Arabic: The language of Muslimness in Cape Town
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation is a linguistic ethnography of Arabic language use among Muslims in Cape Town. The study seeks to understand how a group of Arabic learners experience and engage with Arabic as the language of Islam. The teaching of Arabic in South Africa has often been seen as problematic by researchers, many of whom have argued that students do not acquire communicative skills in these learning environments (Mall & Nieman 2002; Dawood 2008; Mohamed 1998, 1997). Such critiques conceive of language ability, or proficiency, in terms of four skills, namely, speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. These four language skills have been deemed lacking among many Arabic language learners. Even though these researchers have acknowledged that Arabic is a religious language, they have tended to overlook the myriad ways in which Arabic ‘lives' in the complex semiotic repertoires of Capetonian Muslims who learn the language for religious purposes. This study shows that Arabic language practices and the ideologies surrounding the language are deeply intertwined with participants' spiritual/religious ideologies about Muslimness. The group of Arabic learners who are at the centre of the research spend hours vocalising Arabic sounds when reciting Quran, performing prayers, and reading religious texts. In other words, their daily religious practices, which form part of their everyday lives, are saturated with Arabic sounds and script. Moreover, they are visually and somatically engaged in writing Arabic script when doing calligraphy and copying Arabic texts by hand. Thus, this study asks, how do Muslim Arabic learners in Cape Town meaningfully engage with Arabic amidst their perceived ‘lack' of communicative language abilities? In what way do they make meaning with Arabic in their daily practices, and in what ways is the materiality of language involved therein? This study included ten participants: eight were in their twenties, and two were in their fifties. Through in-dept…
abstract: This dissertation is a linguistic ethnography of Arabic language use among Muslims in Cape Town. The study seeks to understand how a group of Arabic learners experience and engage with Arabic as the language of Islam. The teaching of Arabic in South Africa has often been seen as problematic by researchers, many of whom have argued that students do not acquire communicative skills in these learning environments (Mall & Nieman 2002; Dawood 2008; Mohamed 1998, 1997). Such critiques conceive of language ability, or proficiency, in terms of four skills, namely, speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. These four language skills have been deemed lacking among many Arabic language learners. Even though these researchers have acknowledged that Arabic is a religious language, they have tended to overlook the myriad ways in which Arabic ‘lives' in the complex semiotic repertoires of Capetonian Muslims who learn the language for religious purposes. This study shows that Arabic language practices and the ideologies surrounding the language are deeply intertwined with participants' spiritual/religious ideologies about Muslimness. The group of Arabic learners who are at the centre of the research spend hours vocalising Arabic sounds when reciting Quran, performing prayers, and reading religious texts. In other words, their daily religious practices, which form part of their everyday lives, are saturated with Arabic sounds and script. Moreover, they are visually and somatically engaged in writing Arabic script when doing calligraphy and copying Arabic texts by hand. Thus, this study asks, how do Muslim Arabic learners in Cape Town meaningfully engage with Arabic amidst their perceived ‘lack' of communicative language abilities? In what way do they make meaning with Arabic in their daily practices, and in what ways is the materiality of language involved therein? This study included ten participants: eight were in their twenties, and two were in their fifties. Through in-dept…
author: Sadan, Fatima
language: en
keywords: Muslims, Cape Town, Language
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:39Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Linguistics

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42659