Language Learning, Power, Race and Identity

This book investigates the strategies and identities of colonials who have learned the languages of colonised people. Using the stories of white South Africans who acquired isiXhosa during the apartheid years, this book offers insights into relationships between language, power, race, identity and change.

Liz Johanson Botha has taught languages since 1968 and held a faculty post at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa from 1998 to 2012. Liz now works as a Research Associate to the Faculty of Education at Rhodes University, South Africa. Her interests include language learning, identity and teacher education.

Liz Johanson Botha has taught languages since 1968 and held a faculty post at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa from 1998 to 2012. More recently, she has worked as a Research Associate to the Faculty of Education at Rhodes University, South Africa. Her interests include language learning, identity and teacher education.

The stories in this book – stories of multilingualism, race, identity and power – are vividly retold, sensitively interpreted, and are framed by relevant theory. The outcome is an immensely readable and informative work, unique in that it tells readers about the experiences of elites learning an indigenous language in a rigidly divided socio-political context. These stories certainly hit home.