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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014
PAGE 9A
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New Somali language offering growing slowly
MARK ARCE
@mark_arce13
Three days a week, Andrew Keehn heads to Bailey Hall to learn Somali, but due to low enrollment, he doesn't go to a classroom. He goes to lecturer Abdifatah Shafat's Bailey Hall office.
While he likes small class sizes,he wishes he wasn't the only student.
"Maybe a couple more," said Keehn, a graduate student from Topeka, of his ideal class size. "Just so I could practice more."
Elizabeth MacGonagle, the Kansas African Studies Center director, said the Somali language course was created to respond to a growing Somali-speaking population in the state of Kansas and beyond.
BACKGROUND
While Somalis have been coming to the United States since the 1920s, the majority of Somali-speakers came as refugees during the early 1990s due to a civil war in the country of Somalia, according to Diana Briton Putman's "The Somalis: Their History and Culture."
The Kansas African Studies Center states there are an estimated 17-19 million Somali speakers worldwide. In southwest Kansas, there is a growing Somali population located in Garden City, Liberal and Dodge City. In the Kansas City metro area, there is a Somali-speaking population of approximately 5,000. Recognizing this change in the state and worldwide, the University started offering the Somali language program this past summer as a way for students to seize on social and economic opportunities.
Somali was one of three languages offered at KU's African Summer Institute, which is sponsored by the Department of African and African-American Studies and the Kansas African Studies Center. While students enrolled in Kiswahili and Arabic, no one enrolled in Somali.
MacGonagle said this was due to a tight timeline to try to advertise and recruit students for Somali. As a result, potential students either had other summer plans or lacked funding to attend. Despite this setback, the Studies Center looked toward the future.
"We were persistent and kept at it and now we have one student enrolled right now," MacGonagle said.
CHALLENGES
Even though there might be a need for Somali-speakers, a lack of student interest so far stems from a variety of factors. Among them is competition with other language offerings.
Somali is referred to as a less commonly taught language, or LCTL. According to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, LCTLs are all languages besides English, German, French and Spanish.
This means students aren't usually taught Somali in their K-12 education and few universities offer language courses in it. The University is one of only a handful of universities that offers Somali, which is one of the University's 40 language offerings.
After graduating from Washburn University, the main reason Keehn came to the University was because of the language program.
"KU is the only Midwestern school that teaches it," Keehn said. "So I thought I'd take advantage."
The Kansas African Studies Center, which among other things promotes the understanding wand study of Africa, is looking to find more students like Keehn and is also interacting with the Somali-speaking community.
"The student I have is very motivated, and that motivates me even more."
ABDIFATAH SHAFAT Professor
The Center is working with local communities and has conducted mini Somali workshops for some of the public schools in Kansas City.
OUTREACH
"Really it's cultural awareness," Shafat said, who conducts the workshops. He said the workshops are "bridging the gap" between Somali-speakers and others in the community. Shafat and the attendants talk about everything from Somali cultural norms to pronunciations of Somali names.
Shafat will continue the workshops during the semester, and the Center may conduct workshops in other areas of the state. The Center is also working on campus to
increase awareness and the number of students in the Somali program.
Peter Ojiambo, a language coordinator with the Center, said that consistent outreach to the community, working with departments at the school and relating students areas of study to Somali language, as well as its other benefits, are principal ways to increase enrollment.
The Center also offers Foreign Language Area Studies, or FLAS Fellowships. The Department of Education awards these funds to Area Studies Centers, such as the Kansas African Studies Center. They are awarded to University and non-University students who are pursuing foreign languages for professional purposes.
The Center will also be working with the University's recently announced School of Language, Literatures & Cultures to promote the study of Somali and other African languages.
Despite the scholarships and other methods to help increase enrollment, Ojjiambo admits growing the Somali language program, as well as the other languages the Kansas African Studies Center helps to promote. is a work in progress.
"The trick is you have to be hopeful." Ojiambo said.
MacGonagle shares Ojiambo's optimism and is confident the program will see growth in time.
The Center and the Department of African and African-American studies will again offer Somali as a part of the Institute this summer.
While the Center and the department are working to grow the Somali program, Keehn is working to perfect the language. He studies Somali most days with hopes of pursuing a career in areas such as finance, banking or securities and those jobs would be more attainable for him if he knows Somali.
Keeln is still deciding on the focus of his graduate degree, but will most likely be international affairs or international business in the Middle East and Africa.
Shafat, originally from Somalia, loves teaching the language, in part because of Keehn's determination to learn it.
"The student I have is very motivated," Shafat said, "and that motivates me even more."
Edited by Logan Schlossberg
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
For one hour, the Kansan observed student phone usage on Wescoe Beach. During this hour, 80 people were seen on their cell phones while walking, and 10 of those people crossed Jayhawk Boulevard while on their phones.
Kansan observes phone usage on Jayhawk Blvd.
HALLIE WILSON
@halliew20
The Kansan spent an hour on Wescoe beach observing students as they walked to and from classes. Findings showed
that many students pull out their phones during passing periods. For the most part, people were able to multitask as they used their phones while walking. Some, though, were not so coordinated.
People used their phones as a way to avoid interaction with people they weren't interested in talking to.
people on their cell phones while walking
@KANSANNEWS
80
person walked right in front of a biker, but the biker prevented an accident
1
People used their phones as a way to ignore organizations on Wescoe.
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people crossed a busy Jayhawk Boulevard while on their phones; luckily, drivers carefully watched out for pedestrians
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