Paper short abstract:

In Kenya, communities are using their indigenous languages to educate themselves to forge development in their cultural contexts. This paper draws from a study on local popular medias to understand the role of indigenous languages in recontextualizing education and development in Africa.

Paper long abstract:

In the era of cultural renaissance, communities are innovating ways to educate themselves to forge ahead with their development while not endangering their cultural identities and heritage. Indigenous languages become the core tools for communities to assert themselves and de/reconstruct their identities in the face of universalizing development practices and policies affecting their lives. This paper attempts to engage with the place of language localization in adult education for community people in their own contexts. Through a qualitative study of the use and implications of local poplar and digital medias such as films, radio stations, and local TV programs in villages in Western Kenya, this work addresses the question of how can language help understand ways community people access, contest, and connect to education and development in their own contexts. The key finding is that there is a high reception of indigenous languages among community people of all ages, in adult education, including youth living in urban areas who are developing educative radio and TV programs in indigenous languages for farmers, markets, schools among others, in rural and urban areas. Through this, community engagements on development projects have significantly improved participation and deliberation even through virtual feedback processes and phone discussions. The work contributes to a cultural reconceptualization and recontextualization of education for development in Africa.

Keywords: Language, media, community, education, cultural context, Kenya