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Curriculum Perspectives (2023) 43 (Suppl 1):S105–S115
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-023-00203-0
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Exploring the significance of toponyms in the university linguistics
curriculum: insights from Kibera in Kenya and Sabalibougou in Mali
Billian Khalayi Otundo1 · Lamine Doumbia2
Received: 15 September 2022 / Revised: 12 May 2023 / Accepted: 14 May 2023 / Published online: 26 June 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Abstract
Africa’s linguistic diversity and cultural richness make it an ideal setting for incorporating case studies of toponyms (place
names) into the university linguistics curriculum. By examining the toponyms of Kibera slum areas in Kenya and those of
the people of Sabalibougou in Southern Mali, this article explores the various ways that toponyms can be used to enhance
the understanding of African languages and cultures. Based on the premise that toponyms communicate knowledge about the
natural world, peoples’ experiences, indigenous and local languages, and history, the two case studies of this article highlight
the following factors as reasons why toponyms should be studied and incorporated into the university’s linguistics curricula:
(i) They reveal the interplay between history, socio-political manifestations, and language; (ii) provide awareness of the role
of geography on language, language contact, and language endangerment; (iii) facilitate the relationship between language
and culture; and (iv) allow practising orthography, phonetic transcription, and morphosemantics of African languages.
Hence, incorporating toponym case studies, like those provided in this study, into the linguistics curriculum can enable
students to better comprehend and appreciate Africa’s linguistic diversity and cultural richness, ultimately contributing to
the decolonisation of education in Africa.
Keywords Toponyms · Endogenous knowledge · University education · Linguistics curriculum · Mali · Kenya
Introduction
Research on the decolonisation of knowledge and postcolo-
nial curriculum development on the African continent has
recently gained attention (e.g., Dodounou & Otundo, 2021;
Doumbia, 2021; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2021; Woolman, 2001).
In a bid to decolonise knowledge, there is a crucial need for
formal education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to include
endogenous knowledge in their curriculum. One of the hur-
dles toward achieving this is what Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2021,
p. 5). terms the “practical ways of doing epistemological
decolonisation,” and in effect to adopt a decolonial approach
to knowledge that deals with how to shape ecologies of
knowledge (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2021). Thus, one practical
way to decolonise knowledge is through the incorporation of
endogenous toponyms into the curriculum. This is because
toponymy provides a unique lens through which Africa’s
linguistic diversity and cultural richness can be examined.
In Kenya, for instance, most studies on toponymy have
documented a single area or one language/dialect group with
examples like Wanjiru and Matsubara (2017) who exclu-
sively focused on three informal communities and addressed
how toponyms portray the urban landscape, Anindo (2016)
who examined the morphosemantics of 64 toponyms for the
Lulogooni sublanguage of Luhyia, and Kibet and Mwangi
(2016) who examined 56 toponyms in the Kipsigis dialect.
Moreover, other studies of toponymy in the diverse Sub-
Saharan countries have also taken a similar approach (e.g.,
Batoma, 2006; Letsoela, 2015; Mill, 1952; Raper, 1987;
Thomas & Dale, 1953; Zwinoira, 1984), and relevance of
toponymy in formal education systems has continued to
be neglected. Based on the perspective that Sub-Saharan
countries practice knowledge that favours the development
of European thought and contexts (Dodounou & Otundo,
2021), more so in standardised education at the expense of
* Lamine Doumbia
lamine.doumbia@uni-bayreuth.de
Billian Khalayi Otundo
billian.otundo@uni-bayreuth.de
1
English Linguistics, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth,
Germany
2
Cluster of Excellence ‑ Africa Multiple, University
of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
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endogenous and local languages in Africa and their respec-
tive knowledges, a linguistics curriculum at the university,
for instance, can incorporate case studies of toponyms to
contribute to the decoloniality agenda and enable students
to develop multiple ways of understanding their communi-
ties. Moreover, for:
linguists specializing either in the historical or genea-
logical aspects of specific languages, or in the tax-
onomy of languages in general, toponyms contain a
treasure of ancient language elements which allows
them to under build their theories or test their hypoth-
eses (Tichelaar, 2002, p. 2).
A practical way to achieve what Tichelaar (2002) and
Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2021) propose could be, for instance,
for students to examine how different languages in a
shared space play a role in its naming, and what the nam-
ing reveals about the history and culture of the region as a
way of decolonising knowledge. Crucially, toponymy is an
interdisciplinary domain and questions of methodology in
pedagogy must be considered. Daniels (1999), for instance,
raises two basic interrelated questions in his examination of
the usefulness of toponymy in a historical linguistics course
designed for French degree students of English and states
the degree of knowledge of the history and geography of
the toponyms, and whether the data should be quantitative
or qualitative as important aspects (Daniels, 1999). In this
article, we utilise case studies of the toponyms of Kibera
slum areas in Kenya and the people of Sabalibougou in
Southern Mali to demonstrate the various ways in which
the analysis of toponyms can enhance the understanding of
African languages and cultures in a linguistics curriculum
at the university. The empirical study of these areas offers
an interesting focus on highly hybrid social and political sit-
uations. The data used for the two case studies (see details
in “Methods” and “Toponymic case studies: Kibera and
Sabalibougou”) is two-fold: (i) One part stems from the side
findings of existing thesis research (Doumbia, 2018) that
explored the entanglement of different land tenure systems
in Bamako and (ii) the other part draws aspects from exist-
ing literature (e.g., Parsons, 1997; Chrimes, 2011; Alder-
man & Inwood, 2013; Wilbers, 2014; Wanjiru & Matsubara,
2016, 2017; Marx et.al., 2019) that render the toponymy of
Kibera a fascinating illustration.
