Rhodes Linguistics lecturer Ian Siebörger handed in his Master's thesis on language in Parliament on Monday 16 January, and has been asked to give another interview for SAFM's Word of Mouth programme on Sunday 22 January.

Ian's thesis, entitled "Literacy, orality and recontextualization in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa: an ethnographic study", is the product of three years of research and analysis of interactions in Parliament's committee process.  For two of those years, Ian has been a full-time junior lecturer in Rhodes' Department of English Language and Linguistics.

Given the topic of his thesis, it is quite appropriate that Ian has been asked to speak on the theme of "language and power" on SAFM from 1:30 to 2:00pm on Sunday.  Through his Master's research, he has discovered that language not only has an influence on the social power that individuals wield, but also on "epistemic power": the power of ideas to be taken up and spread to others. 

To listen to Ian's interview on Sunday via live streaming, visit http://streema.com/radios/SAFM

Photo: Ian with three copies of his thesis ready to submit.  Picture by Ralph Adendorff