Linguapax Prize 2008 to Neville Alexander

The recipient of the Linguapax Prize for 2008 is Dr. Neville Alexander of South Africa. The prize is awarded annually (since 2000) in recognition of contributions to linguistic diversity and multilingual education.

Although the Linguapax site does not at this writing have updated information, the website of the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia (which is connected with Linguapax) has this press release dated 22.02.2008:

The South African linguist Neville Alexander will receive the Linguapax Award today in Barcelona, on the occasion of the Mother Language Day. The ceremony is framed in the Intercultural Week organised by the Ramon Llull University. Alexander, who coordinates the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa has devoted more than twenty years of his professional life to defend and preserve multilingualism in the post-apartheid South Africa and has become one of the major advocates of linguistic diversity.

There is various material online about Dr. Alexander including:

• A brief bio on the South African LitNet site
• An interview for PBS about his imprisonment on Robben Island at about the same time as Nelson Mandela.
• An article about a talk he gave at the University of Minnesota in 2007
• A page with a list of some of his writing (with links)

Dr. Alexander is the second African to be awarded the Linguapax Prize. Prof. Maurice Tadadjeu of the Univeristy of Yaoundé in Cameroon received it in 2005.