Hence, to showcase the significance of incorporating top-
onym case studies into the linguistics curriculum at the uni-
versity, this article is organised henceforth into four sections.
In “Linguistic situation and cultural knowledge in the educa-
tion systems in Kenya and Mali,” a reflection on linguistic
situations and cultural knowledge in formal educational con-
texts in Kenya and Mali is given. “Methods” is on methods,
including the justification for using these case studies. In
“Toponymic case studies: Kibera and Sabalibougou” the two
toponymic case studies are presented. After this, the find-
ings with discussions on how the two case studies can be
incorporated into the university linguistics curriculum, while
highlighting four major areas and giving illustrations are
presented in “ Findings and discussion: Significance of topo-
nyms in the university linguistics curriculum” The article
then ends with a summary and some concluding remarks on
the topic in question in “Summary and concluding remarks”.
Linguistic situation and cultural knowledge
in the education systems in Kenya and Mali
The linguistic situation and cultural knowledge in educa-
tional contexts in Kenya and Mali have been influenced by
their colonial pasts. In Kenya, the introduction of European
languages eroded indigenous languages and knowledges
for the benefit of ex-colonial European languages because
language constitutes the epitome of the imaginary — the
expression of specific representations, worldviews, experi-
ences, thoughts, ideas, and culture (Dodounou & Otundo,
2021). The medium of instruction at all levels of formal
learning in Kenya is English, which has contributed to a
dominating discourse on indigenous knowledge that is for-
mulated in European thought. The Kenyan government has
been reconstructing the country’s formal curricula since
independence to incorporate the diverse indigenous ways
of knowing into the formal school system to help students
develop a sense of self-worth grounded in their own authen-
tic cultural systems of knowledge construction (Ominde
Report, 1964). An examination of education reports indi-
cates the Kenyan government’s full recognition of the impor-
tance of integrating indigenous knowledge into the formal
education system. This is by emphasising that one of the
objectives of the education system should be to respect,
foster, and develop the country’s rich and varied cultures
(Ndegwa Report, 1971; Ominde Report, 1964). However,
the inclusion of all forms of endogenous knowledge, like
toponymy case studies, in the Kenyan education system is
far from reality.
Contrariwise, according to Diarra, the Malian educational
context has been influenced by guidelines for the develop-
ment of African school systems. Before colonisation, Mali
had a well-structured education system that considered the
social and economic realities of the country (Diarra, 2020,
p. 49). Arabic was the language of instruction, and people
used the Arabic alphabet to write and read in their mother
tongues (Ajimi) as assessed also by Vydrine (1998). Malian
languages and Arabic were gradually marginalised when
French colonists arrived (Diarra, 2020; Gasse, 2008). As
the French colonial administration imposed the French lan-
guage and alphabet as the lingua franca in the education
system, Malian languages and Arabic were considered less
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suitable for the transmission of knowledge (Diarra, 2020;
Gasse, 2008). Moreover, Mali has committed to promoting
national languages through their use as a medium of instruc-
tion in basic schools since the 1962 reform of education. The
process of implementation is slowly ongoing to the current
day. In Mali, Muslim education and Christian missionary
schools were teaching in local languages to restructure Afri-
can families and convey the word of God. This situation
led to the current Malian context, where the introduction
of Malian national languages as a medium of instruction
alongside French was one of the reasons to promote national
languages. The current government of transition led by
Colonel Assimi Goita is constitutionally declaring French
as one of the languages of instruction. Moreover, all Malian
languages should be lawfully declared as official languages.
This political willingness reflects the ongoing discussion of
Malian citizens.
The Kenyan and Malian educational contexts are exam-
ples of how colonialism and its aftermath have influenced the
linguistic and cultural knowledge of these African nations.
In Kenya, the colonial government’s main purpose of edu-
cation was for religious conversion, economic exploitation,
and the assimilation of Kenyans into Eurocentric cultures.
This situation robbed Kenyans of their cultural identity and
sense of the past (Ominde Report, 1964; Woolman, 2001).
The Kenyan government has recognised the importance of
integrating indigenous knowledge into the formal education
system, but more work needs to be done to incorporate all
forms of endogenous knowledge. In contrast, Mali has com-
mitted to promoting national languages, particularly through
their use as a medium of instruction in basic schools. For
both countries, a curriculum that recognises both endog-
enous and statutory “modern” cultures could be the way to
go because:
A curriculum which divides “indigenous” knowledge
from “modern” knowledge fails to teach students about
the unique cultural patterns by which people develop
and advance their social worlds and ignores the ways
in which “modern” culture, beliefs and practices draw
from folk and indigenous ways of life (Semali & Stam-
bach, 1997, p. 4).
