Students from more than 20 universities across the United States are at Ohio University this summer to study African languages in the Summer Cooperative African Languages Institute.
The program, which is offering lessons in 16 African languages, began June 21. This is the second time OU has hosted the event. OU introduced SCALI for the first time last year, said Catherine Cutcher, SCALI coordinator.
More than 70 students and 20 professors are engaged in the program; its aim is to provide an intensive language-learning program for students who are interested in working and doing research in Africa, Cutcher said.
OU is the sixth university to host the event since its inception in 1993, after Yale University, Stanford University, Ohio State University, Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin Madison. Cutcher said OU was selected by the African language coordinators in these partner institutions.
Major African languages such as Swahili, Hausa, Arabic, Mande, Zulu and Yoruba are being offered. With more than 2,000 spoken languages, Africa has a large language diversity that is yet to be explored, said Steve Howard, African Studies director at OU.
But Howard said the SCALI program, which runs for seven weeks until Aug. 6, will play an important role in showcasing the responsibility that OU has in advancing African Studies in the United States.
SCALI also extends our network with Africanist professors whom we rely on
in getting ideas on new ways to teach about Africa Howard said.
Lungi Sosibo, a professor of South African Cinema and Literature at the University of California, is teaching Zulu in Athens as part of the SCALI program. She said SCALI is playing a vital role in imparting knowledge to students and researchers in the United States who wish to conduct research in Africa.
SCALI gives our students a glimpse of what to expect in Africa. We have enough time to expose them to culture in addition to exposing them to language said Sosibo, who has taught Zulu for five years in the program. When our students go to Africa
they do not just talk to the people
they also communicate with the people.
Ghirmai Negash, the chair of the department of Eritrean Languages and Literature at the University of Asmara in Eritrea, is also in Athens to teach Tigrinya. He said SCALI imparts new concepts and ideas from different cultures.
By understanding other people's cultures
our students are able to understand their own cultures in a different way
Negash said.
Rafi Aliya, a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, said she came to Athens to learn Zulu and establish a network with scholars doing research in Africa.
I have met wonderful people doing exciting work and I hope to collaborate with them in the future
she said.
Matthew Kustenbauder, a master's student in Divinity at Yale University, is at OU to learn Swahili in preparation for his research in East Africa next summer.
I am gaining a lot from here. Athens is a beautiful place and I have nice teachers who are helping me a lot
he said.
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