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ISSN : 2633-2108 (Print) 2633-2116 (Online)
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My appointment as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of African Languages and Literary Studies (JoALLS), as well as the author of the editorial note for the current second issue, testifies of how linkages in academia are not confined by geographical and institutional boundaries. The Editorial Board membership similarly demonstrates diversity of scholars that have been brought together for want of a common vision; a rigorous scholarly contrastive voice on the African experiences as is the case with establishment of Apartheid Studies in some Sub-Saharan African Universities. The publishers’ persuasion in the same vision has seen them providing virtual space with an ambience that further strengthens richer and uninhibited scholarship that nurtures rigorous criticism on African Languages and Literary Studies through double blind peer-reviews.
The collaboration has opened yet another avenue for academics to broaden platforms that they can use to create knowledge and advance the same on matters of commonality regarding not only African Languages and Literary Studies, but also greater inclusivity that enriches deeper and broader appreciation of the diverse contributions on the African experiences. Soliciting for, extracting and advancing the best in humankind for the greater good through accessible language and sophisticated styles embedded in the respective authors’ contributions partly constitute the hallmark of communication and balanced scholarship that our publications strive to achieve. The latter is hoped to enhance robust debates and novel discourses for greater cohesion and unfettered scholarship among the family of humankind. I am also appreciative of Prof J Kangira’s remarks in our April 2020 JoALLS debut issue regarding Namibia University of Science and Technology’s (NUST) NAWA Journal of Language and Communication (NJLC): whereby he observes: “‘nawa’ means “good” or “fine” in Oshiwambo and Otjiherero which are both indigenous Namibian languages”. It is such ‘goodness’, ingenuity, innovation, creativity and humouredness at perceptual levels that the present volume interrogates despite endemic systemic violence characterizing many an African community.
Direct parental and educationist involvement continue confirming a unique characteristic about human nature: artificial intelligence akin to that of a robot can only be entertained for convenience but by and large, the human mind cherishes exploration, ingenuity and confidence in its critical capacities and competences. For want of respect of the same, the present editor will not belabor pre-empting the nuggets that each respective article embodies. Every reader has unlimited liberties re/reading, interrogating, engaging and building upon the experiences initiated by respective individual articles embodied herein. I must also add that prejudging articles for our potential readers/audiences perpetuates subordination of others’ perceptions, worldviews and experiences which practice has erstwhile suppressed invaluable critical contributions by those framed as inferior ‘others’ by those wielding positions of influence and privilege, thereby making the family of humankind poorer. Ineptitude and lethargy labelled on some communities, if carefully, critically and purposefully tracked, have their taproot in bridled energies along that society’s or individual’s development processes. Presumptuous thinking can never be a hallmark of creativity and inclusivity, but the sapping and thwarting of creative energies. Armah (1972) in the opening chapter to Two Thousand Seasons titled “The Way” celebrates the rich African heritages that lay hardly tapped and cultivated because of subservient coalescence to influences antithetical to African progression, affirmation, unity of purpose and development: “We are not a people of yesterday. …We are a people of the way…Reciprocity is the way…” May I add that symbolically, JoALLS provides “a rendezvous of knowledge” (Aime Cesaire, 1995 Notebook of a Return to My Native Land) that is required to fan the flames of implicit African in/tangible heritages through mining deep into their languages and literatures.
My Rhodesian colonial experiences straight into post-independence Zimbabwe, whereby English has been the dominant official language, consolidate the interminable language debate within African communities and societies. The double-consciousness, twain veil through which peoples of African descent view themselves has been worsened by the mutilation of their indigenous languages, literatures in the local languages and the wealth embedded therein. To starve people of their cultural heritage, instill/inculcate self-loathing and low self-esteem, as well as delink them from their identities, rationality and love for self and others, deny them their language that is the embodiment of their worldview, philosophy of life and antennae into their forebears’ wisdom, past and present. Mashingaidze Gomo (2010) and Nhemachena and Warikanda (2018) rightly argue against cannibalisation of Africa and Africans through ‘muting’ their tongues, instilling hostility towards each other, especially the undignified poor whose wealth of resources are plundered in order to establish alien peoples’ kingdoms, locally and elsewhere.
At an earlier Zimbabwe International Book Fair Indaba (2003), I once presented a paper titled: “African Literature: Whose story? Which lense? Whose voice?” calling for scholarship to re-envision the theory, languages and lenses that are continuously used to inscribe the African linguistic and literary experiences. Ngugi wa Thiong’o (2009) in the Steve Biko Memorial Lecture Series published jointly with MacMillan, observes that using foreign languages as memory that names, describes and narrates the African stories, is akin to storing one’s harvest in a neighbour’s granary. The present journal, therefore, speaks for the long term vision towards a genuine African renaissance through education and tertiary scholarship in order to influence policy and systems so that African communities/societies can recreate themselves for the greater good. Philanthropic donations couched in borrowed languages perpetuate psychological domination engineered through the denial of a people’s potential as embedded in their ideologies that their local languages project. I thus applaud the articles in the present issue that cumulatively speak to the need to ‘disobey’ epistemic universalism so that “Black Lives” begin to matter in a more practical way as evinced through the efforts to critically self-examine using lenses that objectively re-envision, re-create, re-member African languages and literatures for genuine self-empowerment strategies.
One might hazard asking how the latter can be partly achieved. The digital divide is cumulatively receding. Rather than use digital technologies and social media to advance self-hate among African communities, hate speech, and denunciation of everything African, the same platforms can be appropriated to frame the desired African images and stories, using African languages for Africans’ emancipation and rational engagements towards rebuilding the African personality, African languages, and African stories. The best architects and reformers of the African world are none other than the African peoples themselves, using the idiom and symbol that they best relate to and understand. There are no back benchers in this regard. Everyone becomes a front-liner. Reclaiming African languages, cultures, stories, and memory from the perspective of Africans is a war; deliberate and intentional. The beauty and inspiration of the African tapestry and their diverse but inclusive stories can best be appreciated in the colour and flavor of the African idioms and languages.
The trajectory of the current issue cannot leave readers to second guess the vision and parameters that the articles herein cumulatively project. I heartily thank all the contributors to the eight articles that constitute the present edition of the journal. It also remains nothing but an honour and humble experience to contribute to the same issue by way of the Editorial note. Without the support of the the Editorial Board and the publishers and the shared vision, the strides made so far would not have been achieved. I cannot adequately thank everyone for their invaluable support. Critically engage with the current issue of Journal of African Languages and Literary Studies ISSN 2633-2108 (Print) ISSN 2633-2116 (Online) Indexed at: Sabinet Volume 1, Number 2, August 2020