morgan J. Robinson argues that the portability of Standard Swahili has contributed to i...
সংরক্ষণ করুন:
| প্রধান লেখক: | |
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| বিন্যাস: | Online |
| ভাষা: | ইংরেজি |
| প্রকাশিত: |
Ohio University Press
2023
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| বিষয়গুলি: | |
| অনলাইন ব্যবহার করুন: | OCN: 1348492573 |
| ট্যাগগুলো: |
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| _version_ | 1869514982780043264 |
|---|---|
| author | Robinson, Morgan J. |
| author_browse | Robinson, Morgan J. |
| author_facet | Robinson, Morgan J. |
| author_sort | Robinson, Morgan J. |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | This intellectual history of Standard Swahili explores the long-term, intertwined processes of standard making and community creation in the historical, political, and cultural contexts of East Africa and beyond. Morgan J. Robinson argues that the portability of Standard Swahili has contributed to its wide use not only across the African continent but also around the globe. The book pivots on the question of whether standardized versions of African languages have empowered or oppressed. It is inevitable that the selection and promotion of one version of a language as standard—a move typically associated with missionaries and colonial regimes—negatively affected those whose language was suddenly deemed nonstandard. Before reconciling the consequences of codification, however, Robinson argues that one must seek to understand the process itself. The history of Standard Swahili demonstrates how events, people, and ideas move rapidly and sometimes surprisingly between linguistic, political, social, or temporal categories.Robinson conducted her research in Zanzibar, mainland Tanzania, and the United Kingdom. Organized around periods of conversation, translation, and codification from 1864 to 1964, the book focuses on the intellectual history of Swahili’s standardization. The story begins in mid-nineteenth-century Zanzibar, home of missionaries, formerly enslaved students, and a printing press, and concludes on the mainland in the mid-twentieth century, as nationalist movements added Standard Swahili to their anticolonial and nation-building toolkits. This outcome was not predetermined, however, and Robinson offers a new context for the strong emotions that the language continues to evoke in East Africa. The history of Standard Swahili is not one story, but rather the connected stories of multiple communities contributing to the production of knowledge. The book reflects this multiplicity by including the narratives of colonial officials and anticolonial nationalists; East African clerks, students, newspaper editors, editorialists, and their readers; and library patrons, academic linguists, formerly enslaved children, and missionary preachers. The book reconstructs these stories on their own terms and reintegrates them into a new composite that demonstrates the central place of language in the history of East Africa and beyond. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-132009 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Ohio University Press |
| publisherStr | Ohio University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1320092025-07-31T16:24:27Z A Language for the World Robinson, Morgan J. Foreign Language Study Swahili History Social History Social Science Anthropology Cultural & Social This intellectual history of Standard Swahili explores the long-term, intertwined processes of standard making and community creation in the historical, political, and cultural contexts of East Africa and beyond. Morgan J. Robinson argues that the portability of Standard Swahili has contributed to its wide use not only across the African continent but also around the globe. The book pivots on the question of whether standardized versions of African languages have empowered or oppressed. It is inevitable that the selection and promotion of one version of a language as standard—a move typically associated with missionaries and colonial regimes—negatively affected those whose language was suddenly deemed nonstandard. Before reconciling the consequences of codification, however, Robinson argues that one must seek to understand the process itself. The history of Standard Swahili demonstrates how events, people, and ideas move rapidly and sometimes surprisingly between linguistic, political, social, or temporal categories.Robinson conducted her research in Zanzibar, mainland Tanzania, and the United Kingdom. Organized around periods of conversation, translation, and codification from 1864 to 1964, the book focuses on the intellectual history of Swahili’s standardization. The story begins in mid-nineteenth-century Zanzibar, home of missionaries, formerly enslaved students, and a printing press, and concludes on the mainland in the mid-twentieth century, as nationalist movements added Standard Swahili to their anticolonial and nation-building toolkits. This outcome was not predetermined, however, and Robinson offers a new context for the strong emotions that the language continues to evoke in East Africa. The history of Standard Swahili is not one story, but rather the connected stories of multiple communities contributing to the production of knowledge. The book reflects this multiplicity by including the narratives of colonial officials and anticolonial nationalists; East African clerks, students, newspaper editors, editorialists, and their readers; and library patrons, academic linguists, formerly enslaved children, and missionary preachers. The book reconstructs these stories on their own terms and reintegrates them into a new composite that demonstrates the central place of language in the history of East Africa and beyond. 2023-12-14T04:25:58Z 2023-12-14T04:25:58Z 2023-12-13T05:32:47Z 2024 book OCN: 1348492573 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/86094 9780821424957 9780821424940 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/132009 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/86094/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/86094/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/86094/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/86094/1/external_content.pdf Ohio University Press Ohio University Press 79b72935-4d71-4d6b-bcd1-08099da31d02 Knowledge Unlatched 9780821424957 9780821424940 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) KU Select 2023: HSS Backlist Books Ohio University Press open access |
| spellingShingle | Foreign Language Study Swahili History Social History Social Science Anthropology Cultural & Social Robinson, Morgan J. A Language for the World |
| title | A Language for the World |
| title_full | A Language for the World |
| title_fullStr | A Language for the World |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Language for the World |
| title_short | A Language for the World |
| title_sort | language for the world |
| topic | Foreign Language Study Swahili History Social History Social Science Anthropology Cultural & Social |
| topic_facet | Foreign Language Study Swahili History Social History Social Science Anthropology Cultural & Social |
| url | OCN: 1348492573 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robinsonmorganj alanguagefortheworld AT robinsonmorganj languagefortheworld |