To Be or Not to Be an Educated World Citizen?

In the Shoes of a Student Walking around South Africa....

Me attempting to do a Zulu dance at the "Gold" restaurant in Cape Town

Before you can ask how the South African situation can help you better understand language and identity, you must ask yourself what exactly their situation is. This is a country of many diverse cultures and I would even go as far as to say that South Africa is more diverse than America. With eleven official languages communication is very challenging on a national level, but not impossible. South Africans’ just went through a massive civil rights movement less than twenty years ago due to a horrible oppressive force that tormented them for years, otherwise known as the Apartheid. It is because of this past traumatic event that most of the youth are confused about their identity. Some South Africans feel that they should show anger and hatred toward the Apartheid, while others feel like they should show remorse and move on from the Apartheid toward a new “rainbow nation”.

My friends and I holding tradtional Zulu dancing items

Now take all of these past issues and apply them to an American lifestyle. Our civil rights movement took place about 150 years ago and almost none of the American public is still upset over this issue. Also America has no official language but everyone seems to communicate through one language in particular, that language being English. Going to South Africa takes this narrow minded American mind and opens it to the complex world. South Africa is one of the best places for a student to realize that the world is not so simple and that language/communication is a key part in any society. Language is a valuable tool that needs to coexist with a person’s identity. Linguistic identity can represent a person’s heritage. For example, in South Africa a person raised in the Zulu tribe is taught the language from their ancestors which shows that this person comes from a tribe (which can be considered a huge part of a South African’s heritage). A South African’s identity is affected in great amounts by language and can show students that identity is multifaceted and not just a single notion. For example, most South Africans speak several different languages that were taught to them in the part of the country they come from. This can show a student that language can identify where you come from and that it can also tell someone a lot about you. It opens a student’s mind to the thought of a linguistic identity, which is something most American students don’t really consider because most only know English. This is how South Africa can broaden a student’s mind on the topic of language and identity.

~Kory