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Faculty of Humanities
School of Languages and
Literatures
Research Report 2012
Head of School: Associate Professor Clive
Chandler
School Profile
The School of Languages and Literatures was formed
in 2002 through the amalgamation of the Department
of Southern African Languages and the Department of
Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures. The
School brings into one organisational unit the teaching of
languages and literatures (excluding English Language and
Literature) at the University of Cape Town.
We recognize the complexity of our position at the
southern end of Africa, in a University which strives to
be fully part of Africa and the wider world. The range of
languages taught in the School and the research done
by staff and students of the School reflect this.
The teaching and research area of the School is wide,
covering language, literatures and cultural studies in
Afrikaans, Arabic, Dutch, French, Business French, German,
Classical Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Sotho,
Spanish, and Xhosa, and Special Purposes teaching in
Afrikaans and Xhosa. There is also a strong emphasis on the
role that these languages and literatures and the cultures
they embody, have played and continue to play in Africa.
Research in the School also encompasses Literary Semantics,
Literary Theory, Afrikaans Media Studies, Creative Writing in
Afrikaans and Xhosa, Xhosa Lexicography, Historiography,
Multimedia, Literature and the Internet, War Literature,
Ancient Literature, Philosophy and Rhetoric, French literature
from 17th century to the present, French Linguistics and
Sociolinguistics, Teaching French as a Foreign Language,
German Colonialism and Postcolonial Literature and Theory,
Contemporary German Literature, Literary Theory and
Women’s Studies, Italian and German post-war Cinema,
Italian Literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, Asian
Cinema, Italian Renaissance Literature, Modern and Ancient
Hebrew Literature, Classical Arabic Literature and Islamic
Studies, Modern Arabic Literature and Political discourse,
and Hispanic Literature.
The School’s awareness of its location in Africa is reflected
in many of its research projects. Among these are studies of
language learning in the African context, Xhosa linguistics,
African oral traditions and orature, Literature and Cinema
in Francophone West Africa, the Translation of Southern
African Literature into French, Sephardi Women Writers
from the Maghreb, German Colonial Discourse in Africa and
German Missionary Writings, Comparative Perspectives on
German/Afrikaans Literature.
The School has a number of formal and informal links with
universities elsewhere in Africa (e.g. National University of
the Ivory Coast at Abidjan, University of St Denis in Réunion,
University of Zimbabwe), and further afield (e.g. ENS Cachan
– Grenoble 3 Stendhal, University of Bologna). The School
is also a founder member of L’Ecole doctorale regionale
(Afrique australe – Océan indien).
School Statistics
Permanent and long-term contract staff
Professors
4
Associate Professors
4
Senior Lecturers
5
Full-time Lecturers
9
Part-time Lecturers
10
Administrative Staff
3
Total
35
Students
Doctoral
13
Master’s
60
Honours
55
Undergraduate
3725
Total
3853
Honorary staff
Honorary Research Associates
3
Research Fields and Staff
Permanent staff
Associate Professor Clive Chandler
Director of School; ancient philosophy and rhetoric;
Philodemus; Homer commentaries; madness in antiquity.
Professor Jean-Louis Cornille
Section Head (French); 19th - 20th century French literature.
Dr Jay Corwin
Section Head (Spanish); Senior Lecturer; Latin American
literature.
Dr Ruth de Oliveira
Lecturer; didactics of French as a foreign and second
language; French Linguistics.