The Politics of Language and Nation Building in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This book is about language and ethnicity and how they shape and mediate the contours of politics, identity and nation building in multilingual postcolonial African societies. The main thesis is the contemporary African identities must be intimately linked to and forged out of a quest for inclusion, power and empowerment, equality and access, and accommodation and respect for linguistic and cultural diversity. While the focus is specifically on the politics of language and identity in Zimbabwe, this case study is used as an entry point into the complexity of identities and nation building in postcolonial multilingual societies. Since the attainment of self rule in 1980 language and ethnicity have played and continue to play a role in defining the national politics of Zimbabwe. This book sheds more light on the political resonance of language policies in nation building and identity construction.