This chapter introduces the concept of the institutionalization of knowledge broadly, and its history within South African universities when radical curriculum changes were attempted in the past. How the institutionalization of knowledge works is described in relation to the scant literature on the subject including the writings of Sarah Ahmed and Larry Cuban. And the stability of curriculum’s ideological commitments is explained in relation to two prominent examples, the English language and formal assessment, both of which remain undisturbed as objects of radical criticism in institutional life.

This chapter looks at both language and racial thinking and the ways one affected the other. Race was an important category of colonial modernity used to conceive of other people in relation to Europe and in relation to themselves. Introducing racial thinking was thus a significant way to reconfigure the population not only of Morocco or even of the entire region of northern Africa, but also the populations surrounding them, in what became known as Black Africa on the west side and the Arab Middle East on the east side. Because of the fluidity of colonial conceptions of race, language became an important marker of race in the region. Hence, the constructed opposition of Berbers versus Arabs was also perceived as a linguistic relation that was imposed as antagonistic and hegemonic.

This chapter looks at both language and racial thinking and the ways one affected the other. Race was an important category of colonial modernity that was used to conceive of other people in relation to Europe and in relation to themselves. Introducing racial thinking was thus a significant way to reconfigure the population not only of Morocco or even of the entire region of northern Africa, but also the populations surrounding them, in what became known as Black Africa on the west side and the Arab Middle East on the east side. Because of the fluidity of colonial conceptions of race, language became an important marker of race in the region. Hence, the constructed opposition of Berbers versus Arabs was also perceived as a linguistic relation that was imposed as antagonistic and hegemonic.

This chapter departs from a description of transformation in African language lexicography from a Eurocentric approach where dictionaries for African languages were compiled by foreigners to an Afrocentric approach in which mother-tongue speakers of African languages take responsibility for the compilation of African language dictionaries. A Eurocentric approach to dictionary compilation for African languages refers to the colonial period where dictionaries were mainly compiled by missionaries to fulfil their own lexicographic needs, that is, to spread the gospel. Afrocentric refers to dictionary compilation for African languages in Africa by Africans in a ‘postcolonial society’, that is, projects likely to thrive as compilers have sentimental attachment to it. The main focus in the chapter, however, is on the subsequent required transformation process for multilingual lexicography in Africa from a ‘postcolonial society’ to a ‘globally competitive knowledge society’, mainly in respect of a fresh start to the compilation of reference works in the electronic era. Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) is taken as a case in point.

This chapter seeks to explore the potential of increasing epistemological access for university students of African languages through the translation of English academic texts. It uses charts and tables to illustrate the negative effects that the scarcity of academic texts written in African languages has on students’ academic performance. A scientific text based on periodontal examination was translated from English to isiXhosa. Thereafter, ten test questions based on this text were drawn up using Bloom’s Taxonomy model. These questions were made available in both English and isiXhosa and were distributed among twenty-five first-year students of an isiXhosa mother tongue course. In this group, thirteen students wrote the test in isiXhosa, while twelve of them wrote it in English. The test results were compared to investigate whether students obtain higher marks when taught and examined in their first language or in their additional language. Ultimately, the researcher tried to investigate whether or not there is a relationship between students’ academic performance and their language of teaching and learning (LoTL). Furthermore, the study investigated the significance of mother-tongue-based education for curriculum access.

The chapter contextualises the current status of African languages in South African universities. The lack of development of African languages for teaching and learning purposes was not incidental. The apartheid government sought to diminish the status of African languages while centring that of English as the premium language of teaching and learning, followed by Afrikaans. With the dawn of democracy in 1994 and the inclusion of many African languages as official languages by the new government, the stage was set for addressing language issues in schools and higher education. Yet it was only when the 2015 South African student movements burst onto scene with calls to decolonise institutions of higher learning that the question of the role of African languages in transforming South African universities was brought into focus. It is crucial to note that decolonising our universities is not about lowering the status of English or other canons but about opening up dialogue with other epistemic traditions and canons with teaching and learning taking place from an African context as a point of departure and with African languages at the forefront in universities of the South.

This chapter serves as general introduction to clear the ground and explore the transformative nature of language in relation to knowledge creation and how it relates to current and burning issues of (mental) decolonisation in postcolonial Africa. It centres around language as a key factor, particularly in higher education at university level, with due recognition of strategies for the intellectualisation and re-empowerment of formerly dis-empowered languages under the colonial regime, encompassing digital literacy, translations from and into African languages and challenges for lexicography. It outlines the overall structure of the book and provides chapter summaries.