Contesting the Raj’s ‘Divide and Rule’ Policies: Linguistic Apartheid, Unequal Englishes, and the Postcolonial Framework

Abstract

This chapter offers a situated account of English and vernacular literacy practices towards better understanding of ‘unequal Englishes’, and it does so from a postcolonial perspective. Postcolonial scholarship in disciplines such as cultural studies and English literature has alerted us to the extent to which colonial rule partially created and reproduced negative images regarding ‘natives’ with their ‘divide and rule’ policies, so as to be better able to govern. Within applied linguistics, this awareness provides a necessary socio-historical background against which to understand current schisms between the English- and vernacular-mediums of education in postcolonial contexts. Based on a long-term, evolving exploration regarding English language teaching and learning in English- and vernacular-medium settings in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, and assuming the postcolonial positioning of ‘speaking back’, this chapter offers a discussion of two key points: (1) the degree to which English is vernacularized in multilingual postcolonial contexts, thus contesting colonial policies of keeping English and the vernaculars separate; and (2) ways in which vernacular pedagogic practices are effective ways of learning and teaching English (contesting disparaging colonial attitudes about vernacular ways of teaching and learning). Both of these issues together partially inform current inequalities around world Englishes. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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