Language Learning, Power, Race and Identity

White Men, Black Language

von Liz Johanson Botha

262 Seiten, Hardcover

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

This book investigates the strategies and identities of colonials who have learned the languages of colonised people, using the context of isiXhosa in South Africa. While power in language learning research has traditionally focused on the powerful native speaker and the relatively disempowered learner, this book studies the inverse, where elites are the language learners. The author analyses the life histories of four white South Africans who acquired isiXhosa during the apartheid years. The book offers insights into relationships between language, power, race, identity and change in their stories and in the broader context of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, with its conflicted history and disparities. This book should appeal to researchers interested in studies of language acquisition, narrative and identity, as well as those more broadly interested in South African history, multilingualism and race studies.

• Themen: Gesellschaft und Sozialwissenschaften Gesellschaft und Kultur, allgemein Gesellschaftliche Gruppen, Gemeinschaften und Identitäten Ethnic Studies / Ethnizität
• ISBN: 9781783093854
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 02.07.2015
• Größe: 216 x 151 mm
• Verlag: Channel View Publications