Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

This postdoctoral project investigates whether changes caused by small- and large-scale infrastructure projects of the BRI have an impact on people's linguistic behaviour and/or their interaction with their living environment. There are many studies dealing with the correlation of globalization (i.e. influences from media/internet, multilingual urban trade centres, influences from colonial languages etc.) and language change and language vitality (see e.g. Vigouroux & Mufwene 2008) and some studies on the language planning policies and its influence on languages along the BRI (see e.g. Gao 2020). In this project I aim at “zooming in” from the global perspective to specific local scenarios and look at the effects of global projects such as the BRI on selected local communities and their languages. Central research questions are whether there is a correlation between new/better infrastructure and linguistic change (i.e. language use, L2 acquisition, etc.) in rural locations and if and how infrastructural and linguistic changes influence people's identities.

In order to investigate these research questions, the project is planning to conduct case studies in Botswana and Tanzania. The studies have two research foci: linguistic documentation and a (community based) self-reflection of people exposed to changes caused by the BRI.

For the language documentation the 'Khoisan' language ǂ'Amkoe (Kx’a, Botswana) will be central as it is a severely endangered language under heavy language contact influence. The ǂ'Amkoe speakers as well as some of their neighbouring 'Khoisan' and Bantu speaking groups could also be involved in the second part of the project. Many groups in the area have experienced several drastic changes in their living environment in the past. It is thus revealing to hear and see these people's perspectives on the impact of the BRI. The case study in Tanzania involves people who have migrated from rural areas to Dar-es-salaam in order to work in BRI projects. Here the question of how the personal experience with the BRI projects and the Chinese language and culture effects people’s identities is central. Methodologically, questionnaires / interviews (classical method of sociology) and a specific type of video recording will be employed. The video recording is a method from visual anthropology, whereby cameras are handed out to members of a community who volunteer to participate (e.g. Turner 1992, Bunce & Revilla Minaya p.c.).

References

Gao, Yang. 2020. How the Belt and Road Initiative Informs Language Planning Policies in China and among the Countries along the Road. Sustainability 12, 5506.

Vigouroux, Celine B. & Salikoko S. Mufwene (eds.) 2008. Globalization and Language Vitality – Perspectives from Africa. London/New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Turner, Terence. 1992. The Kayapo Appropriation of Video. Anthropology Today, Vol. 8 No. 6, pp. 6-16.