Gramsci, Doke and the Marginalisation of the Ndebele Language in Zimbabwe

Clement M. Doke's 1929-1930 research on Zimbabwean languages has played a key role in shaping the tribalised and politicised linguistic terrain that characterises modern Zimbabwe. Doke, professor of linguistics at the University of Witwaters-rand, was commissioned in 1929 by the government of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) to research the language varieties spoken by Zimbabwean natives. His work, which was premised on the quest for standardised, monolithic and homogeneous linguistic categories, marked the genesis of language politics in Zimbabwe. The Dokean legacy left an indelible mark on the terrain of language treatment and language policy formulation in postcolonial Zimbabwe. This paper uses Antonio Gramsci's hegemony theory to interrogate and problematise the contribution of Doke's pioneering work to language politics and language marginalisation in Zimbabwe. Gramsci's theory of hegemony posits that dominant social groups impose their supremacy over weaker groups either by overt coercion or by using more intellectual means of realising their dominance. The paper concludes by observing that the marginalisation of Ndebele in contemporary Zimbabwe cannot be fully understood outside the context of this Dokean legacy.