QUICK LINKS TO FUTURE ACTIVITIES
QUICK LINKS TO PAST ACTIVITIES
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Workshop on the Structural
Unity of the Gur Languages and the Harmonization of their
Orthographic Systems – Part II |
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Second Workshop for the
Harmonization and Standardization of Southern African Languages
Phase II (Nguni and Sotho/Tswana Clusters), Parktonian Hotel,
Johannesburg, South Africa: 13th June 2003. |
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Workshop for the Harmonization
and Standardization of the Orthography of isiTsonga/Shangaan,
Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa: 13th
June 2003. |
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Workshop on Baseline
Studies for Minority Languages in Southern Africa, Sunnyside
Park Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa: 11th
April 2003. |
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Workshop on the Structural
Unity of the Gur Languages and the Harmonization of their
Orthographic Systems – Part I, Department of Languages, University
of Ghana, Legon, Ghana: 20th – 21st
March 2003; Launch in Accra, Ghana, of the Akan Dictionary,
The Unified Orthography for the Akan Languages of Ghana and
the Ivory Coast, and the Gbe/Ewe Orthography, also introduction
of the CASAS Gur Network: 21st March 2003. |
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First Workshop for the
Harmonization and Standardization of Southern African Languages
Phase II (Nguni and Sotho/Tswana Clusters), Manhattan Hotel,
Pretoria, South Africa: 27th – 28th
February 2003. |
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‘Conference on Arab-Led
Slavery of Africans’ convened by CASAS and the Drammeh Institute,
Sunnyside Park Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa: 22nd
February 2003. |
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‘Africa in the 21st
Century: Problems and Prospects’ Conference convened
by CASAS and the Organization of Social Science Research in
Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), Sunnyside Park Hotel,
Johannesburg, South Africa: 15th November
2002. |
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The Akan Technical Workshop
for the Harmonization and Standardization of the Akan Orthography
Phase III, Ibis-Plateau Hotel, Abidjan, Ivory Coast:
22nd –23rd May 2002. |
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Workshop
on the Harmonisation and Standardization of the Mandenkan
Language, Ibis-Plateau Hotel , Abidjan, Ivory Coast: 22nd
- 23 May 2002. |
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Workshop on a Unified
Standard Orthography for South-Central African Languages:
Focus on Zambia, for Writers and Teachers, Lusaka, Zambia,
12th April 2002. |
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The Centre for Advanced
Studies of African Society (CASAS) Maputo Workshop, Holiday
Inn, Maputo, Mozambique 8th – 9th
November 2001. |
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CASAS CD Rom Content Development
Workshop, Kampala, Uganda, 31st October 2001. |
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Akan Workshop Phase II,
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 08th September 2001. |
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‘Racism and the Global
African Experience,’ CASAS/NGO Forum, United Nations
Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa, 29th
- 31st August 2001. |
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The
Harmonization and Standardization of Southern African Languages:
The Development of Common Orthographies for Languages with
Mutual Intelligibility of 85% or More.
Southern African Language Workshop, Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 26th - 27th
April 2001. |
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'Social
Science and Humanities Research in South Africa : Looking
Forward’ Workshop, Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa,
21st - 22nd March 2001.
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'Developing Sustainable
Economic Capacity for Social Science Research in Africa’
Workshop, Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa, 19th
- 20th March 2001. |
| * |
The 2nd Acacia
Ministerial Meeting, Kampala, Uganda, 30th - 31st
January 2001. |
| * |
Workshop
on the Harmonisation of Orthographic Conventions of Zambian
and Malawian Languages, Lilongwe, Malawi, 23rd
- 24th November 2000.
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Future Activities
The
Role of Missionaries in the Development of African Languages:
Call for Papers
In the African experience, more than any
other group, missionaries have played a major role in reducing
African languages to writing. Invariably, the prime consideration
for rendering African languages into written form was to create
the necessary conditions for the translation of the Bible into
local languages. This objective and process was fraught with problems
with consequences, which have lived with us to the present.
Principal amongst these has been the fact that most of the early
missionaries working in African languages were not trained linguists.
