Postcolonial English Language Politics Today: Reading Ramanathan’s "The English-Vernacular Divide"

Abstract

In this essay, I will discuss the ideological structure of current postcolonial English language politics in the world, arguing that despite the “advances” in post-Independence nationalist rhetoric in most “postcolonial” countries, the debates on language continue to rehash tired voices of pragmatism and linguistic nationalism. I further argue that what is usually “notable” in current postcolonial English language politics is the disappearance or devaluing of class as a central concept in the understanding of postcolonial language and society. I will discuss these arguments through my review of Ramanathan’s The English-Vernacular Divide: Postcolonial Language Politics and Practice. I claim that the book’s powerful arguments run against dominant perspectives on the role of English and local languages in many societies today. The book’s main argument that English still divides could be a stirring response to those who maintain that English, through its hybrid, localized and “fighting back” forms, is now stripped of its colonial trappings and baggage.