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Zulu vs Xhosa: How Colonialism Used Language To Divide South Africa’s Two Biggest Ethnic Groups

Jochen S. Arndt The Conversation
South Africa has 12 official languages. The two most dominant are isiZulu and isiXhosa. While the Zulu and Xhosa people share a rich common history, they have also found themselves engaged in ethnic conflict and division, notably during urban wars between 1990 and 1994. A new book, Divided by the Word, examines this history – and how colonisers and African interpreters created the two distinct languages, entrenched by apartheid education.

Friday Nite Videos | May 27, 2022

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A Simple Solution: Reduce the Number of Guns. Oye Como Va ft. Carlos Santana & Cindy Blackman Santana. Jacinda Ardern at Harvard: Gun Control and Democracy. How Your Phone Knows If You’re Getting an Abortion. The Hidden History of “Hand Talk.”

books

To Beat the Right, We Have to Understand Their Arguments

Matt McManus Jacobin
Since the French Revolution, the Right has deployed a common set of arguments to resist the drive to democratize economic and political power. The Left will only win if we analyze their rhetoric — and counter it.

books

A Man of Many Words

Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
Peter Martin's The Dictionary Wars: The American Fight Over the English Language shows Noah Webster as the sort of ideologue who's convinced he has a historical mission and carries himself accordingly, writes Scott McLemee.
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