Ep 05: UNBARRED ~ Language needs to be both fluid & sturdy

This second episode is a read of a 2022 African Arguments article by Nyawira Githae and excerpts of 'How To Make a Country' by Lerato Bereng, in collaboration with other artists & experts.

Unbarred is written, narrated, produced and edited by Miss Purple.

Theme Music: "Countdown to Apocalypse" by Soundridemusic

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[TRANSCRIPT]

Welcome to Unbarred with Miss Purple.

The weekly podcast on global culture, technology’s evolution and the financial revolutions taking Africa and the rest of the world by storm.

Unbarred is produced with intention by Purple Pages.

Gm, ge or good day to you all, today is Wednesday the 22nd of March and I want to talk about language. My involvement with communities such as Afropolitan and Bankless Africa has peaked my curiosity on the concept of language, which according to the collins dictionary is a principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture; or a system of communication used by a particular country or community.

Today’s read is from an article by Nyawira Githae which was published in African Arguments. I would like to emphasise that yes, the article is quite old, published on the 8th of June 2022 to be exact, but unsurprisingly, it is still immensely relevant. I will also be reading a few parts from the book ‘How to Make a Country’ that was curated and edited by curator Lerato Bereng.

The link to the article will be in the shownote should you wish to read it yourself, unfortunately the books are not available online but should you want a copy please send me a dm on my twitter and we can work something out.

{read Article}

On the Book, How to Make a Country is a group exhibition curated by Lerato Bereng, featuring Ba Re e Ne Re Literature represented by Lineo Segoete (Lesotho), Zineb Benjelloun (Morocco), Dineo Seshee Bopape (South Africa), Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi (South Africa) and Frida Orupabo (Norway). The book compiles the ideas of the exhibition along with a collection of new Sesotho words.

To learn more about Lerato Bereng and the Exhibition she curated, watch this video by the Frac Poitou-Charentes.

I speak at least 4 languages with a fluid fluency, thankfully, one of them in in fact my mother’s tongue, I am also attempting to learn another 4, 2 of which I know the basics of, and the other 2 to which I am a complete beginner. If you ask me why I do this the answer is simple but heartbreaking, in many instances, my language doesn’t seem to count. I know it sounds dramatic, but how many Sesotho speaking individuals have you met in your lifetime? If your answer is more than 5, you may just be one of the lucky ones. Dramatics aside, language should be both fluid and sturdy, it should be capable of evolution, because in this world, new concepts, new ideas are bound to take root in our everyday lives. The disconnect between Africans is the