Communicative rationality in conflicted language ecologies post #RhodesMustFall at the University of the Free State

Abstract

Past regimes governing South African public life have used language as one means towards sociopolitical control and economic exclusion. Twenty years into the current, democratic state of affairs, the #RhodesMustFall movement called for a cementing of egalitarian praxes into all aspects of university business. At historically Afrikaans universities (HAUs), this demand inevitably intersected with language politics, raising two chief concerns: the retention of Afrikaans and the precarious status of African languages in the academy. While the problematic, colonial/ imperial roots of English were repeatedly acknowledged, so too, was its status as the lingua franca in higher education and the necessity for competency in the language in pursuing goals of access, equality and redress. Linguists in the south African research terrain routinely question the status of English, frequently pointing out the gains of multilingual practice and ‘mother tongue instruction’ but seldom address the materialities of oppositional politics in diverse linguistic ecologies. By applying Habermas’s theory of discourse ethics and ethnographic insights from the University of the Free State (UFS) during its language policy review process of 2015, this paper suggests that depoliticising processes are useful in fostering the communicative rationality needed for inclusivity, social cohesion and meaningful transformation while fulfilling constitutional imperatives.