'It will be funny [to speak Hindi]': Travelling Englishes and perceptions about learning migrant languages in Qatar

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-200
Author(s):  
Sara Hillman
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Planning ◽  
The West ◽  
Language Planning And Policy ◽  
The Impact

Abstract 'Travelling' Englishes and neo-liberal ideologies and policies to Qatar have implications for perceptions towards languages other than English, in particular Qatar's migrant languages. The current spotlight on the West and English in Qatar, often viewed in juxtaposition to Arabic, and in competition with it, has led to other languages that play an important role in the society and are part of the linguistic ecology of the region, being ignored. While the capital, status and position of these languages is variable, Qatar has chosen to favour English, leaving multilingualism and linguistic diversity off the agenda. This study examines Qatari students' perceptions about learning migrant languages in Qatar vis-à-vis English and looks at how the mobility of Englishes has in some ways generated further inequalities in Qatar, especially regarding knowledge and appreciation of its migrant languages. Important implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the interface of the impact of travelling Englishes with Qatar's growing linguistic diversity and trajectories related to language planning and policy, as well as Qatar's national identity and visions.

scholarly journals Educational Reforms and Language Planning Quandary in Algeria: An Illustration with Arabization

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-47
Author(s):  
Ikhlas Gherzouli
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Planning ◽  
Educational Reforms ◽  
Language Planning And Policy ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Government ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
The Impact

Summary The paper aims to present a critical review of language policy development in Algeria since its independence (1962) to present time. It takes the policy of Arabization, an important turning point in Algerian history that was troubled with serious problems, as an example of language planning in the country. Data was gathered from policy documents, laws, and newspaper articles. It was then coded into themes before it was analysed employing a documentary research method. To provide a methodical discussion, the first part of the paper explores language policy and planning in Algeria. The second part discusses the impact of Arabization on the country’s current state of policy development in light of the debates over the national educational reforms of 2003. The third part highlights the quandary that language planners face during the processes of language planning and policy making. Lastly, the paper concludes with an evaluation of the process of language policy development in the country. The paper argues that in order to foster sustainable multilingualism and achieve effective educational reforms, a keener recognition of Algerian linguistic diversity by the government is imperative.

The Cold War in the Village

2020 ◽  
pp. 163-195
Author(s):  
Marcel Thomas
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

This chapter examines in more detail how the inhabitants of the two villages engaged with the other Germany and the division of their nation. The Neukirchers and Ebersbachers lived far away from the inner-German border, but in their everyday lives they nonetheless were forced to confront the impact of division. By analysing everyday practices through which the villagers positioned themselves in the political landscape of the Cold War, the chapter sheds new light on the asymmetry of (be)longing and othering in the divided nation. It demonstrates how the Neukirchers and Ebersbachers constructed their own respective imaginary East and imaginary West shaped by local concerns and searches for identity. In Neukirch, the villagers increasingly built up the West as an object of longing in their attempts to deal with the daily struggles of life in a shortage economy. The Ebersbachers, on the other hand, used the East as a Cold War ‘other’ to express pride in their economic recovery and gain a stronger sense of their own identity in a divided nation. These distorted images of the other Germany led to widespread alienation and misunderstandings in the first German–German encounters in the reunified nation. It was difference, rather than a shared sense of national identity, that dominated the experiences of the Neukirchers and Ebersbachers when the inner-German border disappeared in 1990.

Consolidating Commonalities in Language and Literacy to Inform Policy

2015 ◽  
pp. 393-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patriann Smith ◽  
Alex Kumi-Yeboah
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Planning ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Language Planning And Policy ◽  
Majority World ◽  
World Nation ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact

This chapter demonstrates how literacy and language planning and policy (LPP) research may be consolidated to inform recommendations for local language policy development and pedagogical literacy instruction in the English-speaking Caribbean region. To achieve this goal, we first identify patterns in literacy research across countries and contexts in the English-speaking Caribbean region, noting assumptions underlying the literature. We then discuss the ways in which language use evolved in one of these English-speaking Caribbean countries, noting the impact of historical and global forces. In presenting St. Lucia as a critical case where Language Planning and Policy (LPP) research, and particularly, the ways in which the historical epochs in which this research has been undertaken influenced the evolution of language use in the country, we identify strategic, epistemological and macro sociopolitical insights emanating from our discussions of language use in this Majority World nation.

scholarly journals Toward a policy of heterogeneity in Canada: The journeys of integration of multilingual student teachers of FSL in Ontario in plurilingual times

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Byrd Clark
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Language Planning And Policy ◽  
Language Identity ◽  
Sociocultural Research ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
The Impact

