First Languages and the National Language in Politics along the Kenya-Tanzania Border

Thu, February 26, 2026 at

MSU PLS is pleased to share the upcoming Eye on Africa lecture, “First Languages and the National Language in Politics along the Kenya-Tanzania Border” by Andrew Marshall (Baylor University's Department of Political Science) scheduled for February 26, 2026

Abstract: How do politicians’ use of different languages affect voter perceptions and political outcomes in ethnolinguistically diverse societies? This paper presents data from a cross-border, multilingual survey experiment examining Kenyan and Tanzanian voters’ responses to political speeches in their national language of Kiswahili and two other locally predominant first languages. The survey experiment tests the observable implications of ongoing qualitative research in the specific context of the two countries’ differing regulations on language use in political campaigns. Given the differing language policies and differing understandings of language as a marker of national identification between Kenya and Tanzania found in earlier qualitative research, the survey experiment enables close analysis of systematic variation in average effects by language treatment and across nationality and first-language status, a phenomenon unobservable using observational methods in part due to Tanzanian regulations banning most uses of non-Kiswahili indigenous languages in public campaigning. This study’s findings inform our understanding of how politicians’ choice of language(s) affects multilingual voters’ perceptions. A more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the politics of language(s) within and between these two neighboring states will allow for a fuller comparison with multilingual politics in other societies.