Conduit and gatekeeper: Practices and contestations of language within informal and formal education in senegal

Abstract

One of the most prominent questions facing educators in postcolonial African societies today is how to maintain and draw upon linguistic identities and Indigenous knowledges in multilingual environments. This chapter takes an even broader perspective stepping away from the classroom and into communities to explore the fundamental connection between Indigenous education forms and language knowledge bases across the African continent. This chapter presents case studies within the present-day state of Senegal to demonstrate how language knowledge bases influenced educational processes from precolonial times to present. The diversity of these case studies allows for exploration of various linguistic landscapes and pre-/postcolonial experiences. This chapter holds as its premise that Indigenous education systems have long-held influence within communities, both prior to the rise of colonial and Islamic forms of education took root and since. Language provides an unparalleled vehicle for structuring and articulating epistemology, ways of knowing, and learning processes.