{"id":56833,"date":"2023-09-14T18:55:35","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T16:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/sailor-malan-memorial-lecture-honouring-60-years-of-a-remarkable-legacy-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-09-20T11:42:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T09:42:22","slug":"spu-hosts-inaugural-international-language-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/spu-hosts-inaugural-international-language-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"SPU hosts inaugural International Language Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"56833\" class=\"elementor elementor-56833\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3995dfb elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3995dfb\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7ba633f5\" data-id=\"7ba633f5\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e97f85b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e97f85b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU&#8217;s)<\/span> <\/a>Language and Communication department in the School of Humanities rolled out the red carpet for its inaugural SPU International Language Conference. Running from 6 to 8 September 2023, the conference was housed in the SPU Central Campus Humanities building. This year\u2019s rousing theme was \u201cServants of Africa \u2013 African Language in the 21st Century\u201d.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">SPU\u2019s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Andrew Crouch, kicked off the conference with a warm welcome to all attendees and presenters. He took a moment to highlight the theme\u2019s pertinence, focusing on the pivotal role African languages could play in both overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities in the 21st century. Prof Crouch also extended his heartfelt congratulations and thanks to the Department of Languages and Communication for their dedication and effort in organising the event, as well as expressing gratitude to the sponsors for their generous support.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The three-day event featured 60 papers from scholars hailing from across Africa and as far afield as Japan. Topics ranged from language activism and sustainability to linguistics, translation and interpreting.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Five distinguished scholars in the field of African languages took the podium for keynote addresses during the conference. Among them was renowned Northern Cape writer Anzil Kulsen, who delved into Afrikaans as an indigenous language, exploring its various dialects. Prof Niklaas Fredericks from the Namibia University of Science and Technology tackled the status of the Khoe and San languages, specifically Khoekhoegowab\/Nama\/Damara, while also focusing on themes surrounding identity and decoloniality.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The roster of keynote speakers also featured Linguistics Professor Henry Thipa, who shed light on the complex challenges facing African languages. He outlined ongoing efforts to confront these issues, particularly in the context of Human Language Technologies and Intellectualisation. Dr Eileen Pooe from North-West University centred her presentation on Sol Plaatje, celebrating his multi-faceted contributions as a global citizen, author, creative writer, translator, and interpreter. Linguist and writer Sindiswa Busuku from the University of Cape Town presented a riveting paper entitled &#8220;After the Burning Years: Fugitivity and Maneuvering Through Cemeteries of Abandoned Futures.&#8221; This poignant work grapples with the crisis of Black histories and possible futures within the current South African cultural landscape, aiming to articulate a language for discussing Black futurities in an era haunted by &#8220;futures that failed to happen,&#8221; as Mark Fisher so aptly put it in 2014.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The conference covered a sweeping range of topics, including African languages, language activism, teaching and learning strategies, indigenous knowledge, language conservation, language policy planning, sign language, marginalised languages and creative writing.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU&#8217;s) Language and Communication department in the School of Humanities rolled out the red carpet for its inaugural SPU International Language Conference. Running from 6 to 8 September 2023, the conference was housed in the SPU Central <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/spu-hosts-inaugural-international-language-conference\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":56840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,4],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"coauthors":[189],"class_list":["post-56833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SPU hosts inaugural International Language Conference - Sol Plaatje University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s Language and Communication department in the School of Humanities rolled out the red carpet for its inaugural\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SPU hosts inaugural International Language Conference - 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