Multilingual Rebellion: A Decolonial Approach to the Subjectivity of Language

Building on Kramsch’s body of work on the subjectivity of language, together with her more recent work on the decolonialisation of applied linguistics, this article discusses the implications of challenging the unequal power relationships and coloniality of language (Kramsch et al., 2023). This decolonial approach will be further expanded by drawing on the notion of “linguistic encirclement” (Wa Thiong’o, 1981, 1986), which will highlight the oppression of linguistic and cultural minorities and their knowledges. The discussion on decolonising through language will centre on the positionality of the researcher. Firstly, the notion of ‘the “locus of enunciation” will introduce how the subjectivity of the researcher can be amplified and foregrounded. Secondly, autoethnography will be presented as a methodology of decoloniality that allows the researcher to be congruent with such a decentring approach to language that challenges and restores inequalities of power through multilingual resistance.