Browsing by Author "Hill, Lloyd Bennett"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    The decline of academic bilingualism in South Africa : a case study
    (Springer, 2009-10) Hill, Lloyd Bennett
    Language policies in South African higher education were formalized between 2000 and 2002, just prior to a major restructuring of the higher education system. During this period institutions of higher learning were expected to formulate both a language policy and a detailed language plan. National policies on language in education are intended to substantiate the constitutional commitment to using and developing the 11 official languages. Gaps between official commitments to ‘multilingualism’ and actual language practices are nevertheless evident at national and institutional levels. In this article I explore the concepts ‘bilingual university’ and ‘academic bilingualism’, as a prelude to a contextualized discussion of the decline of English-Afrikaans bilingualism at the University of Port Elizabeth (which after the January 2005 merger with the PE Technikon, became part of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). I explore the emergence of a gap between formal policy pronouncements and actual institutional practices. I then situate this local trend within the wider context of post-1994 political and socio-economic changes and the emergence of a new official discourse on ‘multilingualism.’ I explain the ostensive shift from a ‘dual medium’ to a ‘multilingual’ policy at UPE in terms of broader trends and contradictions in the national field of higher education. The article employs a theoretical framework, which—drawing on the work of Bourdieu— seeks to (a) situate the case within a wider national field of higher education, and (b) theorise ‘academic bilingualism’ as form of cultural capital within this field. In terms of this framework, the analysis of the case raises specific questions about current institutional language policies in South Africa and more general questions about the nature of bilingualism in higher education.
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    Football as code : the social diffusion of soccer in South Africa
    (Routledge, 2010-03) Hill, Lloyd Bennett
    This essay explores the processes associated with the emergence of rugby and soccer as distinct ‘sporting codes’ in South Africa. Beginning with an elaboration of the concept of ‘sporting code’, the author traces in broad brush strokes the events that transformed the two English codes into new forms of cultural capital in transnational sporting fields. Set against this wider context, the focus then shifts to the ‘social diffusion’ of rugby and soccer in the territories that would subsequently constitute the South African state. It is argued that between 1859 and the discovery of gold in 1886 rugby and soccer emerged in two relatively distinct fields, centred on the British Cape and Natal colonies. The essay then explores the stratification of these fields, following the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Particular attention is given to the relative status of rugby and soccer in the colonial education systems and in the post-1910 national education system.
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    Household language, residential segregation and social mobility : continuity and change in eThekwini, South Africa
    (Union for African Population Studies, 2016) Bekker, Simon; Hill, Lloyd Bennett
    This article uses South African census data for 1996, 2001 and 2011 to explore the relationship between language and social mobility in the metropolitan region of eThekwini (including what was previously known as Durban). We focus particular attention on variables selected to shed light on residential segregation and social mobility, such as education level, income, race and in-migration. Data on adults at ward level (using 2011 ward boundaries) in eThekwini is used to develop a comparative spatial context for this analysis. Our main finding is that English appears in eThekwini to be the household language of the social elite as well as the language of upward mobility and empowerment.
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    International migration and the democratic receiving state : South African immigration policy in the post-1994 period
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1998) Hill, Lloyd Bennett; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of . Dept. of .
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    Language and status on the limits of language planning
    (SPIL, 2010) Hill, Lloyd Bennett
    'Language status' is a concept that has been central to South African language policy debates since the early days of the negotiated transition, which culminated in the 1996 Constitutional commitment to developing eleven official languages. This constitutional commitment has not however been translated into a concrete legislative and administrative agenda. Recent critiques of language policy have attributed this 'policy gap' to problems associated with policy implementation. In this article I argue that policy difficulties can equally be attributed to theoretical problems associated with the concept of 'language status', which have their origins in a broader international discourse on language planning. This article is therefore presents a sociological critique of 'language planning', based on a conceptual analysis of key terms that underpin the current debate on language policy: principally 'language', 'language planning' and 'status.'
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    Language, residential space and inequality in Cape Town : broad-brush profiles and trends
    (Union for African Population Studies, 2014-05) Hill, Lloyd Bennett; Bekker, Simon
    This article uses South African census data for 1996, 2001 and 2011 to explore the relationship between language and demographic change in the metropolitan region of Cape Town. We begin with a conceptual and methodological discussion of the use of ‘language’ as a demographic variable, before commencing with a GIS based analysis of the changing relationship between ‘household language’ and selected census variables associated with post-apartheid demographic change. We focus particular attention on variables selected to shed light on urban inequality, such as education level, income, race and in-migration. Data on adults at ward level in Cape Town is used to develop a comparative spatial context for this analysis. Our main finding is a significant level of continuity between 1996 and 2011 with respect to the geo-social patterning of the three main languages in the metro: Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. We argue that English and Afrikaans have retained status through proximity to key development corridors. We explain this trend in terms of different streams of migrants, settling at different times and in different regions of the city.
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    Reflections on the 1862 football match in Port Elizabeth
    (South African journal for research in sport, physical education and recreation, 2011) Hill, Lloyd Bennett
    The oldest recorded football match in South Africa was played in Port Elizabeth on 24 May 1862. This article explores the available evidence for this match before moving on to a more general discussion of three broader contexts in which the match was played. These contexts are contemporary football developments in colonial Britain, the emergence of 'carrying codes' in the Cape Colony and the midnineteenth century development of sport in Port Elizabeth. Very little is known about the 1862 match in Port Elizabeth. The discussion of the match therefore serves as a pretext for a situated exploration of the 19'h century codification of jootball' - which produced, inter alia, the dominant South African codes of 'rugby' and 'soccer.' Here, 'codification' involves more than the establishment of rules and clubs; it includes the association of sporting practices with other soCial 'codes' - notably those associated with class, gender and race. In this article particular attention is given to the association of 'football' with a particular public school mediated model of masculinity. The author argues that the reason the Port Elizabeth game has gone largely unnoticed in most sporting histories is because it cannot easily be classified as 'a code' and thereby slotted into prevailing South African code historiographies.