LING 030. Language and Identity in the African Experience: From Kenya to Mexico


How does language help us to map the movement of peoples over time and space? How are African languages defined and created? How is Africanness and Blackness encoded in the Spanish and English languages? This course in sociolinguistics invites a critical evaluation of intersections in language and identity in the African continent and the Diaspora. Focusing on eastern Africa and its connection with the Americas, we draw upon overlapping histories of local peoples, outsiders, missionaries, linguists, and others to understand the power of language in defining and creating experience. We will specifically trace the proto-Bantu origin of Swahili, and succeeding historical and contemporary movements of Swahili from Kenya to Mexico. Reflecting on our own lives, we also look to the formation of new communities and frontiers in language use including migration, language policy, social media, videogames.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Eligible for BLST, LALS
Catalog chapter: Linguistics  
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/linguistics


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