Neville Alexander: History, politics and the language question

Abstract

When Neville Alexander died in 2012, aged 75, after a short battle against cancer, South Africa lost its leading linguistic activist. It also lost an independent political thinker, one who had been incarcerated on Robben Island for 10 years, between 1964 and 1974, interacting there with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Eddie Daniels and others. The book under review is a fitting tribute to a great political figure and scholar. It originated in a series of interviews undertaken between 2006 and 2010, mostly by applied linguist Brigitta Busch of the University of Vienna, herself an academic-cum-language activist interested in multilingualism and the linguistic order in places like South Africa. The editorial credits include Lucijan Busch who undertook some additional interviews. The book was first published in a German edition in 2011, on the occasion of Alexander's 75th birthday. While following the structure of the German original, the South African edition is not identical. We are told in the introduction that Karen Press, the third editor, rearranged the text to suit a South African readership, highlighting Alexander's efforts in formulating a language policy for post-apartheid South Africa. The South African edition contains two parts: the first entitled 'Neville Alexander's language biography' and the second 'A selection of Neville Alexander's writings on language'.