Colloque International
Hirut Woldemariam is a professor of linguistics at Addis Ababa University. She did her PhD study at the University of Cologne, Institute of African Studies, in a Sandwich program with Addis Ababa University. Her prolific academic record demonstrates leading international research projects, publishing two books and over three dozen of peer reviewed articles in international journals. She has also served as a member of editorial boards for international academic journals, and as a member of selection committee for international research grants including for Volkswagen foundation.
She had a unique experience in taking up various leadership positions ranging from academic institution to high level ministerial posts. At Addis Ababa University, she has been progressively taking up range of leadership positions from Department Head to Associate-Vice-President, then to Vice-President posts. She was the first female Vice-President in the history of Addis Ababa University, and has served the university for about seven years at the top management level. Then, she has been appointed to take up four Ministerial positions in the Federal Republic of Ethiopia consecutively for over five years. These Ministerial positions held ordered from the recent to earlier time are: Minister-Social Sector Advisor of the Prime Minister; Ministry of Science and Higher Education; Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs; Minister of Culture & Tourism.
She has received different awards including Doctor Philosophiae causa for 2022 from University of Oslo; Research Award for Senior Scientists from Alexander Humboldt; Solidarity Award from the Association International de Linguistique Appliqueé (AILA), USA; and OSSREA, the 17th Social Science Research competition for young scholars. Moreover, she has been member in various national and international research networks and projects. She was also a member of the Ethiopian Public Diplomacy.
Multilingualism is a vital phenomenon and norm in Africa. Regrettably, in most of the cases, language policies, practices, and linguistic attitudes disregard indigenous languages from functioning as Official Languages in the continent. Even those claiming to have a language policy with multiple indigenous Official Languages are not attaining multilingual practices beyond the education sector. Many post-colonial countries tend to use colonial languages as their Official Languages. The colonial legacy coupled with local politics seem to influence the continent not to take advantage of multilingualism as a linguistic resource for socio-economic development. This presentation gives an overview of the key elements of language policies in Africa with a reference to Ethiopia focusing on the Policy of Official Languages. This paper reviews the historical and contemporary dynamics and a unique trajectory of multilingualism in Ethiopia, an ancient country with no colonial history. Ethiopia, a home for over 80 indigenous languages, used to have a monolingual policy that upheld an indigenous National Language in a ‘one-nation-one language’ approach. Along with changes in the political system, the country has undergone an evolution of promoting multilingual policies that attempts to recognize the country’s linguistic diversity. Starting with a multilingual literacy campaign during the Military regime (1974-1991), the country has put up a language policy that allows seven indigenous Official Languages to serve in their respective Regional States as of 1991. Also, over 50 indigenous languages have been introduced into the school system in their respective localities. Recently, the language policy has been further amended to expand the number of Federal Official Working Language from one to five indigenous languages. The country’ journey to create inclusive and accommodative linguistic ecosystem has not been without challenges, opportunities and success stories to draw lessons from. This research has followed qualitative method and desk review.
