Language Learning, Power, Race and Identity : : White Men, Black Language / / Liz Johanson Botha.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter MultiLingual Matters Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Botha, Liz Johanson,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol ;, Blue Ridge Summit : : Multilingual Matters, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Encounters
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface: Autobiographical Origins of This Book -- Introduction -- Part 1: Background -- Chapter 1: The Eastern Cape, Then and Now -- Chapter 2: Life History, Identity and Language Acquisition -- Part 2: The Life Histories -- Chapter 3: Childhood: Intimacy and Separation -- Chapter 4: Rites of Passage: Paths Diverge -- Chapter 5: Adult Life and Work: Language and Power -- Chapter 6: Identity Across Spaces: White Discourse and Hybrid Space -- Chapter 7: Conclusion -- Postscript -- Appendices -- References -- Index