Where they were linguistically trained, they tended to adopt idiosyncratic
orthographic solutions. The result has been a chaotic jumble
of orthographic conventions which in many instances have elevated
dialects to the status of distinct languages. All the same, the
contribution of missionaries to the development of African languages
as written forms is unrivalled. CASAS wishes to reflect
a number of papers which bring the contribution of missionaries
to the development of African languages to light.
This Call is for papers. The papers
can be on any topic related to the above theme. The paper
can be either e-mailed to [email protected]
or faxed to (021) 762-4452 (South Africa) or posted to:
The Director The Centre for Advanced
Studies of African Society (CASAS) P.O. Box 352
Plumstead, 7800 Cape Town South
Africa.
Originally the intention was to organize
a Conference on this theme. However, funding constraints
have forced us to cut out the Conference and rather produce a
text based on papers that we collect and edit. Send your
completed draft paper to CASAS by the 30th March 2004.
We shall have all papers peer reviewed for comments and sent back
to you for finalization. After receiving the final paper,
a honorarium will be paid to you.
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Workshop on
the Harmonization and Standardization of East African Languages.
The two day workshop will take
place in Uganda and will commence with formal paper presentations
on the virtues of language harmonization and standardization by
the unifying of orthographies. Thereafter, papers are scheduled
on the Runyakitara cluster; the orthography of Lusoga, Lunyore,
Lugwere and Rukenyi; analysis of Lugishu, Lugwe and Lusamia; Luganda
orthography; Lwo orthography; Ateso orthography and Karamojong
orthography. The workshop will handle Phase I of the East
African language situation as it effects Uganda, specifically
handling Lwo, Eastern Lacustrine, Runyakitara and Ateso/Karamojong.
The second day of the Workshop will begin the work of the elaboration
of the new orthography.
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Hausa is one of the largest and most important
languages of Africa. Hausa is spoken by some 40 million
people as a first language and approximately 20 million more as
a second language. Hausa is the main member of the Chadic
group of the Afro-Asiatic language family, which latter also includes
the Berber, Semitic, Cushitic (e.g. Somali) and Omotic groups
as well as Ancient Egyptian. Although there are several
regional dialects, Hausa is notably homogeneous throughout the
area where it is spoken. The variety that is taken as standard,
and covered in most linguistic descriptions, is that of Kano in
Nigeria. It is principally spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon and
Niger, although small groups of speakers are scattered throughout
West Africa and the Sahel, as far east as the Sudan.
This workshop which will convene in Zaria, Nigeria, is part of
CASAS’ Africa-wide Harmonization and Standardization of African
Languages Project. It will bring together Hausa linguists
from the region to review and identify areas of concern which
need to be looked at in the effort to improve the existing Hausa
orthography/orthographies.
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Past Activities
Workshop
on the Structural Unity of the Gur Languages and the Harmonization
of their Orthographic Systems – Part II
This workshop was convened
in Accra, Ghana from the 19th to the 20th February 2004. It completed
the work on the new Gur language orthography begun at the University
of Ghana, Legon, 20th – 21st March 2003.
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Second Workshop for the Harmonization
and Standardization of Southern African Languages: Phase II (Nguni
and Sotho/Tswana Clusters)
Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg, South
Africa: 13th June 2003.
This second workshop towards the production
of the new Nguni orthography and the new Sotho/Tswana orthography,
completed the work begun at the first workshop held in Pretoria,
27th – 28th February 2003.
Participants were drawn from:-
- Department
of Literature and Languages, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
- Department
of Linguistics, University of Venda, Louis Trichardt, South Africa
- The African
Languages Research Institute, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Department
of Linguistics, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South
Africa -
Department of Xhosa, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town,
South Africa -
Department of African Languages, National University of Lesotho,
Roma, Lesotho -
The Centre for Language Studies, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi
- Department
of African Languages, University of Transkei, Umtata, South Africa
- Faculty
of Humanities, University of Botswana, Gaberone, Botswana
- Department of
Linguistics and Literature, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo,
Mozambique -
Department of Northern Sotho and Folklore Studies, University of
the North, Sovenga, South Africa. A publication entitled
‘Nguni Orthography’ (CASAS Monograph No. 30) was the outcome of
this workshop, as well as the publication entitled ‘Sotho/Tswna
Orthography’ (CASAS Monograph No. 31).
