Neville Alexander: champion of multilingualism

Neville Edward Alexander was a prominent revolutionary, Robben Island prisoner, linguistic activist, theorist and educationalist who strongly advocated multilingualism in post-apartheid South Africa. In his many publications, he explored the multiplicity of concepts related to nation building, such as 'race', 'nation', 'national group', 'ethnicity' and 'separatism,' because "it should be stressed that my approach has been motivated throughout by the desire to facilitate the unification of the national liberation movement by fomenting a discussion on the basis of national unity and on the political-strategic implications of ideas about who constitutes the South African nation"(emphasis in the original).

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Publication Details

Journal
Human Science Research Council SA
Published
2026-05-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.14749/32377728
Primary Topic
South African History and Culture
Type
article
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article

Neville Alexander: champion of multilingualism

Human Sciences Research Council
Human Science Research Council SA
South African History and Culture
article

Neville Alexander: champion of multilingualism

Human Sciences Research Council
article en

Abstract

Neville Edward Alexander was a prominent revolutionary, Robben Island prisoner, linguistic activist, theorist and educationalist who strongly advocated multilingualism in post-apartheid South Africa. In his many publications, he explored the multiplicity of concepts related to nation building, such as 'race', 'nation', 'national group', 'ethnicity' and 'separatism,' because "it should be stressed that my approach has been motivated throughout by the desire to facilitate the unification of the national liberation movement by fomenting a discussion on the basis of national unity and on the political-strategic implications of ideas about who constitutes the South African nation"(emphasis in the original).

Human Science Research Council SA
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
South African History and Culture
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Neville Alexander: champion of multilingualism — Human Sciences Research Council · Human Science Research Council SA (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS