Colours of the Alphabet
Background information and resources for teachers of World History and Social Sciences
Provided by the Africa National Resource Centers of Indiana University, Boston University and University of Minnesota
Colours of the Alphabet
Trailer: https://youtu.be/iMQtb_6CxLk
Full Film (if streaming): https://vimeo.com/239862047
Access code: osu-alphabet-2024
Director: Alastair Cole
color, 80 min, 2016
Languages: Soli, Nyanja, Bemba, Tonga, English; with English subtitles
Synopsis
Colours of the Alphabet tells the story of three children and their families over two school terms, and asks the question: does the future have to be in English?
The official language in Zambia is English, but there are seven national languages and 72 ethnic languages spoken in the country. This documentary is an eye-opening tale of the relationship between children and language from those first apprehensive days at school to the playground excitement at the end of term.
In a world where nearly 40% of the population lack access to education in their own language, Colours of the Alphabet is an affectionate and humorous portrayal of childhood innocence, misplaced hope, and the role of language as a means of binding a nation together - with multi-coloured subtitles to reflect the multilingual reality of the classroom.
Place
Filmed in Zambia (Republic of Zambia), in Southern Africa
It is one of 54 recognized countries on the continent
Lusaka is the capital of Zambia, and one of the fastest growing cities in southern Africa.
Filming takes place in Lwimba, a rural farming community two hours Northeast from Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
The school is the Lwimba Basic School – an elementary school for the community.
People
The most recent census puts the population at ~ 20 million people
About 54% of the population live in rural agricultural communities, 46% in urban cities. This is a fairly typical
Urban-Rural pattern across the continent. But, Zambia has one of the highest levels of urbanization in Africa, with a 4.15% annual rate of change (growth in urban population).
The population is not distributed evenly across the country – there is a high density in the central area, particularly around the cities of Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe, and Mufulira.
Unfortunately, Zambia is one of the poorest counties in the world (source: World Bank).
The population is very diverse.
Bemba and Tonga are the largest ethnic groups, among ~70 total living in the country
72 languages are spoken across the country
As the film states, however, English is the only official language.
Zambia’s language diversity presents major challenges to Mother-Tongue education policies + practices
Children:
Teacher:
Others interviewed in film:
Community’s language: Soli (Spoken by Soli ethnic group - a minority)
Regional language, and language of the teacher: Nyanja
National language: English
Cole’s research and film look at the intersecting themes of linguistic modernity, multilingualism, and language capital
Multilingualism is seen as an asset in Zambia, and most people are polyglots
Yet, at the time of this film, only six students out of the 102 who sat for their grade nine exams at Lwimba Basic School gained grades high enough to qualify to enter secondary school directly
English.
“An official language which is also the main language of governance, commerce and, importantly, education. It is a language, however, which is only spoken at home by 1.7% of the population (Central Statistics Office 2004: 42).
It is a language of privilege as “the only publicly visible language within government administration, as well as
business, banks, post offices, wider industry and commercial transactions”
– Alastair Cole
Languages
Historical Context for the Film
1888: Colonization began when the British South Africa Company (BSAC) secured mineral rights in the area. BSAC was a mercantile company based in London,
under Cecil Rhodes
1899: region became a British Protectorate, governed as part of Barotseland, North-Western Rhodesia
1911: became Northern Rhodesia, with capital in Livingston, near Victoria Falls
Under white minority rule until its independence: approximately 1,500 Europeans and one million black Africans
1924: BSAC turns rule of country over to British Colonial Office but maintains all mineral rights. At time,~ 4,000 Europeans
in region
1964: the Republic of Zambia became an independent country
Company to Colonial Rule and Education
Under the British South Africa Company, people were labor – for white farmers and in the mines. BSAC saw no reason for education. The primary and secondary education system in Zambia was designed to function only for children of white settlers.
British colonials felt that the most important education for the local population was “moral instruction,” and this was done through Christian religious teachings. Missionaries were the educators.
In 1929, the first colonial school opened for Africans; secondary school was not implemented until just before WWII.
