Evolving African approaches to the management of linguistic diversity: The ACALAN project

The contribution discusses the work of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN), initiated in 2001 by the president of the Republic of Mali and officially institutionalised in 2006 as a special office of the African Union. It starts off with a discussion of a number of issues relevant to language planning in Africa: the need to accept that African languages and the languages imposed on African communities in the colonial period have to co-exist; the potential of language to be used to serve elite interests; the importance of counter-hegemonic strategies; the threat posed to African languages by urban vernaculars; and the necessity of viewing language planning as an integral part of social and economic planning. Hereafter, the origin, objectives and structures of ACALAN are discussed. The article ends with an overview of ACALAN's core projects and initiatives, asking what the likelihood is that ACALAN will succeed if many similar initiatives have failed.