Soundings

Whose language? Afrikaans in post-apartheid South Africa

11.28.2017 - By Stanford Storytelling ProjectPlay

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Explore the ties between language and identity in South Africa with two women who see Afrikaans as the language of reconciliation.

Two women in South Africa are currently challenging the assumption that Afrikaans is solely the language of the oppressor. One is a poet. The other runs a community radio station. Through a retelling of the true history of the language and the people who created the language, words arise that begin to break down the ties between language and identity over 20 years post-apartheid: “you can’t blame a language for what a group of people did with it.”

Producer: Isaac Goldstein

Music: The last offering, Sunhiilow

No sudden movements, Rui

Magic Torquoise, Sunhiilow

Butterfly Lullaby, Possimiste

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