I am looking for texts that have argued that in order to achieve decolonialisation it is necessary to reject the colonial language and adopt subaltern or indigenous languages instead. I know that a major voice who has made the argument is Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in "decolonising the mind", but I wonder which other theorists within the subaltern/decolonization tradition have made the same argument about other contexts and languages?
one of my papers should help 'Dynamics of language spread in multi-lingual societies...'
But it won't provide a complete solution
Key texts that I can recommend are:
E. Said 1978 Orentalism. Vintage Books.
Linda T. Smith 1999 & 2005 Decolonising Methodologies. Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books,
Ngugi wa Thiong'o 1986 Decolonising the Mind. The Politics of Language in African Literature. James Currey publishers.
I published a couple of papers on this, which I attach here. Language is part of the colonial process, but it can also be used to decolonise, as in rethinking the relationships between Captain Cook and Aboriginal Australians, in Fig 1 of the attached AIQ paper.
I hope this helps. The best of luck with your study.
Hi Claire,
The attached papers are all about decolonizing archaeology
Sujay
For an Australian perspective you might find my book useful. It is also available as an ebook from major online ebook sellers.
My focus is on Indigenous knowledge and you will find that the language used, while in correct English, challenges coloniser views.
This looks like a really useful book, Lorraine. I'll get a copy of it.
Are you focussed on indigenous people groups, their culture and how society reframes them and their identity, property, etc, or are you focussed on the power and work of language generally as a colonising agent? (To recap - To "colonise" is for something novel to arrive and establish its own habits, identity and practices within the host environment and whatever lives there....like an introduced plant in the forest colonises the host forcing it into submission, or ...the specific cultural practices of one ethnic group colonising the "new territory and its people and resources.)
I was interested in how the development of a way of speaking about gambling and people who gamble or about national policy about gambling - colonises our way of routinely thinking and behaving, developing attitudes about gambling things or gamblers.
I wonder if there are waves of focus where returning to the practice of indigenous language use (as with Te Reo in New Zealand) can begin a decolonisation of thought? Or is there an external space that can take us away from the binery and oppositional way of being and into a new space that is crafted by careful development of new ways of speaking?
Language use and discourse always brings offers, counter offers and possibilities of resistance into dialogue and conversation. How do the ways we speak of decolonising, position us, position the other and how will the "absent, but implicit" concepts in language be noticed and examined?
I am writing about language reclamation among indigenous peoples. And for that I want to summarize the different arguments that scholars have made for why it is important to reclaim the traditional language in the process of reclaiming sovereignty from a colonial power.
In Aotearoa - New Zealand, perhaps this might be of interest to you:
Skerrett, M.E. (2012) Counter colonization through Maori language revitalization in Aotearoa/New Zealand. University Park, PA, USA: 20th Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference, 4-7 Nov 2012. Access via UC Research Repository. (Conference Contributions - Full conference papers)
and
Skerrett, M. (2012) Deterritorialising geopolitical spaces and challenging neoliberal conditions through language revernacularisation in Kohanga Reo. MAI Journal 1(2): 146-153. http://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/ content/deterritorialising-geopolitical-spaces-and-challenging-neoliberal-conditions-through-languag. Access via UC Research Repository. (Journal Articles)
and Norman Anaru (2011) - http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Research-Library/Anaru-2011-A-Critical-Analysis-of-the-Impact-of-Colonisation-on-the-Mori-Language-through-an-Examination-of-Political.pdf
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