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Workshop for the Harmonization
and Standardization of the Orthography of isiTsonga/Shangaan
Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg, South
Africa: 12th June 2003.
This workshop was convened to harmonize and standardize the
orthography of isiTsonga/Shangaan. For this purpose representatives
were drawn from:- -
The Linguistic Department, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo,
Mozambique -
Department of African Languages, University of South Africa (UNISA),
Pretoria, South Africa -
Department of IsiTsonga, University of the North (Turfloop), South
Africa -
M.E.R. Mathivha Centre for African Languages, Arts and Culture,
University of Venda for Science and Technology, Thohoyandou, South
Africa. The workshop completed its
assignment and produced the new IsiTsonga/Shangaan orthography.
A publication entitled XiTsonga/XiChangana Orthography (CASAS Monograph
No. 32) was the outcome of this workshop.
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Workshop
on Baseline Studies of Minority Languages in Southern Africa
Sunnyside Park Hotel, Johannesburg,
South Africa: 11th April 2003.
The workshop focused on the Khoi, Afrikaans and Tshivenda
languages. The least developed of the South African languages
is the Khoi cluster, which face the danger of extinction if steps
are not taken to consolidate and develop the cluster. This
minority language workshop assessed the current status of the
Khoi languages amongst others, with presentations from Botswana,
Namibia and South Africa, as well as assessing the status of Afrikaans
and Tshivenda. The following papers
were delivered at the workshop:- -
The Khoe and the San Languages and the People of Botswana: The
Current Situation -
The Status and Baseline Study of Khoe and San Speaking People
and Languages of Namibia -
Afrikaans and Khoe: Languages in Contact
- Tshivenda
Language and its Speakers: A Baseline Study -
The Position of the XiTsonga Language and its Speakers in South
Africa Today. A publication entitled
‘Silenced Voices’ (CASAS Book Series No. 34) was the outcome of
this workshop.
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The Structural Unity of
the Gur Languages and the Harmonization of their Orthographic Systems
– Part I
Department of Linguistics, University
of Ghana, Legon, Ghana: 20th – 21st March
2003
An International Colloquium convened by The Centre for Advanced
Studies of African Society (CASAS), Cape Town, South Africa in collaboration
with the Department of Linguistics and National Languages of
the Institute of Social Science of Burkina Faso and the Department
of Linguistics of the University of Ouagadougou, convened at the
Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, 20th
– 21st March 2003. Introduction
The issue of language is central to any discussion of
development in Africa. It is also increasingly appreciated
that education in Africa at all levels should be transacted in African
languages. CASAS’ mandate is to advance the use of mother
tongue languages for the mass education of Africans and for scientific
as well as technological development in Africa. But to prepare
the ground for this work, CASAS is involved in the harmonization
and standardization of African languages, based on mutual intelligibility.
Languages with high mutual intelligibility are being harmonized
with the new orthographies which help us to define new and much
larger possible reading and writing communities.
Problematique The Gur languages
count approximately 20 million speakers spread through seven states
in West Africa. Notably the languages are spoken in Benin,
Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo. The
configuration, numbers of speakers and demographic significance
of the Gur languages vary from one country to another and it is
in Burkina Faso that one finds the strongest representation and
the largest number of speakers (at least six million). Due
to their geographical configuration and the numeric importance of
speakers the creation of cross-border language groupings is
a requirement in order to accelerate integration and the socio-economic,
cultural and political development of sub-regions, where populations,
often, already live with the sentiment of belonging to a family.
Objectives
The creation of a consolidated Gur language group presupposes
a profound knowledge of the communities which comprise the group,
their languages, their culture and socio-political organisation.
That is why this first International Colloquium on ‘The Structural
Unity of the Gur Languages and the Harmonization of their Orthographic
Systems’ made it its objective to establish the status of the languages,
through research at ground level, to examine and conduct in depth
case studies and to define the main trends, for purposes of future
research. In this way the Colloquium found expression under
the following sub-themes:- -
State of research of Gur languages -
Literacy and orthographic codification of the Gur languages
- Difficulties in the elaboration
of orthographic conventions and possible solutions.
Participation The Colloquium
brought together linguists working in Gur languages in Benin, Burkina
Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo. Papers were presented.
