Xhosa people of Zim inspire first isiXhosa PhD thesis.

Nompumelelo Kapa is the first person in the 102 year’s history of the University of Fort Hare to have written a PhD in Xhosa. Image: Olwethu Sipuka via Twitter.

A chance encounter between 31-year-old Dr Hleze Kunju and Xhosa-speaking students in Zimbabwe led to the first PhD thesis written in isiXhosa from Rhodes University. Kunju’s doctoral thesis explores the historical background of the Xhosa people living in Zimbabwe and how the language has managed to survive across borders and eventually be.

Kapa, an East London high school isiXhosa teacher, received her PhD in literature and philosophy from South Africa’s University of Fort Hare. In doing so, she became the first student in the institution’s 102-year history to write her thesis in isiXhosa, the Bantu language of South Africa’s second-largest cultural group, the Xhosa.

Nompumelelo Kapa is the first person in the 102 year’s history of the University of Fort Hare in South Africa to have written and published a PhD thesis in isiXhosa. Early last year, Dr Hleze Kunju of Rhodes University wrote his doctoral thesis in isiXhosa, also a remarkable and historic achievement.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. Thesis. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates how politeness may be employed in requests in Xhosa. While numerous studies on speech act have been conducted in different languages, the investigation of speech acts in African Languages, particularly Xhosa, shows no such progress.

Dr Hleze Kunju wrote his doctoral thesis in isiXhosa, Rhodes University’s first isiXhosa authored PhD thesis. The act has been described as a milestone for Xhosa academic writing and a glimmer of hope in the quest for decolonisation, and transformation in South Africa’s education system.

A milestone Rhodes University PhD written in isiXhosa.. African music teacher and Xhosa-speaking students in Zimbabwe has led to the production of Rhodes University’s first PhD thesis in isiXhosa.. The Bible was the only written Xhosa material the people there had laid eyes on, with the exception of those who ventured far and wide in.

The beauty, relevance and importance of the Xhosa language were highlighted through academia this month via a duo of Rhodes University theses produced by two PhD students.more In a first for the.

Rhodes University scholar Dr Hleze Kunju's thesis is based on Xhosa people who settled in Zimbabwe in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Dr Hleze Kunju is a thirty-one-year-old Rhodes University.

Linguistic activist, Hleze Kunju, has become the first person to complete his PhD studies in Xhosa at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape. Kunju, a Xhosa lecturer at the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, wrote his thesis about a Xhosa community that settled in a place called Mbembesi, 45 km outside of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, more than 116 years ago.

This is a collection of theses and dissertations submitted since 2003 in electronic format to the University of South Africa in the Department of African Languages.