The Politics of National Languages in Postcolonial Senegal By Ib ...

to Senegal (seven visits of 2 to 3 weeks each) between 2003 and 2010. These visits were preceded by 6 months of fieldwork in Senegal from 2001–2002 as part of my PhD thesis. The unstructured interviews (in the form of discussions) were all conducted face-to-face at the relevant government departments and major (national) language research centres, and the responses were either recorded or written down. Phone interviews were not used at any stage to collect data in Senegal.

Data were also collected from primary sources, including government departments’ internal documents and other government office publications not advertised or widely accessible to the general public. These documents constituted the backbone of the description and analysis of language policy in Senegal. Also consulted were statistical documents from other government bodies, such as the Direction de la Planification et des Statistiques (Directorate for Forecast and Statistics, now the Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie [National Agency for Statistics and Demography]). Other secondary sources included a wide range of academic research—in journal articles, books, and book chapters—relevant to the topics discussed in this book. These sources were crucial for reviewing the academic debate over the national languages (particularly Wolof) and determining these languages’ place in the education system. In addition, press reports and resources from the Internet were widely used.

Outline

For the purposes of this book, the history of Senegal is divided into two broad periods. The first runs from the settlement of the French colonial power in Senegal on the Isle of Bocos (in Saint Louis) in 1683 until 1960, the date when Senegal gained political independence from France. This period is referred to as the colonial era. The second period, which runs from 1960 until the present day, is designated as the postcolonial era. This classification, as one would expect, is far from being satisfactory, especially as it outlines the history of the Senegalese nation based on its colonial subjugation, but this choice was made only to present a clearer understanding of the current language issues in Senegal.