The Workshop was observed and facilitated by an academic linguist
from Benin. A follow-up workshop (Workshop on the Structural
Unity of the Gur Languages and the Harmonization of their Orthographic
Systems – Part II) is to be convened at a later date. In the
afternoon of Friday 21st March 2003 at the Shangrila
Hotel in Accra, Ghana, the monolingual Akan Dictionary (CASAS Book
Series No. 15) was launched together The Unified Orthography for
the Akan Languages of Ghana and Ivory Coast: General Unified Spelling
Rules (CASAS Monograph No. 20) and the Ewe/Gbe Orthography (CASAS
Book Series No. 6). The occasion provided the opportunity
to introduce the members of the CASAS Gur Network.
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First Workshop for
the Harmonization and Standardization of Southern
African Languages Phase II (Nguni and Sotho/Tswana Cluster),
Manhattan Hotel, Pretoria, South Africa:
27th – 28th February 2003.
The two principal language clusters
in South Africa are the Nguni and Sotho/Tswana clusters.
Speech forms in these clusters are found in the ten most southerly
countries of Southern Africa. Work began at this workshop
on the harmonization and standardization of these two clusters,
on the basis that South Africa has the largest numbers of speakers
and therefore constitutes the centre for development of these
languages. Substantial progress was made during this first
workshop towards the production of harmonized orthographies.
A subsequent and concluding workshop took place at the Parktonian
Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the 13th June
2003.
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Conference
on Arab-led Slavery of Africans,
Sunnyside Park Hotel, Johannesburg, South
Africa: 22nd February 2003.
The conference was jointly convened
by CASAS and the Drammeh Institute of New York. As part of the proceedings
of the NGO Forum of the United Nations World Conference Against
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance,
held in Durban, 2001 CASAS had convened a three part workshop entitled
‘Racism in the Global African Experience’. The Johannesburg
Conference, by way of implementing the Declaration and Plan of Action
of the World Conference and NGO Forum, brought together a number
of scholars to provide more depth to the issue of Arab-led slavery
of Africans. The conference convened at a time when people
of African descent, particularly in the Diaspora, are calling for
reparations for the chattel slavery of Africans in the western hemisphere
and its effects. Likewise Africans on the continent are making
similar demands for Ottoman and Arab-led slavery and its outstanding
historical and sociological implications. This conference
of Africans and people of African descent, striving for the unity
of the African nation, issued its four page Declaration.
The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society
Cape Town Tel. +27-21-762-4454 e-mail
[email protected]
Drammeh Institute Inc New York
Tel. +1718-707-1739 ext 1 e-mail [email protected]
A publication
entitled ‘Reflections of Arab-led Slavery on Africans’ (CASAS Book
Series No. 35) was the outcome of this conference.
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‘Africa in
the 21st Century: Problems and Prospects’
Sunnyside Park Hotel, Johannesburg,
South Africa: 15th November 2002.
This symposium was jointly convened
by CASAS and the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern
and Southern Africa (OSSREA). The 20th century
saw great transformation in the human condition and saw Africa pass
through successive stages of partition, pacification and colonial
administration, anti-colonial resistance and the rise of African
nationalism, leading to ‘independence’. Post-colonial Africa
saw the emergence of new classes and groups, the crisis of African
democracy, economic stagnation and since the 1980’s, the explosion
of HIV/AIDS, threatening the social fabric of the continent.
Some have called the 21st century ‘The African Century’.
The symposium brought together a small group of African scholars
to explore what lies ahead for Africa in the 21st century.
A publication entitled ‘Chasing Futures’ (CASAS Book Series No.
33) was the outcome of this symposium.
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The Akan Technical Workshop
for the Harmonization and Standardization of the Akan Orthography
– Phase III
Ibis-Plateau Hotel, Abidjan, Ivory Coast:
22nd - 23rd May 2002.
This workshop followed on a
series of meetings in the cross-border Akan research component.
The previous meeting also took place in Abidjan on the 8th September
2001 and drew on a wider group of Akan linguists from the Ivory
Coast and Ghana. The workshop advanced the formulation of
the unified Akan orthography. Apart from participants from
Ivory Coast and Ghana, it drew on expertise from Benin and Sudan/Kenya.
