A little corner of Africa in the States

MONTOA Smouse, a lecturer in Sotho and Xhosa with the Department of Linguistics and Southern African Languages, will head for the United States this summer, firstly to round off one doctorate and start on another, and secondly, to spread the reach of the Xhosa language to students of the University of Florida (UF).

Smouse will be based at the Centre for African Studies at UF for the next couple of years. From here, she will teach Xhosa beginners' courses, and will also lecture on the Introduction to African Society programme at UF's summer school.

This will be Smouse's second sojourn at the “Gators”, following a stint there in 2000 to 2001 when, courtesy of a Mellon Foundation scholarship, she enrolled in a linguistics programme and offered some Xhosa lessons.

Her stay will be extended this time around, however, as she will not only finish off her UCT doctoral thesis – on the social and psychological factors in second language acquisition – but also begin another, in linguistics, at UF.

The time away from UCT is not only a “nice break”, but will allow for a change of perspective, says Smouse. “I discovered during the year that I spent there previously that I found it much easier to reflect on South Africa,” she notes.

Smouse will be accompanied by her husband and two children.

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