The fruits of the tree of knowledge: Power versus pollution in official attitudes towards African vernaculars in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1933

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dc.contributor.authorJeater, Diana
dc.date.accessioned2010-10-01T12:46:47Z
dc.date.available2010-10-01T12:46:47Z
dc.date.issued1995-05-22
dc.descriptionAfrican Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 22 May, 1995en_US
dc.description.abstractUnlike French colonial administrations, British colonisers did not attempt to impose their language on those they colonised. Instead, they charged their administrators with a duty to learn the local vernaculars. In regions where there were few white settlers, this was a fairly straightforward exercise. Southern Rhodesia, however, was a 'settler society'. The debate about the usefulness for ordinary white settlers of speaking local languages was also a debate about the risks and the benefits of different policies for controlling the African communities. The question of how far the state should encourage a broad knowledge of the vernaculars amongst various sections of the white communities was fundamentally a question of how power could best be exercised.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/8816
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesInstitute for Advanced Social Research;ISS 205
dc.subjectLanguage policy. Zimbabween_US
dc.subjectZimbabwe. Languages. Political aspectsen_US
dc.titleThe fruits of the tree of knowledge: Power versus pollution in official attitudes towards African vernaculars in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1933en_US
dc.typeWorking Paperen_US
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