Unlike Semali and Stambach, we decide to use “endog-
enous” instead of “indigenous” as we see knowledge more
as a process and a dynamic (Doumbia, 2021). Moreover, it
has been noted that education in the broader Sub-Sahara
does not emphasise African cultural heritage due to a lack
of cultural knowledge dissemination through education
(Nsamenang, 2009). Thus, it beckons for an educational
system that recognises “African ways of knowing” such as
endogenous toponymy as illustrated by the two case exam-
ples within this article. This is because education which
does not incorporate a people’s culture does not lead to the
development of the people and the society (Amukowa &
Ayuya, 2013), and for that matter, the curriculum ought to
be adjusted to suit these needs. The education systems that
Kenya and Mali have opted to adopt should at least be made
relevant to particular contexts and incorporate, for instance,
case studies of toponyms in the curriculum to contribute to
this agenda.
Methods
Kibera and Sabalibougou case studies were purposively
sampled because the toponym cases seemingly reveal strik-
ing similarities. Methodologically, there is a difference in
the data selection. While one set was collected by one of the
authors of this article (Doumbia, 2018), the other data stems
from pre-existing literature (e.g., Parsons, 1997; Chrimes,
2011; de Smedt, 2011; Alderman & Inwood, 2013; Wilbers,
2014; Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016 & 2017; Marx et.al.,
2019). Importantly, Kibera and Sabalibougou demonstrate
the strong resilience of local actors and ideas that shape
social-political power towards decolonisation. The argu-
ments of the case studies emphasise the relevance of local
knowledge on the foundation, the (re)naming and the gov-
ernance of these places (topos), where the founders, autoch-
thonous, struggle for their right to the city (see also Hilgers,
2011), their recognition as citizens, and their participation
in the governance. This is a hurdle to cross because Kibera
and Sabalibougou both have the historical pejorative repu-
tation of being “slums,” and “illegal settlements.” The two
case studies likewise exhibit diversity and multiplicity on the
African continent. For example, Sabalibougou is Muslim-
dominated, while Kibera is Christian-dominated. Moreover,
the reason for migrating in the case of Sabalibougou was to
participate in agriculture as opposed to Kibera which was a
settlement for soldiers during the First World War. In addi-
tion, the education system, including the makeup of the lan-
guage of instruction of Kenya and Mali, varies. The two case
studies of toponyms are used here to showcase the relevance
of their inclusion in education in both countries, more so
in the university linguistics curriculum. Subsequently, the
findings of this study may be used to influence curricula in
other Sub-Saharan countries and beyond.
Toponymic case studies: Kibera
and Sabalibougou
Case 1: Kibera — the oldest and largest slum area
of Nairobi
This section presents selected aspects from the literature (e.g.,
Parsons, 1997; Chrimes, 2011; de Smedt, 2011; Alderman &
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Inwood, 2013; Wilbers, 2014; Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016 &
2017; Marx et.al., 2019) on the toponymic history and devel-
opment of Kibera. This case study offers more than just lin-
guistic information, and also demonstrates “the potential for
names to be used as disguises for social and political injus-
tices” (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016, p. 19). In Wanjiru and Mat-
subara (2017), the naming of the Kibera area in Kenya dates
to 1911 during the First World War when Sudanese Nubians
in Kenya were taken as soldiers for the British King’s African
Rifles (KAR). These soldiers were later settled informally by
the British government on approximately 550 acres or 2.2
km2 (de Smedt, 2011), and the area was initially dubbed the
“KAR shambas” in 1912 and later became known as “Kibra,”
a Nubian word meaning “jungle,” “a bushy place,” “a forest,”
or “empty” (Wanjiru and Matsubara (2017). The settlers in
this area were mainly survivors and widows of the Nubians
who fought for the British KAR (Parsons, 1997; Wanjiru &
Matsubara, 2017) and the villages in this area had Nubian
names indicating how the Nubians left their cultural stamp
and exercised control over the area (Wanjiru & Matsubara,
2016, 2017). For instance, Sarabagara (“a place for grazing
cows” in Kinubi, the language of the Nubians) was the origi-
nal name for Sarang’ombe (“a place for grazing cows” in the
Kiswahili language), and the word Sarang’ombe is a mix of
Nubian and Kiswahili words (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2017).
Thus, toponyms in this area have changed over time
(Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2017), with other examples like,
Galalima formerly known as Gala Halima or “Hill of
Halima,” and Toi was a term used to describe a big field,
while Makina was formerly known as Makan, which means
“house” in Kinubi. On the other hand, Lindi was used to
refer to a large hole because of the place where it is located,
which is a form of a valley, while Lain Saba was initially
called Lain Shabaan, which meant rifle range area in Kinubi
and served as a military training facility (Wanjiru & Matsub-
ara, 2017). There were also three villages called Kambis (the
Kiswahili word for camp) in the settlement, and they were
named Lendu, Alur, and Muru, which is how the Nubians
set up their towns as was customary in the barracks (Wanjiru
& Matsubara, 2017).
However, despite the names given to the settlements
to prove their control over the area, the Nubians were
denied citizenship and the opportunity to own land,
possibly because of their ties to the British (Wanjiru &
Matsubara, 2016, p. 19). According to Chrimes (2011),
the Nubians were only recognised as a legitimate com-
munity in Kenya in 2009, during the national census.
Despite this acknowledgement, “the recognition of Nubi-
ans as one of the communities in Kenya did not reflect
the actual treatment they received from the government,
pertaining to basic rights of citizenship and land owner-
ship” (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016, p. 19). In spite of
this, according to the Nubian Council of Elders (NCE;
pers. comm., 7 September 2015) as cited in Wanjiru and
Matsubara (2016, p. 19), the land occupied by estates
surrounding Kibera, notably the Kibera Government
Housing Scheme, belonged to the Nubians and was law-
fully awarded to them by the British government for their
service in the KAR. However, the Nubians were later
dispossessed without recompense by the post-colonial
government and other private enterprises, and it was
during this period that the name Kibra was changed to
Kibera (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2017).