This article details the critical need for a policy of heterogeneity in Canada. Canada is changing, with a growing number of youth with multiple, overlapping and complex identities and linguistic repertoires. From this end, I argue that we can no longer look at language, identity,or community as separate, static or fixed categories and in this vein, we need official and public policies that support linguistic diversity and value heterogeneity. Drawing upon my ethnographic and sociolinguistic research which investigates multilingual youth training to become teachers of French as a Second Language (FSL) in Ontario, I demonstrate the importance of sociocultural research as regards multilingualism for language planning and policy, particularly when it comes to creating policies that reflect people’s use of language(s) rather than simply seeing people as language users. In my fieldwork, I have found that the impact of multilingual practices tend to blur traditional boundaries related to languages, identities, cultures and education. This article contributes to language policy and planning as it aims to put forth new ways of conceptualizing multilingualism in relation to the development of theory, policies and professional practice in the fields of language education, teaching and public policy.

Accent Policy and Accent Modification Enterprises as Potential Indicators of Intercultural Power Relations: A Call for an Updated Research Agenda

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brynne D. Ovalle ◽  
Rahul Chakraborty
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This article has two purposes: (a) to examine the relationship between intercultural power relations and the widespread practice of accent discrimination and (b) to underscore the ramifications of accent discrimination both for the individual and for global society as a whole. First, authors review social theory regarding language and group identity construction, and then go on to integrate more current studies linking accent bias to sociocultural variables. Authors discuss three examples of intercultural accent discrimination in order to illustrate how this link manifests itself in the broader context of international relations (i.e., how accent discrimination is generated in situations of unequal power) and, using a review of current research, assess the consequences of accent discrimination for the individual. Finally, the article highlights the impact that linguistic discrimination is having on linguistic diversity globally, partially using data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and partially by offering a potential context for interpreting the emergence of practices that seek to reduce or modify speaker accents.

Aesthetic Dilemmas of Adaptation and the Politics of Subjectivity: Animating the Chinese ClassicJourney to the West

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengcheng You
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
The West ◽  
The Real ◽  
Quest For Meaning ◽  
National Allegory ◽  
Canonical Text ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Monkey King

This article reviews four major Chinese animated adaptations based on the classic Journey to the West. It shows how these adaptations, spanning four historical phases of modern China, encapsulate changes in Chinese national identity. Close readings underpin a developmental narrative about how Chinese animated adaptations of this canonical text strive to negotiate the multimodal expressions of homegrown folklore traditions, technical influences of western animation, and domestic political situations across time. This process has identified aesthetic dilemmas around adaptations that oscillate between national allegory and individual destiny, verisimilitude and the fantastic quest for meaning. In particular, the subjectivisation of Monkey King on the screen, embodying the transition from primitivistic impulse, youthful idealism and mature practicality up to responsible stewardship, presents how an iconic national figure encapsulates the real historical time of China.

Contemporary Qur'anic Studies in Iran and its Relationship with Qur'anic Studies in the West

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Morteza Karimi-Nia
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
The West ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Religious Learning ◽  
The Status ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The status of tafsīr and Qur'anic studies in the Islamic Republic of Iran has changed significantly during recent decades. The essay provides an overview of the state of Qur'anic studies in Iran today, aiming to examine the extent of the impact of studies by Western scholars on Iranian academic circles during the last three decades and the relationship between them. As in most Islamic countries, the major bulk of academic activity in Iran in this field used to be undertaken by the traditional ʿulamāʾ; however, since the beginning of the twentieth century and the establishment of universities and other academic institutions in the Islamic world, there has been increasing diversity and development. After the Islamic Revolution, many gradual changes in the structure and approach of centres of religious learning and universities have occurred. Contemporary advancements in modern sciences and communications technologies have gradually brought the institutions engaged in the study of human sciences to confront the new context. As a result, the traditional Shīʿī centres of learning, which until 50 years ago devoted themselves exclusively to the study of Islamic law and jurisprudence, today pay attention to the teaching of foreign languages, Qur'anic sciences and exegesis, including Western studies about the Qur'an, to a certain extent, and recognise the importance of almost all of the human sciences of the West.

Faiza Ambah's Mariam and the Embodied Politics of Veiling in France

Paragraph ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-350
Author(s):  
Kaya Davies Hayon
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Islam And Secularism ◽  
The Impact

This article argues that Mariam uses its eponymous heroine's lived and embodied experiences of veiling to explore the impact of French secular legislation on Muslim schoolgirls' everyday lives in France. Interweaving secularism studies, feminism and phenomenology, I argue that the film portrays the headscarf as the primary means by which its protagonist is able to resist male patriarchal authority and negotiate her hybrid subjectivity. I conclude that Mariam offers a nuanced representation of veiling that troubles the perceived distinctions between Islam and secularism, oppression and freedom, and the veil and feminism in France and the West.

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