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African Identity

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In this perspective I agree with statement that colonial language complicated the notion of African identities. African identities are morals and beliefs that not only define the individual but also play a significant role in the African community. It is an important part in the cultural and traditional teachings of the native Africans. At the core of the language question in Africa are the conjunctures of imperialism in its colonialism and neocolonialism phases. It is an abiding assumption of nationalist ideology and historiography that the European languages are alien and the African languages are authentic. The processes of European linguistic appropriation and domestication have manifested itself in Africa. It is true that this reflects the failure by African states to fully decolonize their educational systems rooted in the neo-colonial phase, thus over powering the ancestral African identity.

African communities are built upon strong pillars of culture and tradition in which language is the foundation to these pillars. Ngugi (1986:28) states that the African identities is built up by an array of unique and religious practices, one of the main element that hone these African tradition is their mother tongue languages. It displays its own set of characteristics just as a thumb print is unique and special to an individual so too is the African language to the identity of the people. Without it, it denaturalizes cultural artifacts and practices, stripping them of

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