The Languages of Africa and the Diaspora ─ Educating for Language Awareness

This book examines the social cost of linguistic exceptionalism for the education of speakers of nondominant/subordinated languages in Africa and the African diaspora. The contributors take the languages of Africa, the Caribbean, and the US as cases in point to illustrate the effects of exceptionalist beliefs that these languages are inadequate for instructional purposes. They describe contravening movements toward various forms of linguistic diversity both inside and outside of school settings across these regions. Different theoretical lenses and a range of empirical data are brought to bear on investigating the role of these languages in educational policies and practices. Collectively, the chapters in this volume make the case for a comprehensive language awareness to remedy the myths of linguistic exceptionalism and to advance the affirmative dimensions of linguistic diversity.

Jo Anne Kleifgen is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Education and co-directs the Center for Multiple Languages and Literacies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her interests include discourse in multilingual classrooms, the use of new technologies to support Haitian and Latino bilingualism/biliteracy and communicative practices in high-tech, multilingual workplace settings.
George Clement Bond is the Director of the Center for African Education and William F. Russell Professor for Anthropology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His interests include education and elite formation in the United States and Africa, African studies, African religions and politics, agrarian transformations and cultural dimensions of urban and minority populations.