Course Description
Hausa is a Chadic language (a branch of the Afro-Asiatic family) spoken by more than 34 million people in parts of Nigeria, Niger, and Chad, and as a trade language by another 18 million people throughout West Africa (especially Benin, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire), Central Africa (Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea), and northwestern Sudan. It has a rich literary tradition in both Arabic and Roman scripts, as well as a thriving oral tradition and a huge film industry. This course is an introduction to the language through conversation, reading, writing, listening, cultural practices and multimedia.
Enrollment details
African Languages and Literature 361: First Semester Hausa
4 credits for graduates, 5 credits for undergraduates
M-F 8:50-9:40am, 155 Van Hise Hall
Fall 2015
About the instructor
Ruth Ibbi is a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) from Nigeria. A graduate of Ahmadu Bello University with a Master’s degree in English, Ruth is an experienced language teacher excited to share her language and culture with UW students. Intrigued by the relationship between Hausa as a community language and English as an instructional language in Nigeria, she looks forward to introducing students to Hausa through passions of her own including theater and dance.