South Africa: 8th international conference on language and development
Posted by sociolingo on August 16, 2007
(NB: Please respond to the conference planners via the website, NOT to Sociolingo!)
08th international conference on language and development
Date: 1 to 3 October 2007
Venue: University of South Africa, Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa
http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=19711
The aims are to:
* Discuss and debate matters pertaining to language, education and development;
* Identify key areas for collaborative projects and interventions;
* Constitute core teams to pursue collaborative projects;
* Develop joint working and funding proposals.
About the conference
Language is knowledge. Language is power. Language is a key driver in development – in thesocial, cultural, educational and economic domains. Yet, despite international initiatives to address education, poverty, gender equality, disease, civil conflict and economic growth, millions of people across the globe are marginalized. They exist on the fringe of survival and are denied access to basic necessities which could obviate their suffering and bring new hope.
What role does language play in development?
What role can language play in addressing urgent global demands? How do we reconcile language development, the hegemony of English, the formation of national identities, demands for democratization and liberalization, and the recognition of individual and cultural rights in a global context? How can language practitioners, educationalists, development specialists and the like, from across the world, collaborate to make a tangible difference to increasing access to knowledge through the development of language?
The University of South Africa – in association with the Trustees of the Language and Development Conference Series – invite applications from governments, academics, researchers, NGOs, and activists to participate in the 8th International Conference on Language and Development from 1 to 3 October 2007.
This International Conference will take the following form:
* Plenary presentations;
* Individual papers addressing the key themes;
* Workshop sessions.