In post-colonial Kibera, naming and renaming within the area
are intricately tied to politics and the shifting ethnic1 makeup
of the community (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2017). Due to the
ethnic diversity in this area in the 1900s, the name Kibera slowly
changed back to Kibra from Kibera, and this is how the settle-
ment is currently known (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2017, p. 30). The
Nubian community, however, did not have this shift as they had
never stopped to refer to the place as Kibra (Wanjiru & Matsub-
ara, 2017, p. 30). Politics also played a role in naming, for exam-
ple, Tom Mboya street following the assassination of Tom Mboya,
an influential politician from the Luo community (Wanjiru &
Matsubara, 2017). In a bid to be more inclusive of the Nubians,
ten street names were proposed by The Kibera Government
Housing Scheme (CCN, 1971): Ihura Road, Toi Road, Kambui
Road, Sara-ngombe Road, Chief Sulleman Road, Lemule Road,
Apollo Road, Kambi Muru Road, Lain Shaba Road, and Adhola
Marongo Road (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016, p. 19). This desig-
nation suggests that the government took into account the place
names given by the Nubian minority group and its leaders who
were the original residents of the region; however, there were also
related socio-political intentions behind this decision (Wanjiru &
Matsubara, 2016). Further, Alderman and Inwood (2013) also
mention that the naming of places can serve as a forum for debat-
ing minority groups’ cultural, political, and legal rights.
Although Wilbers (2014) states that presently many of
Kenya’s 42 official ethnic groups are represented in Kibera,
the makeup is not representative of Kenya and figures are
yet to be confirmed. However, Luo (17%), Luhya (11%),
and Kamba (8%) are the majority, and the Nubians are only
a small fraction (Marx et. al., 2019), while the Kisii have
also been mentioned among the majority (de Smidt, 2011).
Additionally, a “slang language based on English and Kiswa-
hili called Sheng is also widely used in urban areas, espe-
cially among younger generations” (Wilbers, 2014, p. 13).
Moreover, the villages of Kibera have since developed to
thirteen with diverse names ranging from names of political
1 Controversially, ethnic identities are a subset of identity categories in
which eligibility for membership is determined by attributes associated
with or believed to be associated with descent. (Chandra, 2006, p. 397).
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leaders to Kiswahili and Kinubi names: Kisumu Ndogo,
Kianda, Soweto West, Raila, Gatwekera, Makina, Kambi
Muru, Kichinjio, Mashimoni, Lindi, Silanga, Laini Saba,
and Soweto East (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016). Despite the
diversity of names and ethnic groups in Kibera, since the
2007/2008 post-election violence, there has been a national
emphasis on downplaying the importance of ethnic origin to
prevent further conflict, especially in urban areas (Wilbers,
2014). This has rendered the promotion of the use of English
or Kiswahili outside of the home (Wilbers, 2014). Impor-
tantly, other terms like micro-nations (Maathai, 2009) and
speech communities (Fishman, 1972) have been proposed
instead of “ethnicity” that will not only alleviate further
conflict but also foster the importance of indigenous cul-
ture and everyday language of such groups (Maathai, 2009).
In spite of these, there continue to be ethnic, political, and
land conflicts (e.g., Elfversson & Höglund, 2018) which are
intricately connected in Kibera and such similarities are also
found in the case of Sabalibougou shown in the proceeding
section.
Case 2: Sabalibougou — from the periphery
to the inner city of Bamako
Sabalibougou is a place where one can observe the processes
of land conflicts and the mimicry and hybridisation of dif-
ferent systems by focussing on the actors. Sabalibougou is
the neighbourhood with the highest population density in
municipal district V of Bamako, the capital city of Mali. It
started out as a spontaneous neighbourhood and suddenly
became a large village on the outskirts of Bamako and is
on the right bank of the Niger River. It is known as one
of the most populated and poorest neighbourhoods in the
commune. The origin of Sabalibougou dates to 1956. It was
founded by Hamidou Dembélé who gave the first axe blow
to Sabalibougou. “Giving the first blow of the axe means
“clearing the land to settle.” This is custom; as we shall see
in Sabalibougou, it confers a certain customary prerogative,
hence the notion of territorial and politico-religious con-
trol, which refers to sovereignty exercised over a territory
controlled, ritually, by a chief of the land, the doyen, and
representative of the lineage holding this function (Lavigne
Delville et al., 2000, p. 17).
These territories generally extend beyond the areas
where the populations live or work: they cover a small
region whose various human settlements (villages, neigh-
bourhoods, hamlets) are linked together by historical and
political relationships. This is a form of power which,
depending on the case, may or may not be superimposed on
the control of men (political chieftaincy), and may be based
on the principle of autochthony, ancestral settlement, and
principle of conquest. A principle of autochthony refers to
the recognition (or claim) of the first occupation of a place.
