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Language hierarchies and human rights: Kiswahili, English and (other) mother tongues in Kenyan schools
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Language hierarchies and human rights: Kiswahili, English and (other) mother tongues in Kenyan schools

Samuel M. Makinda and Marianne Turner
Critical African studies
07/04/2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2026.2648531
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Kenyan schools652.65 kBDownloadView
Open Access CC BY V4.0

Abstract

Linguistic hierarchy human rights Kiswahili mother tongues translanguaging
Linguistic hierarchies in Kenya have impacted three categories of human rights: access to education, use of one’s own language, and children’s right to not suffer abuse. These hierarchies revolve around English, Kiswahili and (other) mother tongues. Many Kenyan families of different ethnicities have adopted Kiswahili and English as dominant languages at home, a consequence of creating a national language alongside a colonial language in a country where mother tongues abound. If Kiswahili is the language that marks Kenya as a nation, Kenyans have a right to it. However, Kenyan children also are entitled to their ethnic languages in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requirements. We argue that access to education, use of one’s own language and the right not to suffer abuse are interrelated, and that the recent history in Kenya needs to be reconsidered in order to grapple meaningfully with language hierarchies, and dismantle taken-for-granted practices that originated in a colonial regime.

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