UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Human Sciences
⋄
ASSIGNMENT 5 PORTFOLIO
Semester 2 Assignment 05 — 2026
⋄
Student Name: [Full name and surname]
Student Number: [Student number]
Module Code: AFL1501
Assignment No.: 5 (Portfolio)
Due Date: 28 October 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for AFL1501
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | AFL1501 Assignment 5 Portfolio
Question 1: Reflection and Naming
Names, languages and communities shape one another, and this question works through that
connection from three angles: my own learning, my elders’ names and my own name.
1.1 Module Experience Reflection
Before AFL1501, I treated language as a tool for passing messages, identity as the details printed
on an identity document, and culture as what happens at weddings and funerals. I did not see
these as one connected system. I also assumed that the way my family spoke at home was
simply “normal” and that other communities were variations on it.
The module changed this in several ways. I learnt that language carries the way a community
understands the world, so the words I grew up with hold values, humour and history as well
as information. Geertz (1973:5) describes culture as webs of significance that people spin for
themselves, and I now see greetings, forms of address and names as strands of those webs. I
also learnt that identity is not fixed. It is built through the languages I speak, the community
that raised me and the choices I make, and it can be layered, which fits the multilingual reality
of South Africa.
What stood out most was the study of names and ukuhlonipha. A name is not a label. It is a
message from one generation to the next, and it can express hope, history or a family’s circum-
stances. Interviewing family members made this real, because stories I had never heard came
out once I asked the right question. That showed me that culture survives through conversa-
tion, and that older people are living archives who deserve careful listening.
I also became more critical of my own assumptions. I now ask why a practice exists and what
it means to the people who keep it before I judge it. This habit of curiosity, together with greater
respect for languages other than my own, is the most meaningful result of the module for me.
1.2 Family Interview
First interviewee: [relationship, e.g. grandmother]
Name and translation. Her name is [name in home language], which translates into English as
[English translation]. The name is defined as [definition], and within [culture/language group]
culture it expresses [interpretation, e.g. hope for a child born after a difficult season].
Page 1 of 8
College of Human Sciences
⋄
ASSIGNMENT 5 PORTFOLIO
Semester 2 Assignment 05 — 2026
⋄
Student Name: [Full name and surname]
Student Number: [Student number]
Module Code: AFL1501
Assignment No.: 5 (Portfolio)
Due Date: 28 October 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for AFL1501
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | AFL1501 Assignment 5 Portfolio
Question 1: Reflection and Naming
Names, languages and communities shape one another, and this question works through that
connection from three angles: my own learning, my elders’ names and my own name.
1.1 Module Experience Reflection
Before AFL1501, I treated language as a tool for passing messages, identity as the details printed
on an identity document, and culture as what happens at weddings and funerals. I did not see
these as one connected system. I also assumed that the way my family spoke at home was
simply “normal” and that other communities were variations on it.
The module changed this in several ways. I learnt that language carries the way a community
understands the world, so the words I grew up with hold values, humour and history as well
as information. Geertz (1973:5) describes culture as webs of significance that people spin for
themselves, and I now see greetings, forms of address and names as strands of those webs. I
also learnt that identity is not fixed. It is built through the languages I speak, the community
that raised me and the choices I make, and it can be layered, which fits the multilingual reality
of South Africa.
What stood out most was the study of names and ukuhlonipha. A name is not a label. It is a
message from one generation to the next, and it can express hope, history or a family’s circum-
stances. Interviewing family members made this real, because stories I had never heard came
out once I asked the right question. That showed me that culture survives through conversa-
tion, and that older people are living archives who deserve careful listening.
I also became more critical of my own assumptions. I now ask why a practice exists and what
it means to the people who keep it before I judge it. This habit of curiosity, together with greater
respect for languages other than my own, is the most meaningful result of the module for me.
1.2 Family Interview
First interviewee: [relationship, e.g. grandmother]
Name and translation. Her name is [name in home language], which translates into English as
[English translation]. The name is defined as [definition], and within [culture/language group]
culture it expresses [interpretation, e.g. hope for a child born after a difficult season].
Page 1 of 8