Autochthony is often associated with a form of exclusive
territorial control, which is reflected in the politico-religious
hold of the descendants of the first occupants of the place,
of which the “chief of the land” is the dean and representa-
tive. The autonomous villages that surround the founding
village or mother village are “settled villages.” Historically,
they were authorised to settle by the founding village during
a politico-ritual foundation act that consists of entrusting
the village to the good care of the local genies (with whom
the natives concluded the original pact), and above all, of
endowing the “settled village” with a piece of a bush to
clear. In customary terms, this founding endowment con-
fers specialised control, which translates into the holding
of permanent use rights. This is what Mahmoud Karamoko
Bamba, a resource person interviewed in Bamanankan
during the ethnographic field research in 2013 (Doumbia,
2018), distinguishes between Dugukolotigi (mother village
or founding village or even autochthonous) and Sotigi (set-
tled village or allochthonous).
In the same fieldwork in 2013 (Doumbia, 2018), Hami-
dou Dembélé was approached for testimony on the crea-
tion of Sabalibougou. The toponym Sabalibougou was not
the original one of the sites. This naming was the result
of a long interactive social process between the inhab-
itants. In the interview with the chief of Sabalibougou
in 2014 (Doumbia, 2018), it is said that Sabalibougou
was created in 1956 by Zanga Dembélé and his younger
brother Hamidou Dembélé who came from the village of
Zébala near Koutiala (southern Mali). They were looking
for work in Bamako, preferably a field to cultivate and to
live in. Then, they came across Zoumana Diakité who was
the village/quartier chief of Baco Djikoroni. Commonly
called Zoubleni, he advised the two Dembélé brothers
to go to Kalaban Koro to Bakary Traoré, the former vil-
lage chief, to ask for a piece of land for agricultural use.
Traoré of Kalaban Koro made the very first axe cut on
the right bank of the Niger in Bamako. Consequently, he
remains the legitimate landlord of the area. He, therefore,
authorised the Dembélé brothers to cultivate to the east
of the Baco Djicoroni district. This corresponds to Saba-
libougou today.
Over time, various social groups settled there to
cultivate the land in the same area, for example, the
Mossi. Like the Dembélé founders, the other occupying
farmers also built hamlets to live in and stay near their
fields. In doing so, they protected themselves from
criminal attacks by commuting between the field and
the house. When the hamlets reached the number of
38, that means 38 families/households, the inhabitants
gave the name “Heremakono” to their site. Hɛrɛmakͻnͻ
is the correct spelling in Bamanankan, and it is a
composite of hɛrɛ meaning “peace” and “prosperity”
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and makͻnͻ meaning “waiting.” Hamidou Dembélé,
who was more powerful than his older brother, and
a labourer by profession, was mainly responsible for
the development of the site, he told me. He explained
that he cleared the place of the current market, built
the first mosque and a toilet, brought Imam Lassine
Bakayoko from Dravela (a neighbourhood on the left
bank), and built a youth centre.
The cohabitation between the founders of Dembélé
and the Mossi who came at the time from Upper Volta
(now Burkina Faso) was quickly broken up. The Mossi
were led by Seydou Traoré. Because of the organisa-
tion of the Mossi2 hamlet (Mossibougou), many peo-
ple testify to having known this site for a long time
under the toponym of “Mossibougou” and not a part
of “Heremakono.” Mossi Seydou, posing as the mas-
ter of the site, took advantage of the long absences
of Hamidou Dembélé to give lots for housing in the
cleared area reserved for the market. (This area is
now inhabited; it is situated between the market and
the Sabalibougou cemetery). Then, the cohabitation
deteriorated because of a chieftaincy conflict. Seydou
Traoré, known as Mossi Seydou, helped fellows in the
area and had the ambition to become the chief of the
district.
Opposed to this ambition, Hamidou Dembélé was
summoned to the police station of the fourth dis-
trict and to the territorial brigade of Bamako-Coura,
where he was held in detention for twelve days. On
his release, Hamidou Dembélé, the founder, was pro-
posed as a neighbourhood chief. Hamidou Dembélé
did not accept the position; he in turn proposed Issa
Keïta, who was also older than Seydou Traoré. Seydou
Traoré became Issa Keïta’s first advisor. A position
that he refused to occupy. The conflict continued until
the arrival of Sekou Ly, mayor of Bamako in the Sec-
ond Republic of Mali, of which Moussa Traoré was
president. Sékou Ly and his delegation approached the
people of the site in conflict saying “Sabali, sabali,
sabali” (tolerance, tolerance, tolerance). The mayor
of Bamako, to smooth things over, suggested that they
call the site Sabalibougou, the hamlet of peace/toler-
ance, so that it would be taken into account in the
state’s urban development projects, with Issa Keïta
as the customary chief of the district. Following this,
the rehabilitation and subdivision of the Sabalibougou
neighbourhood were undertaken.
Findings and discussion: significance
of toponyms in the university linguistics
curriculum
Interplay between history, socio‑political
manifestations, and language
In Kenya, ethnicity and politics “are dangerously inter-
twined” (Wilbers, 2014, p. 14), and the naming and renam-
ing of places within the area are intricately tied to history,
politics, and the shifting ethnic makeup of the community.
An example such as Nyayo high rise estate in Kibera is a
landmark housing project of former president Daniel arap
Moi, whose slogan was “Nyayo,” the Kiswahili word for
“footsteps,” in reference to his intention to follow the path
of Kenyatta, his predecessor (Huchzermeyer, 2011, p. 141).
