Sandile Mdlongwa, a second-year MA in Global African Studies student specializing in Diplomacy and Africa’s International Relations at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University, delivered a keynote address at the African Languages International Postgraduate Conference (ALIPC), held virtually from June 17 to 19, 2026.
Organized by the Department of African Languages at the University of Johannesburg, the conference was held under the theme “African Languages in the Decade of Indigenous Languages and Beyond,” in recognition of the 50th-year celebration of Youth Day. The conference brought together 59 international delegates representing 14 institutions across five countries.
“The presentation allowed me to think through how language shapes ideas of belonging, exclusion, and solidarity, while contributing to wider conversations on African languages, diplomacy, and social change,” said Sandile.
Mdlongwa delivered his keynote, titled “The Language of Exclusion: Decolonial Pan-Africanism, ‘Choiceless Democracy’, and the Postcolonial Nativist Turn,” on June 18. His address examined the relationship between language, political discourse, belonging, and Pan-African thought, with attention to how ideas of solidarity continue to shape contemporary African debates.
