Multilingualism and Politics by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030407018
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

7.4 Conclusion

Though language policy in Scotland seeks to encourage and support multilingual citizenship, Somali-Scots’ lived experiences suggest that there is considerable work to be done in balancing the weight of English language norms in Scotland’s public sphere. Somali-Scots remain multilingual citizens of Scotland; however, the prioritisation and resourcing of English acquisition does little to formally support this. Meanwhile, Somali-Scots’ language experiences highlight the double-bind to which Black and ethnic minority, multilingual populations in Scotland are subject. Where language norms demand of speakers of ‘community’ languages that they do additional labour to accommodate their multilingualism in the public sphere, racialised language norms seek to build barriers to prevent any access at all.

Research on political and social dynamics in Scotland has traced how racism plays an active part in creating barriers for Black, Asian and ethnic minority people to the public sphere. However, there is still little that considers the interaction between racism and multilingualism, or the role that whiteness plays in establishing certain language norms. This chapter has sought to begin a conversation on these topics, and highlights the need for further work on the relationship between multilingualism, multiculturalism, citizenship and racialised norms in the public sphere.

References

Ahmed, S. (2007). A Phenomenology of Whiteness. Feminist Theory, 8(2), 149–168.Crossref

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