On the Limits of Linguistic Citizenship: Kaaps Language Activism, Afrikaans Taalbulle , and the Legacy of Afrikaner Nationalism

Linguistic citizenship, a southern and African theoretical intervention in sociolinguistics, is critiqued in this article in two ways. First, the theory is summarised and some of its assumptions laid bare. Through drawing on the citizen–subject distinction and proposing the Afrikaans term inburgering (becoming-citizen) as analytical concept, I argue for an approach to acts of citizenship, the theory’s key concept, that acknowledges the latently questionable nature of the desire for citizenship. This critique further highlights the need for paying closer attention to the precise epistemological claims and sociological formations that emerges through acts of citizenship. Second, contemporary Kaaps activism is analysed in relation to existing critiques of the project’s epistemological claims and the sociological formation of “taalbulle” (language bulls). The theory, I conclude, has not grappled with the contestable aspects of language activism at the point of inburgering, or institutionalisation, nor activism born out of fear of losing institutionalisation.