LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY
OF
AFRICAN COMMUNITY WORKERS
IN HK
By Lord Yeung, Samson Wong, Koy Kwong & Sarah Macbride
We are a group of students from the University of Hong Kong working on our course LCOM3001: Cultural Dimensions of Language and Communication instructed by Dr Lisa Lim. In this website, we are glad to share our insight(s) on some language and identity issues regarding African community workers in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, please join us in exploring some interesting aspects about Africa.
Sit back and RELAX. Let's begin with some COOL African Music : )
WHO WE ARE?
About African Community (HK)
Brief introduction from Ali, President of ACHK
The African Community Hong Kong traces its roots back in the early 90’s when a group of African began to address the needs of Africans living and doing business within the city of Hong Kong. Officially forming itself as a nonprofit Organization in 2009, ACHK seeks to provide services, programs, and consultancy services to satisfy the needs of the most vulnerable segments of the African community in the city. To all the Africans in Hong Kong, ACHK is a reliable platform for networking, advocacy and cultural expression.
The organization’s mission is to promote support and empowerment for Africans in HK. Firstly, ACHK connects with other service organizations in providing support to new arrivals from Africa. Secondly, it organizes activities regularly for social networking purpose among Africans. Thirdly, ACHK strives to close cultural barriers between Africans and HK mainstream society through fostering mutual understanding. Also, it is keen in promoting a better image of African cultures and values in HK.
Why choosing officers from ACHK to be our interivewees?
{ 1 }
As the mediator/buffer to facilitate communication between Africans in HK and the HK mainstream public, these African community workers have frequent exchange and intense language contact with both ethnic groups.
{ 2 }
Both of our interviewees have resided in Hong Kong for more than 7 years. This means that they are both permanent residents of HK and are indeed party of our community instead of temporary residents, tourists or random passers-by. Since both of them are both born and raised in HK, it would be fun to identify any generational change in cultural identity.
{ 3 }
As these community workers at ACHK are multilingual speaks and they often have multiple social roles such as a full-time job as a businessman and a part-time position at ACHK, we believe that it would be appealing to study their language use in various social domains.
