“Colonialism” and linguistic decolonization’s epistemologies: a reflection from Africa

Abstract

One of the most effective space of colonial domination has always been language. In the case of the Portuguese colonialism, it was exclusively through the Portuguese language that a black African could be considered as a cidadão or an indigena, according to discriminatory laws (which were being changed through the times until reaching the so-called “Portuguese Indigenous Statue in Guinea, Angola and Mozambique”, 1954). The Portuguese language was therefore the only linguistic vehicle of citizenship, thus restricting the use of ethnic languages – considered, in a demeaning way, dialects – in formal and official public spaces. This situation has been extended to the linguistic policies of the postcolonial States. The present paper aims to reflect on this colonial heritage, by revealing the meanderings of the epistemology of decolonization and on the conditions of language awareness of the power relations among different languages in Africa (European and native), mainly in the five African Portuguese-speaking countries.