A publication entitled ‘A Unified Orthography for the Akan Languages
of Ghana and the Ivory: General Unified Spelling Rules’ (CASAS Monograph
No. 20) was the outcome of this workshop.
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This workshop initiated the
Mandenkan network and work on the Mandenkan language, which is widely
spoken across borders in West Africa. It brought together
Mandekan linguists from Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea
Bissau and Burkina Faso. Also observing and facilitating the
workshop were linguists from Benin, Sudan/Kenya and Gabon.
Special attention was given to the orthography of the Mandenkan
language, its harmonization and standardization. A publication
entitled ‘Unified Mandenkan Orthography’ (CASAS Monography No. 24)
was the outcome of this workshop.
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Workshop
on a Unified Standard Orthography for South-Central African Languages:
Focus on Zambia, for Writers and Teachers,
Lusaka, Zambia, 12th April 2002
This
workshop exposed the new spelling system and orthography for south-central
Africa to writers and teachers, who were encouraged to produce
reading materials in the new orthography.
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The
Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society(CASAS) Maputo Workshop
Holiday Inn, Maputo, Mozambique,
08th – 09th November 2001.
Objective: To draft a single orthography for Malawian, Mozambican
and Zambian languages. Papers presented at the workshop
went towards finalising the single composite spelling convention,
originated at the Lilongwe Workshop in November 2000, further
developed at the Johannesburg Conference in April 2001 and finalised
in Maputo. Participants were drawn from Universities in:-
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malaw, South Africa, Zambia
A publication entitled ‘A Unified Standard
Orthography for South-Central African Languages: Malawi, Mozambique
and Zambia’ (CASAS Monograph No. 11) was the outcome of this workshop.
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CASAS
CD Rom Content Development Workshop,
Kampala, Uganda, 31st October
2001.
This workshop drew together linguists from the eastern interlacustrian
language clusters (Lugunda, Acholi, Ateso, Runyakitara) towards
the production of the CD Rom, which was completed in early 2002,
produced by CASAS with the assistance of the International Development
Research Centre (IDRC).
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Akan
Workshop Phase II,
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 08th September
2001.
This
workshop was the second in the series of three. The first
taking place in June 2000 and the last in May 2002, towards a
unified orthography for the Akan languages of Ghana and Ivory
Coast.
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'Racism and the Global
African Experience. CASAS / NGO Forum. United Nations
Conference - Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance,
29th - 31st
August 2001, Durban, South Africa, 29th –31st
August 2001.
The Programme
Racism and the Global African Experience 11h00 - 11h15 Opening
Address : Kwesi Kwaa Prah Symposium I : A Window on the African
Diaspora 11h00 - 13h00 : 29th August 2001 - CITY HALL NO. 3 Chairperson
: N. Sudarkasa 11h15 - 11h30
'Global Racism : Perspectives and Correctives in Africa and the
Diaspora' - R. Walters 11h30 - 11h45 'Race and Racism
in the United States' - L. Mullings 11h45 - 12h00 'The
Invention of Racism and the Dynamics of Race : The Caribbean and
Global Africa' - L. Edmondson 12h00 -
12h15 'Race and Racism in the Brazilian Polity' - J.B.Barbosa
Gomes 12h15 - 13h00 Discussion Symposium II : The Continental
African Experience 11h00 - 13h00 : 30th August - CITY HALL NO. 4
Chairperson : I. Mandaza 11h00 - 11h15 ‘Recollections
and Reflections of a Foreign Native : Xenophobia Amongst Africans’
- K.K. Prah 11h15 - 11h30 'Encountering the West : Decimation,
Racism and Genocide Against the Khoisan in South Africa ; A Historical
Perspective' - H.C.J. Bredekamp 11h30 - 11h45 'African-Lebanese
Relations in Historical Perspective' - E.K. Akyeampong 11h45
- 12h00 ‘Race, Identity and Culture Among So-called Coloureds
in the Western Cape of South Africa’ - B. Mitchell 12h00
- 12h15 ‘Revisiting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
: Speaking From Experience’ - Z. Khoisan 12h15 - 13h00
Discussion Symposium IIII : Racism, Nationality and the Future
of the Afro-Arab Borderlands 11h00 - 13h00 : 31st August - CITY
HALL NO. 4 Chairperson : D. Nabudere 11h00 - 11h15
'Indo-African Relations in East Africa in Historical Perspective
- Their Implications for the Future' - V.G. Simiyu 11h15
- 11h30 'Arab Racism in the Sudan : Its Historical Source
and Present Manifestation’ - P. Adwok Nyaba 11h30 - 11h45
'Racial Prejudices and Inter-ethnic Conflicts in the Western Sahel
: A Case Study of Cross Border Communities Along the Afro-Arab Borderlands'
- S. Diakite 11h45 - 12h00 ‘The
Triple Crisis of Slavery, Racism and Dictatorship in Mauritania
and the Afro-Arab Borderlands’ - G. Diallo 12h00 - 12h45
Discussion 12h45 - 13h00
Closing and Official Business 13h00 Press Conference
A publication entitled ‘Racism and the Global African Experience’
(CASAS Book Series No. 23) was the outcome of these Symposia.
