Indigenous Language Media and Democracy in Africa

Abstract

The origin of the African language press is usually associated with Christian missionaries. They chose to establish a press in the local language for their evangelical activities (Akinfeleye, 1985; Tsumba, 2002; Salawu, 2003, 2007). The missionaries knew that the only way they could, effectively, diffuse the beliefs and tenets of their religions among the natives was to communicate with them in the indigenous languages. For instance, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) did this in the Yoruba language; the Dutch Reformed Church Mission (DRCM), later known as the Church of Christ among the Tiv or the Nongo U Kristu Ken Sudan Hen Tiv (NKST), in the Tiv and Chiyanja languages; the United Mission for Central Africa (UMCA) in Chiyanja; the Catholic Church in isi Zulu, Chichewa and Ewondo; the Overtoun Institute of the Free Church of Scotland in Chiyanja; the Wesleyans and Presbyterians in isi Xhosa; the Church of Scotland Mission in Efik; the former Qua Iboe Mission, now the United Evangelical Mission, in Igala, etc. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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