Language rites: writing ourselves into the academy

Abstract

Africanisation and decolonisation have brought education into a new age, one which embraces multilingualism. African societies are transforming from knowledge consumers to active knowledge producers. However, the process is slow and the historical privileging of Afrikaans and English in South Africa requires restructuring, which is achievable through the development of indigenous languages in universities. If indigenous languages and knowledge are not used, not developed, not intellectualised, then how will we meaningfully Africanise and decolonise?