Igodo is a project encompassing the meeting point of linguistic shifts and digital advocacy. We believe that within this intersection, a demolishment occurs to many engrained constructs that for long molded and limited the perspectives of post-colonized populations on language, education, and social development.

The cornerstone of this project is channeling those perspectives through rigorous conversations on language ontology, colonial history, and linguistic innovation in educational models. The project bases the framework for these conversations on a substantial body of literature in sociolinguistics, pedagogic models, and linguistic epistemology. This literature examines the differences between mass schooling (which we often refer to as education) and education, the exoglossic monolingual nature of formal schooling in Africa, and the fluidity of linguistic practices (which we often refer to as language) and their interconnection with humans and all aspects of their lives.

Igodo immerged with a focus on the African context through the voices of the African youth, then broadened its exploration to include Middle Eastern and Latin American perspectives on the tragic reality of language loss. The realization almost all interviewees reached at the end of their conversations with us was the striking similarity of this tragic reality among us despite its contextual differences. A reason why this is the case stems back to the colonial history of our interviewees’ countries, as the crisis of indigenous language loss is highly linked to the imperial presence of European colonizers in most parts of the world.

We firmly believe that the digital communication of these empowering, enlightening, and intellectual young voices is crucial to the ontological progress of language and development for numerous reasons. First, the academic realm has long neglected the relationship between linguistic practices and social development. Second, the epistemology of language and social development used in most research was and partially remains limited to Eurocentric standards and definitions. Third, there is a disconnect between the public and expert knowledge of those two reasons.

Hence, Igodo aims to bridge this knowledge gap through digital advocacy that empowers young voices and communicates this colonial epistemicide’s brutal influences on their societies and lives.

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