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Dynamika wielojęzyczności. Nauczanie języków słowiańskich w wielojęzycznym Senegalu
ORCID: Adam Pomieciński: 0000-0002-1788-1065
Afiliacja: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Pages: 7-38
Edition: Lublin 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36874/RIESW.2025.1.1
Citation method: A. Pomieciński, The dynamics of multilingualism: teaching Slavic languages in multilingual Senegal, „Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej” 23 (2025), z. 1, s. 7–38, DOI: https://doi.org/10.36874/RIESW.2025.1.1
Keywords: glottodidactic policy, multilingualism, Russian language in Africa, Senegal, teaching Polish as a foreign language
Abstract: The article analyses the dynamics of multilingualism in Senegal in a postcolonial context, with particular emphasis on the teaching of Slavic languages, especially Russian and Polish. It highlights that language policy in Senegal is shaped not only by local communicative needs but also by global power relations, diplomacy, and political strategies. The text underscores the growing role of the Russian language in Senegal’s educational system, supported by institutions and scholarships. Russian is taught at Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) and in many secondary schools, where it is gaining popularity and is often associated with narratives of Russia’s strength and independence. Against this background, the text examines the place of Polish as a foreign language, which is taught as a supplementary subject with limited institutional support, maintained mainly by individual lecturers, informal networks, and the small Polish diaspora. Methodologically, the study is based on ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews with students, teachers, and members of the diaspora in Dakar. The asymmetric position of Russian and Polish in Senegal’s educational system demonstrates that languages function as resources of power and as spaces for the development of various forms of politicality.
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