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'The Harmonization
and Standardization of Southern African Languages : the Development
of Common Orthographies for Languages with Mutual Intelligibility
of 85% or More’,
Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 26th – 27th April 2001.
The workshop brought
together Nguni, Sotho/Tswana, Khoisan, Afrikaans and other African
language speakers from Southern Africa, to share ideas and pool
resources. It continued the work begun in November 2000, at
the Workshop in Lilongwe, Malawi towards the Harmonization and Standardization
of Malawian and Zambian Languages. Click to
go to: Opening
Address by the Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology,
Mrs Bridgitte Mabandla
A publication entitled ‘Speaking in Unison:
The Harmonisation and Standardisation of Southern African Languages’
(CASAS Book Series No. 22) was the outcome of this workshop.
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'Social Science and
Humanities Research in South Africa : Looking Forward’
Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg , South
Africa, 21st – 22nd March 2001.
South Africa has a relatively long and
rich experience in social science and humanities research.
Certainly, on the continent of Africa, no other country can match
the South African experience and capacity. Unfortunately,
in the past, much of this experience has affected a great deal
of the quality and orientation of the work that has been done.
CASAS and OSSREA (The Organisation for Social Science Research
in Eastern and Southern Africa) convened this workshop on the
theme ‘The State of Social Science and Humanities Research in
South Africa : Looking Forward’. The workshop was intended
to look forward with ideas for the future. CASAS assisted
OSSREA to convene the workshop to start-up the OSSREA South Africa
Chapter, which was duly constituted at the workshop.
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'Developing Sustainable
Economic Capacity for Social Science Research in Africa’,
Parktonian Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa,
19th – 20th March 2001.
Of all the problems facing social
science research in Africa, possibly none is as significant as the
problem of financing research on the continent. Social science
research in Africa is totally dependent on support from non-African
sources. African governments have for various reasons been
unable to provide the means for supporting research. This
often means that research in Africa is seriously limited, and limited
to research agenda as suggested and dictated by non-African interests.
There are however strong feelings in certain quarters that it is
possible to draw on resources from public and private sources on
the continent. The workshop in Johannesburg, sponsored by
the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) and the
Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern
Africa (OSSREA), assessed the situation and came up with suggestions
as to how African research institutions could proceed on this matter.
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The 2nd Acacia
Ministerial Meeting,
Kampala, Uganda, 30th – 31st
January 2001.
An important area in the work of CASAS is
the trjanslation of selected texts in the areas of health, water
use, sanitation, agriculture, human rights and women’s issues, into
African languages. This is being done on the basis of new orthographies
sponsored by CASAS as they develop. The Acacia Project is
an International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Project to produce
ICT materials for Telecentres in Africa. CASAS is assisting in the
production of such materials in African languages on CD Rom.
The Ministerial Meeting brought together the relevant Ministers
from the principal participating countries, NGO’s, language specialists
and others.
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Workshop on the
Harmonisation of Orthographic Conventions of Zambian and Malawian
Languages
Lilongwe, Malawi, 23rd - 24th
November 2000.
This workshop chaired by the Director of
CASAS, Prof. K.K. Prah, brought together academics from the Universities
of Malawi and Zambia, with those of South African Universities.
It initiated the CASAS Language Project for the Southern African
Region and set a high technical standard of accomplishment.
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