Neville Alexander
Political Activist and Educationalist: Lecturer at various institutes and universities.
Dr Neville Edward Alexander was born on the 22 October 1936 in Cradock, Eastern Cape province. His father, David James Alexander, was a carpenter and mother, Dimbiti Bisho Alexander, was a primary school teacher. He was the first son.
In 1952, Alexander matriculated from the Holy Rosary Convent a Catholic mission school in Cradock. From 1953 to 1955, he studied Bachelor of Arts (majors German and History) at the University of Cape Town. He enrolled for an Honours and Master degree from 1956 to 1958 studying German. His master thesis was on the Silesia Baroque drama of Andreas Gryphius and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein. He was honoured with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow from the University of Tübingen to study for a doctorate in the Philosophical Faculty of the University of (West Germany). In 1961 he was awarded a Dr. Phil. By the University of Tübingen for a dissertation on style change in the dramatic work of Gerhart Hauptmann.
Alexander was also deeply involved in the struggle against Apartheid government in South Africa. He was the co-founder of the National Liberation Front. In 1964, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit sabotage and was imprisoned at Robben Island until 1974. His book, One Azania, One Nation (1979) was banned. In 1981, he was appointed Director of the South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED). His currently a director of Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) at the University of Cape Town.
Resource: http://www.sahistory.org.za/
Opgedateer/Updated: 2006-10-01
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Neville Alexander died on 27 August 2012.
Uit die argief (2006): Etlike gedagtes oor moedertaalonderrig in Suid-Afrika na Apartheid
2021-03-25"Die inheemse Afrikatale van Suid-Afrika, waarby ek Afrikaans insluit, moet markwaarde kry en/of behou."
The role of African universities in the intellectualisation of African languages
2015-11-13"It is essential at this point to repeat that we cannot have an African renaissance without the development and intellectualisation of African languages."
Uit die argief: Die oorlewing van die nie-dominante tale van Suid-Afrika
2015-09-28"Die behoud van Afrikaans en van ander Suid-Afrikaanse tale is ’n belangrike faktor in die globale magstryd tussen diegene wat die (Engels-georiënteerde) oorheersing van die 'Noorde' teenoor diesulkes wat eerder ’n meer eweredige verspreiding van mag tussen Noord en Suid wil sien. Hierdie konflik hou verband met die veel dieper vraag van die oorlewing van die mens op aarde."
The centrality of the language question in the social sciences and humanities in post-apartheid South Africa
2012-03-01 “Will South Africa’s middle class and its intellectuals find the courage, have they got the imagination, to commit class suicide by moving away decisively from the current English-mainly and often English-only language policy, with all its negative consequences for a democratic polity?”
Nasiebou en subnasionale identiteite in Suid-Afrika na 1994
2010-08-12"Die blote feit dat mense in 1994 hul stem uitgebring het, kon nie die wonderwerk verrig om die rasvlek van hul bewussyn uit te wis nie."
Afrikaans as a language of reconciliation, restitution and nation-building
2009-10-06 Paper presented at the Roots-conference held at the University of the Western Cape, 22-23 September 2009 Prof Neville Alexander, Director of the National Language Project, PRAESA Introductory remarks It is by no means axiomatic that a ...
Etlike gedagtes oor moedertaalonderrig in Suid-Afrika na Apartheid
2006
2007-06-29
Hoekom praat ons nou oor hierdie vraag? Die feit dat Afrikaans op die oog af aan die kwyn is, is net een van die redes. Baie belangrik is ook die aaklige druipsyfers, veral in die jaarlikse matriekeksamen, onder niemoedertaalsprekers van ...
Die oorlewing van die nie-dominante tale van Suid-Afrika
2001
2007-06-13
Hierdie onderwerp word vandag veral rondom die kwessie van die handhawing en oorlewing van Afrikaans as amptelike taal in Suid-Afrika bespreek. Hierdie feit is weer van die geskiedenis van ons land afkomstig, want blanke Afrikaanssprekende mense het ...
The role of African universities in the intellectualisation of African languages
2006-01-17"Our societies are multilingual, the states that were formed as a result of colonial conquest were necessarily multilingual, and therefore we have every reason to want to promote the continuation of our own languages, not against, but alongside, English."
Uit die Argief: Die oorlewing van die nie-dominante tale van Suid-Afrika ‒ ’n Kommentaar deur Neville Alexander
2001-04-07Bydrae gelewer by Die Burger se lesingreeks, KKNK 2001: "Afrikaans kan ’n sleutelrol in die bevestiging van die demokrasie in Suid-Afrika speel namate dit sy bates en voordele met die ander inheemse tale van die land deel. ’n Beleid van funksionele meertaligheid op alle gebiede moet in ’n gees van pragmatisme wat op die beginsel van taalregte as menseregte berus, toegepas word."