Interrogating the Interplay of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism on Lupane State University Campus Radio Station

Abstract

Campus radio is a form of community radio station that is hosted and managed by universities serving a community of interest, especially students, staff and external stakeholders. This chapter straddles multilingualism and multiculturalism through examining how multilingual programmes on university campus radio stations promote democracy. The study seeks to investigate the state of minoritised indigenous languages use such as Nyanja, Nambya, Tonga, Sotho and Venda on Lupane State University (LSU) Campus radio, an institution which attracts diverse Zimbabwean linguistic demography. To fulfil its goals, the study makes use of ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with twenty-six purposively sampled students at Lupane State University. The findings of the study reflect that Tonga, Nyanja and Nambya are relegated on LSU campus radio. The chapter draws theoretical lenses from democratic participant theory to argue that multilingualism on campus radio should transcend beyond the social emancipation of a people to promoting democratic participation in marginalised local languages of the students and community as a whole to even influence their participation at national level.