Why the name "Botswana" should be changed
Somewhere in the record of Dr. David Livingstone's travels throughout Southern Africa it is noted that the people he called "Bechuana" denied that that was their name. They claimed that they were just tribes (merafe) - different tribes!
So the question can be asked: What did those tribes call their language at that time, given that they did speak one language, which subsequently was and is still called "Setswana"?
The adoption, out of the blue, of the name "Setswana" to denote a language which not only existed, but also had name, and which was NOT spoken by the majority of the people within the geographical area of the designated "protectorate" was a clever ploy by the speakers of that language to colonize the rest of the population. In other words, whereas the name "Bechuana" could have equally referred to all people within the protectorate, and was probably meant to do so by the British colonialists, the adoption of the language name "Setswana" restricted the "protectorate's citizen status" to the speakers of that language only! By a stroke of the pen, the speakers of that language stole the whole country from the rest of its citizens.
This point really needs a deep analysis. The people who got referred to as "Bechuana" had no name to identify them as a group. But they spoke a common language. That language must have had a name, and that name was not "Sechuana" (or Setswana). So what did they, themselves call their language? We, Kalangas called them "Barwa" (a corruption from "Barua"), and we called their language, "Tjirwa". So the questions that the now mentally colonised Kalangas ought to be asking themselves are: What did Barwa call their language before the British arrived here and carved out a protectorate and called its citizens "Bechuana"? Why did Barwa appropriate the name "Bechuana" to identify only those citizens of the protectorate who spoke THEIR language, by re-naming their language "Sechuana"?
Barwa executed deft footwork. They replaced the name of their language with a name that the colonialists had invented as a reference to ALL the citizens of the protectorate. Then they declared that since their language now carries the name of the protectorate, it has to be the only national language within that protectorate. Bakalanga, will you please wake up!
So the question can be asked: What did those tribes call their language at that time, given that they did speak one language, which subsequently was and is still called "Setswana"?
The adoption, out of the blue, of the name "Setswana" to denote a language which not only existed, but also had name, and which was NOT spoken by the majority of the people within the geographical area of the designated "protectorate" was a clever ploy by the speakers of that language to colonize the rest of the population. In other words, whereas the name "Bechuana" could have equally referred to all people within the protectorate, and was probably meant to do so by the British colonialists, the adoption of the language name "Setswana" restricted the "protectorate's citizen status" to the speakers of that language only! By a stroke of the pen, the speakers of that language stole the whole country from the rest of its citizens.
This point really needs a deep analysis. The people who got referred to as "Bechuana" had no name to identify them as a group. But they spoke a common language. That language must have had a name, and that name was not "Sechuana" (or Setswana). So what did they, themselves call their language? We, Kalangas called them "Barwa" (a corruption from "Barua"), and we called their language, "Tjirwa". So the questions that the now mentally colonised Kalangas ought to be asking themselves are: What did Barwa call their language before the British arrived here and carved out a protectorate and called its citizens "Bechuana"? Why did Barwa appropriate the name "Bechuana" to identify only those citizens of the protectorate who spoke THEIR language, by re-naming their language "Sechuana"?
Barwa executed deft footwork. They replaced the name of their language with a name that the colonialists had invented as a reference to ALL the citizens of the protectorate. Then they declared that since their language now carries the name of the protectorate, it has to be the only national language within that protectorate. Bakalanga, will you please wake up!
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