The Raila village was also named after the presidential aspir-
ant Raila Amollo Odinga which led to the 2007/2008 post-
election violence, and Tom Mboya Street also after a promi-
nent politician from the Luo community. Such naming, after
political leaders, could demonstrate the difficulties of eth-
nic representation (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016) and power
struggles. Other examples are Soweto East and Soweto West
after the Soweto revolt in South Africa, showing the influ-
ence of global events on local toponyms. Just like Soweto,
Kibera and Sabalibougou both have the historical pejora-
tive reputation of being “slums,” and “illegal settlements,”
and are inhabited mostly by illiterate masses. Moreover, the
embeddedness of endogenous perceptions is acting against
the politics of alienation of the modern State. The modern
state, on the one hand, marginalises the founders and the
name-givers of the area by politicising their identities.
The renaming and subdivision of the villages, as well as
the naming of streets in post-colonial Kibera, reflected and
support research on political and ethnic tensions, and the
history of the inhabitants (e.g., de Smedt, 2011). Kearns
and Berg (2002) state that the system of naming streets
establishes the relative prominence of persons, institutions,
and events within a certain set of values, and when these
names change, the values in the system fade away and new
ones are introduced. The history of the Nubian inhabitants
is reflected in the naming and renaming of the toponyms in
Kibera. They were denied citizenship and the opportunity
to land ownership similar to the inhabitants of Sabalibou-
gou who also raise the question of citizenship and the vicis-
situde of allochthony and autochthony until the renaming
of the toponym. The socio-political organisation is further
evidenced by Mossi’s hierarchised society in Mali which was
clearly helpful in legitimising the settlement of Heremakono,
of which Seydou Traoré was the chief. The case study of
Sabalibougou reveals the entanglement of different social-
cultural processes of cohabitation, migration, settlement,
2 Moore, sing. Moaaga. in the singular as well as in the plural often
— wrongly — called Mossi.
Their habitat in central and northern Burkina Faso is the Moogo
(Stamm, 1994).
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and linguistic diversity. Heremakono and Mossibougou
are manifestly two different names that merged and formed
Sabalibougou in time and space (See also Boré et al., 2003).
Heremakono is the village founded by the Dembélé migrants
and Mossibougou by the Mossi from Burkina Faso.
Awareness of the role of geography on language,
language contact, and language endangerment
The analysis of toponyms emphasises the significance of
studying language contact, change, and endangerment by
providing a window into how different languages have inter-
acted in a region. For example, the villages in the area were
named in Kinubi and had significant meanings linked to the
Nubians’ geographical conditions. A case in point is the
name for the original name Sarabagara, meaning “a place
for grazing cows” in Kinubi. The name “Kibera” in Kinubi
depicts the geographical conditions of “jungle” or “bushy
place.” However, after the influx of other ethnic groups,
there was the impact of language contact and contestation
between the speech communities, and this influenced the
toponymy. For instance, the renaming of Kibra to Kibera
and then back to Kibra and the renaming from Sarabagara
to Sarang’ombe, which is a mix of Kinubi and Kiswahili
languages. Other examples are the village Kisumu Ndogo
which means “small Kisumu,” named after the geographi-
cal origin of the Luo community; Kianda meaning “valley”
in Gikuyu language; Mashimoni meaning “quarry holes”
in Kiswahili; Silanga meaning “water pond”; and Lindi
meaning “hole” in both Kinubi; they also reveal geographi-
cal conditions (Wanjiru & Matsubara, 2016). This is a clear
depiction of the struggle for Kinubi to thrive in this lin-
guistic situation, more so since Kinubi has been assessed
as an endangered language (Lee, 2018). Its presence, albeit
sparse, in Kibera can be used to analyse endangered lan-
guages as has been studied for instance by Zhu et. al. (2018)
on how the distributions of ethnic groups and languages can
be revealed by the Sinification of ethnic toponyms of endan-
gered Manchu languages in Northeast China.
In Mali, Mossibougou is a mixture of the languages
Mooré and Bamanakan. Mossi is the person that speaks
Mooré and is the founder of the Mossi Kingdom from the
twelfth to sixteenth centuries in West Africa. Mossi Sey-
dou’s family name is Ouedraogo. However, the equivalent
of this name in the Bamana context is Tarawele because
Ouedraogo and Tarawele have the same ancestor, Tirama-
kan. Despite the difference in language, people share the
same patronyms and similar cultures. These findings support
Raper’s (1987) study done in South-West Africa/Namibia
on how linguistically hybrid toponyms as well as proxi-
mate geographical features provide evidence of language
contact. Geographical depictions are also evidenced. For
example, Baco Djicoroni the neighbouring and host area
of Sabalibougou (see the ethnography above) is composed
of two words: Baco or Bako means “the right riverbank.”
Djicoroni called Para Djicoroni meaning “on the left river-
bank.” The river is the Niger, and Para refers to the military
camp. The two Djikoroni, separated by the river, have the
same chieftaincies.
Facilitating the relationship between language
and culture
Case studies of toponyms can reveal pertinent information
about a region’s cultural practices, beliefs, and traditions.
The Kinubi names, for example, reveal the cultural stamp
and control over the area by the Nubians. These names had
significant meanings linked to their history and cultural tra-
ditions. “Sarabagara,“ for instance, means “cows” showing
that Nubians were cattle farmers, and “Galalima” was for-
merly “Gala Halima” or “Hill of Halima,” which was the
name of a person, possibly a clan head in Nubian culture.
