Ibrahima Dieme | UCAD - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
UCAD, English, Teaching Assistant and Doctorate Candidate
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Papers by Ibrahima Dieme
The question of the introduction of national languages in educational curricula in Senegal and Fr... more The question of the introduction of national languages in educational curricula in Senegal and Francophone countries is one of the issues that arose on the occasion of the XVe Summit of Francophone countries in Dakar, Senegal. The importance of this question to the lives of these countries cannot be assessed without diagnosing the hypothetical conflicts involving cultural and linguistic difference/diversity that add to the maladies of African postcolonial communities. This article explores and presents the processes and background framework of national language teaching in the Senegalese educational system from the 1960s to the present. It also attempts to elucidate both the benefits and the limits of national languages teaching in contexts of ethnic diversity as a pathway to an efficient transmission of scientific knowledge and development. A pathway to a curriculum indifferent of difference It was a temporary matter: for five days their electricity would be cut off for one hour, beginning at eight P.M. A line had gone down in the last snowstorm, and the repairmen were going to take advantage of the milder evenings to set it right. The work would affect only the houses on the quiet tree-lined street, within walking distance of a row of brick-faced stores and a trolley stop, where Shoba and Shukumar had lived for three years (Lahiri, 9)
The question of the introduction of national languages in educational curricula in Senegal and Fr... more The question of the introduction of national languages in educational curricula in Senegal and Francophone countries is one of the issues that arose on the occasion of the XVe Summit of Francophone countries in Dakar, Senegal. The importance of this question to the lives of these countries cannot be assessed without diagnosing the hypothetical conflicts involving cultural and linguistic difference/diversity that add to the maladies of African postcolonial communities. This article explores and presents the processes and background framework of national language teaching in the Senegalese educational system from the 1960s to the present. It also attempts to elucidate both the benefits and the limits of national languages teaching in contexts of ethnic diversity as a pathway to an efficient transmission of scientific knowledge and development. A pathway to a curriculum indifferent of difference It was a temporary matter: for five days their electricity would be cut off for one hour, beginning at eight P.M. A line had gone down in the last snowstorm, and the repairmen were going to take advantage of the milder evenings to set it right. The work would affect only the houses on the quiet tree-lined street, within walking distance of a row of brick-faced stores and a trolley stop, where Shoba and Shukumar had lived for three years (Lahiri, 9)