The British Empire Library


Peripatetic Pedagogue: Some Reminiscences of R A Snoxall

edited by P R Snoxall


Courtesy of OSPA


Review by I.A.
The members of Mr. R. A. Snoxall’s family have worked together to produce this highly entertaining little book of his memories of life and work in Africa as an Educational Administrator. Gifted with a flair for languages he soon becarne closely involved with the establishment of the Swahili language and the development of one common orthography for its many dialects. He served on the Swahili Committee and co-operated in the writing of Swahili School Readers. His duties as Schools Inspector took him far and wide, often accompanied by his two sons - who also enjoyed this means of getting to know the country and its peoples, their customs and occupations.

Not all his time was devoted to the provision of good educational facilities to people of many beliefs and cultures but he was also engaged in the promotion of scouting and other sporting activities. For his long service to Uganda scouting he received the Award of Merit and he reminisces nostalgically about the wonderful jamborees in which he participated. Early retirement due to ill health did nothing to curtail his activities and we find him combining teaching at a Sussex Preparatory School with teaching Luganda at Oxford to cadets selected for Government Service in Uganda, — and writing his English-Swahili and English-Luganda Dictionaries in between. Then followed a visit to India to recruit teachers for Uganda, and soon after a post with the School of Oriental and African Studies in California where, in protest at the meaning there attributed to the word ‘colonialism’, Ron Snoxall stoutly stood up for the British Colonial Service he himself had served so well.

British Empire Book
Editor
P R Snoxall
Published
1985
Pages
76
Publisher
Editor
Availability
Abebooks


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