LinguaSOUTH: A New Academic Chair to Amplify African Languages

Madrid, October 27, 2025 — The Women for Africa Foundation is part of the LinguaSOUTH Chair, a new academic initiative launched in collaboration with the University of Salamanca, ACESDA, and Casa África. This alliance is born with an ambitious purpose: to recognize, study, and promote the knowledge, languages, and cultures of the Global South, with a special focus on the African continent and the Indian context.

A space for cooperation and shared knowledge

The LinguaSOUTH Chair seeks to address a historical debt to African and Indian languages and cultures, many of which carry invaluable cultural, historical, and epistemological significance. Its goal is to strengthen research, knowledge production, and linguistic and cultural cooperation between Spain, Africa, and Asia, building bridges between academic institutions and research communities.

For the Women for Africa Foundation, taking part in this chair represents an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to the creation and dissemination of knowledge about African languages and cultures. Linguistic diversity is also an essential element for mutual understanding, educational innovation, and social cohesion — fundamental pillars in the construction of more inclusive societies.

A project that connects continents

LinguaSOUTH is conceived as a strategic cooperation platform between the Global South and Southern Europe, aimed at promoting interdisciplinary academic dialogue and exchange with African and Indian institutions. Through this network, the chair seeks to expand the international reach of linguistic and cultural studies, placing the languages of the South at the center of the global conversation.

Key objectives

Among its main lines of action, the LinguaSOUTH Chair aims to:

• Promote the languages and cultures of the African continent and the Indian context.

• Collaborate in the development of teaching and learning materials for historically marginalized languages.

• Organize seminars, workshops, and specialized courses in languages, cultures, and related disciplines.

• Coordinate the annual African Languages Day, each edition dedicated to a different African country.

• Lead and support research projects in philological, scientific, and interdisciplinary fields.

• Facilitate collaboration among African, Indian, and Spanish researchers.

A commitment to diversity and cooperation

Through its participation in the LinguaSOUTH Chair, the Women for Africa Foundation reaffirms its vocation as a bridge between continents and bodies of knowledge, and its commitment to fostering diverse and inclusive knowledge that amplifies African voices.

This initiative strengthens the Foundation’s role in promoting academic, cultural, and scientific cooperation, and reinforces its commitment to an equal dialogue between cultures that contributes to development, equity, and innovation.