Dilemmas of race, register, and inequality in South Africa

Collins, James

doi:10.1017/s004740451600083x

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Rosa (2016a:162) shows how many self-identified monolingual white teachers in a Chicago high school viewed their bilingual Puerto Rican principal, who held a doctorate in education, as intellectually and linguistically inferior, with one teacher suggesting that the principal's “English is horrible, and from what I hear, her Spanish isn't that good either”. Collins (2017:49) explores similar issues of race, stigmatizing school-based language perceptions, and the rearticulation of white supremacy in the South African context, showing how particular racialized populations’ self-identified English language use is construed as impure based on ‘ideologies that equate language mixture with defective populations and persons’.…”

Section: Perceptions Of Racial and Linguistic Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Collins (2017:54) notes, a careful consideration of race is ‘a necessary engagement for register analysis, given the demonstrable ability of such analysis to integrate language variation, cultural categorization, and sociohistorical process’. Building from this insight, the notion of raciolinguistic enregisterment extends previous approaches to the analysis of register formations (Irvine 1990; Silverstein 2003; Agha 2005) by analyzing processes whereby signs of race and language are naturalized as discrete, recognizable sets.…”

Section: Regimentations Of Racial and Linguistic Categoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective

2017

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This article presents what we term araciolinguistic perspective, which theorizes the historical and contemporary co-naturalization of language and race. Rather than taking for granted existing categories for parsing and classifying race and language, we seek to understand how and why these categories have been co-naturalized, and to imagine their denaturalization as part of a broader structural project of contesting white supremacy. We explore five key components of a raciolinguistic perspective: (i) historical and contemporary colonial co-naturalizations of race and language; (ii) perceptions of racial and linguistic difference; (iii) regimentations of racial and linguistic categories; (iv) racial and linguistic intersections and assemblages; and (v) contestations of racial and linguistic power formations. These foci reflect our investment in developing a careful theorization of various forms of racial and linguistic inequality on the one hand, and our commitment to the imagination and creation of more just societies on the other. (Race, language ideologies, colonialism, governmentality, enregisterment, structural inequality)*

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Section: Perceptions Of Racial and Linguistic Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regimentations Of Racial and Linguistic Categoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective

2017

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“…To support this argument, I analyze online forum data where neighbors discuss racism occurring in their neighborhood. Subtirelu 2015;Collins 2017). These discursive strategies allow participants to negatively evaluate racial minority groups while still meeting their identity goals to be not racist and their rhetorical goals to construct reasonable stances (Augoustinos & Every 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

Membership categorization analysis of racism in an online discussion among neighbors

Shrikant

2020

Lang. Soc.

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This article addresses relationships between micro and macro aspects of language use through analyzing online interactions among neighbors discussing racism in their neighborhood. Membership categorization analysis supplemented with critical theory highlights how the ways neighbors name, characterize, and position categories orients to their rhetorical and identity goals (to construct reasonable stances, to seem not racist), which in turn motivates alignment with critical, folk, or colorblind ideologies of racism. Thus, ideologies do not determine interactional choices participants make, but rather are constituted by those choices. Findings also illustrate how discursive strategies such as reported speech, absurdity, three-part lists, and metadiscourse support ways that neighbors organize categories and achieve their aims. Additional contributions to this study include demonstrating the utility of membership categorization analysis for analyzing discourses of racism and providing practical insight into how racially diverse groups can have productive conversations about racism. (Racism, ideology, membership categorization analysis)*

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“…Such raciolinguistic hierarchies in language teaching contexts result in inequitable educational opportunities for language learners. In his ethnographic study of language diversity in a Cape Town public school, Collins (2017) showed how schools assigned English and Afrikaans as ‘standard’ languages associated with higher status White South Africans, and African languages as ‘nonstandard’ languages of lower status Black South Africans. The result was the development of ‘systems of education that offered stratified linguistic choices’ (p. 51).…”

Section: Defining Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race and language teaching

2020

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In this review article on race and language teaching, we highlight an urgent need for the international educational community to continue to develop a complex understanding of how language teaching and learners’ lives are shaped by our global history of racist practices of colonial expansion, including settler colonialism and transatlantic slavery. We outline the genesis of research on race and language teaching and review literature that reflects a recent increase in scope and range of studies that problematize the workings of race and racism in language teaching and point to hopeful solutions for addressing effects of racial inequities. We conceptualize two key terms, ‘race’ and ‘language,’ then overview theories that appeared most significant in the research literature. We explore five interconnected themes that featured prominently throughout the existing literature on race and language teaching: standard language ideology and racial hegemony, the idealized and racialized native speaker, racial hierarchies of languages and language speakers, racialization and teacher identity, and race-centered approaches to pedagogies and educational practices. We offer a critical analysis of the current status of scholarship on race and language teaching, including gaps and necessary reframing, and conclude with implications for future directions and questions arising from the work.

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Dilemmas of race, register, and inequality in South Africa

Cited by 17 publications

References 46 publications

Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective

Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective

Membership categorization analysis of racism in an online discussion among neighbors

Race and language teaching

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