By the time of independence, the education system was perhaps the most poorly developed of all of the British Empire’s colonies (Hoover 1979):
1960- 2,500 Africans in secondary schools; by 1971 there were 54,000
1964- fewer than 100 Zambian university graduates; in 1965 the University of Zambia was founded; by 1971 it had 2,000 students
There were two educational systems: one for whites and one for the black population – one greatly funded/resourced, the other not
Paris Missionary School at Sefula, Zambia
Independence, Nationalization and Language: ‘One Zambia, One nation’
Zambia’s nation building: the integration and unification of an incredibly diverse population bound together by the whim of Europeans who had never set foot in Africa and their cartographers ….
[w]here Zambians “‘have woven the linguistic, cultural and racial mixes brought about by colonialism into the fabric of their daily existence” (Anchimbe 2007)
Colonial rule often created “tribes” and “tribalism,” with simplistic defining of groups of people, and the pitting of people against each other. Yet, without a common language within the created borders, how could one function as a modern nation state?
“…[E]ven the most ardent nationalists of our time have accepted the inevitable fact that English - ironically a foreign language and also the language of our former colonial masters -has definitely a unifying role in Zambia” (Mwanakatwe, 1968)
A narrative of the political importance of English arose: Zambian unity through diversity, and unification through English as a common language
Kenneth Kaunda,
first President of Zambia
and a former schoolteacher
Flag of the Republic of Zambia
“Expanding our Secondary School Education and paying greater attention to the requirements of university education, in order to produce qualified personnel… and help establish sound administrative cadres for upper and middle grades in government, commerce and industry, agriculture extension schemes and public works, for which good education is a must – has no substitute.” – Kenneth Kaunda
Educational history in the country extends from pre-colonial traditional educational structures to the arrival of formal, western education with missionaries and colonial administration, through to the emergence, via independence, of a new ‘English only’ Zambian educational approach.
The “modern” educational structure used the British system as its model. Textbooks were printed in England and included subjects important to English history and culture. Students in Zambia did not see themselves in these written sources, and the teaching methods were not based in historical or culturally appropriate forms.
In Zambia, as across Africa, one saw a displacement within one’s own country through language barriers.
Thus, we return to Alistair Cole’s question posed at the beginning of the film: “Must life always be understood in English?”
Links to Colonial Metropole: Educational Structure/Teaching Methods
From Colours of the Alphabet
Resources
Language Education in Zambia
Related: Identity, access to culturally relevant reading materials, and American’s misconceptions of Africa
Map Sources
Great Reads for Educators
General Sources for Information on Africa
Sources for Current Information on Africa
Africa is a Country (also has an Instagram account which alerts subscribers to news and events): https://africasacountry.com/
Africa Focus Bulletin: http://www.africafocus.org/
All Africa (news from African News agencies): https://allafrica.com/
Quartz Africa Weekly Brief: https://qz.com/africa/
Good General Sources for students to use to do research on Africa
Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (includes essay on culture; excellent source for information on cultures and their arts): https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
Khan Academy’s various entries, ex: https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/british-museum/africa1/africa-intro-bm/a/an-introduction-to-africas-arts-and-cultures
Dollar Street (can be used to study any world region): https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street
Source for Children’s Books on Africa, Including Lesson Plans
Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA): http://africaaccessreview.org/childrens-africana-book-awards/
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Can use this framework to discuss access to quality education and numerous other topic: https://sdgs.un.org/goals
For example, this topic could draw upon SDG 4, SDG 8, and SDG 10.
Partnering Africa National Resource Centers Outreach Sites
African Studies Program, Indiana University:
Access Global: https://accessglobal.indiana.edu/index.html
Outreach Resources: https://africanstudies.indiana.edu/outreach/index.html
Contact: Tavy Aherne, Associate Director and Outreach Coordinator, taherne@iu.edu
African Studies Center, Boston University: https://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/
African Studies Institute, University of Minnesota: https://cla.umn.edu/african-studies-initiative
For continuing support of your teaching, feel free to contact members of the African Studies Outreach Council