Place names can reflect the history, values, and beliefs of a
community, and changes in place names can reflect shifts in
power, migration patterns, and cultural influences. Toponyms
in Mali are mostly results and memories of socio-cultural
processes. For instance, Djicoroni or Jikoroni mean small
old water in remembrance of the place of consumption of the
millet beer (see also Bertrand, 2001), as a cultural practice.
Through valuing the language and culture, the tenants claim
the official recognition of Nko by the respective governments.
Such language issues, among other knowledges, ought to be
included in the formal curricula of both countries.
Practicing orthography, phonetic transcription,
and morphosemantics of African languages
The study of toponyms provides an opportunity for students
to practise phonetic transcription and morphosemantics.
Phonetic transcription and othography can be practised
by students by transcribing the toponyms mentioned in
the text, such as Ng’ombe (/ˈŋɔ.mbɛ/), and Kambi (/kám.
bíː/), at the same time learning the semantics of the African
languages. Semantics, which is concerned with reference
and meaning, has been employed throughout this work by
indicating the meaning of words, more so the toponyms in
various languages like Kinubi, Kiswahili, Bamanakan, and
Gikuyu. There is also much usefulness in toponyms with
regard to orthography. Nko, an endogenous alphabet sys-
tem literally, means “I say” in the Mande languages.3 The
3 Nko was invented in 1949 by a marabout named Souleymane Kante
born in 1922 in Sumankoï near Kankan in Guinea Conakry. His
father was a Quranic schoolmaster Karamoko whose family was dis-
tantly related to Segou in Mali. The young Souleymane Kante studied
the Quran and then went to the Ivory Coast. There, he came across
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1 3
mande language is the most spoken in Mali. Bamanankan
is a dialect of the large mande language. Thus, students can
not only learn the anthropology and history of writing sys-
tems but also learn the orthography of different languages
and dialects accurately. In Bamanakan, for example, Kou-
likoro is written as Kulukͻrͻ and means “near or under the
hill or mountain,” Yirimadjo as Yilimalͻ/Yilimajͻ meaning
“to calm down or rest,” Faladje as Farajɛ which means “a
white valley,” and white refers to the colour of the clay in
contrast to the red soil, and Bamako is written as Bamakͻ.
This alphabet is extendable to family names, and when the
words are written differently, they will be pronounced dif-
ferently, consequently, the meaning will be lost. Hence, it is
pertinent for students to learn such details because phonetic
and orthographic deformations and incorrectness disorient
the new generation of native speakers.
Morphosemantic analysis4 can also be practised by exam-
ining the meanings of the toponyms and their constituent
parts. Two examples5 are briefly given here for analysis:
Example (1):
“Ng’ombe” (Kiswahili noun)
Kiswahili is a Bantu language; thus the noun class
marker is “N” (Class 9).
“-gombe” is the root of the noun. There are no suffixes
attached to the root in this case.
When “n” is added, there is assimilation to “ng.”
Example (2):
“Sarang’ombe” (Kinubi-Kiswahili noun):
“Sara” is the addition to the Kiswahili noun
“ng’ombe.”
Remember that this toponym emerged due to language
contact as a case of codemixing.
“sarabagara” (meaning “a place for grazing cows” in
Kinubi) and “ng’ombe” (Kiswahili word for “cow”).
“-bagara” means “cow in Kinubi.
In Example (1), the word “Ng’ombe” is a single noun
form that refers to “a cow” or “cattle” in Kiswahili, and
in Example (2), “Sarang’ombe” means “a place for graz-
ing cows.” Examples (1) and (2) have merely been used as
illustrations of how toponyms can be incorporated into the
linguistics curriculum at the university and details of the
morphosemantics of Kiswahili and Kinubi are beyond the
crux of this article. By analysing such morphemes, students
can learn how words are constructed and how meaning is
conveyed in the various languages of the toponyms. This
has, for instance, been evidenced in Anindo (2016) for the
morphosemantics of Lulogooli toponyms in Kenya.
Crucially, the balance between the introduction of Malian
national languages as the medium of instruction and French
is far from being adjusted. Because of using French as an
official language, people tend to promote French and even
pronounce and write typical endogenous place names like
French people do because they do not understand or cannot
pronounce them properly. The same applies to the Kenyan
context with the use of English. In the linguistics curriculum
at the university level in Kenya and Mali, the need for Afri-
can languages and endogenous ways of knowing does not
receive the attention that it deserves. In Kenyan universities,
for instance, matters concerning African languages only fea-
ture prominently in curricula that offer Kiswahili, which are
at times accompanied by scant courses termed “other Afri-
can languages,” as if an afterthought. This renders students
who do not take up Kiswahili as a major at a great disadvan-
tage. One practical way of introducing such knowledge into
the linguistics curriculum is by incorporating toponym case
studies in various courses within the curriculum to demon-
strate “epistemological decolonisation” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni,
2021, p. 5), equipping students with adequate analytical
skills in the study of language and providing comprehen-
sion of the role of language in African societies.
The findings of this study, thus, showcase the relevance
and application of toponymy in the linguistics curriculum
and ensuing suggestions may be integrated into general and
applied linguistics, among other creative and practical ways.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, case studies of African
toponymy can be utilised as a part of illustrative instruc-
tion material for analysis in morphology, phonology, and
semantics, which are usually taught right from the university
entry level. Sociolinguistics, language and culture, language
and identity, and historical linguistics, as core linguistics
courses, can greatly benefit from our featured cases, Kibera
and Sabalibougou and other toponym cases. Students can be
4 This entails morphological analysis combined with a semantic
interpretation of words. Practical examples that can be utilised to ana-
lyse toponyms in the morphology and semantics branches of linguis-
tics at the university are given here.
5 Sincere gratitude to Dr. Justine Sikuku, Moi University, for your
invaluable advice in Examples (1) and (2).
Footnote 3 (continued)
an article by a Lebanese journalist in which he denigrated Africans.
African languages, according to him, were impossible to transcribe
and impossible to transcribe, and moreover, they had no grammar
which he considered to be an attack on his African dignity. Kante
made the first attempt to transcribe the Mande language in 1945 using
the Mande language with Arabic characters. In 1948, he made a sec-
ond attempt with the Latin alphabet but as with the Arabic characters
this transcription attempt ended in failure. In both cases, it was the
tonal character of the Mande language that compromised the expe-
rience. It was, therefore, necessary to discover a system capable of
rendering the specificity of this language and this is what led Kante
to create the Nko alphabet in 1949 (Amselle, 1996; Doumbia, 2021).
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1 3
exposed to concepts such as attrition, maintenance, extinc-
tion, endangerment, death, and revival of African languages,
among a myriad of other knowledges. Moreover, students
may be asked to carry out fieldwork on African toponyms
in their communities to demonstrate understanding and
application of linguistic research methods at the advanced
levels, which includes data collection methods like partici-
pant observation and interviews that expose them to African
language(s) in context as well as the practice of translation
and interpretation. These among others are practical ways
of synergistically contributing to decolonising education in
Africa.
Summary and concluding remarks
This study set out to explore how case studies of toponyms
can be incorporated into the university linguistics curriculum
while utilising Kibera and Sabalibougou as examples. The
findings and discussion reveal that case studies of toponyms
are crucial components for inclusion in the linguistics curric-
ulum at the university for these major reasons: (i) They reveal
the interplay between history, socio-political manifestations
and language, (ii) provide awareness of the role of geography
on language, language contact, and language endangerment,
(iii) facilitate the relationship between language and culture,
and (iv) allow practising orthography, phonetic transcription,
and morphosemantics of African languages. Therefore, case
studies, such as the ones in this article, are significant in the
linguistics curriculum at the university because they provide
students with a deeper multidisciplinary approach to under-
standing Africa’s linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as
contributing generously to the knowledge of “information on
the history of settlement and land reclamation, the economic
activities of the original settlers, and political developments”
(Tichelaar, 2002, p. 2). At the same time, the inclusion of
such case studies in the university linguistics curriculum is
one practical way “of doing epistemological decolonisation”
(Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2021, p. 5). Moreover, the embeddedness
of African knowledge, culture, and civilisation into the cur-
riculum requires the proper study of the toponyms and their
history and societies. Case studies of toponymy can and do
create opportunities for engaging with and responding to
the decisions of those in power, remembering and forgetting
events and people in history, and rearticulating values in pur-
suit of both political and nationalistic interests (Adebanwi,
2012). More so, embedding toponym case studies in the uni-
versity linguistics curriculum contributes to synergising with
interfaces such as sociology, politics, history, and geography
among others in decolonising education in Africa.
The case studies also show the means for peoples’
resilience against permanent neo-colonial influences.
For instance, changes in the toponymy of Kibera and
Sabalibougou reveal that people still hold a strong tie with
their places (topos). Studying this phenomenon, whether in
linguistics or other disciplines, is fascinating and requires
the epistemological rupture with colonial knowledge and
the curriculum, as explored in this article. This will enable
countries to receive a bird’s eye view of the holistic valuable
perception of cultural knowledge production in their educa-
tion systems. The Government of Kenya (GoK) (2010), for
instance, states that indigenous cultures in Kenya should be
protected from cultural loss, and the Kenya Institute of Edu-
cation (2002) indicates cultural heritage as one of the goals of
education. Despite these, Kenya’s curriculum does not rigor-
ously incorporate inigenous/endogenous cultures to nurture
cultural competence in learners at all levels of education.
Consequently, a lack of cultural (re)education in both Kenya
and Mali will lead to the loss of the cultural heritage and iden-
tity of its citizens because endogenous and local knowledge is a
process of learning and sharing social life, histories, identities,
economic, and political practices unique to each cultural group
as illustrated by the two case studies, Kibera and Sabalibougou.
Notably, Bowers (1993) emphasises that the loss of African
communal ways of knowing should be a concern of every Afri-
can. Accordingly, it is crucial to continue the conversation on
the importance of enhancing African endogenous knowledges,
languages, cultures, and communities within Kenya’s and Mali’s
education systems to promote cultural preservation and social
change. Only a proper and well-structured curriculum at all
levels of education can resolve this crisis, and this ultimately
requires investment and a strong political will for both countries.
Funding Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt
DEAL.
Data Availability Ethics approval for potentially sensitive research data
has been granted by the respective institutions.
Declarations
Ethics approval This paper has utilised data through a literature review
and side findings of the co-author’s PhD project which was completed
in 2017 with ethical approval.
Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-
bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta-
tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,
provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes
were made. The images or other third party material in this article are
included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in
the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not
permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will
need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a
copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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