“Why Can't They Just Stay?” A Critical Conversation and Membership Categorization Analysis of Racial Neoliberalism in English Language Education

Abstract In this article, I analyze the co‐constitution of race and neoliberalism within the discourse of an English language classroom. Appealing to modernist/colonial histories of race and capital, I first examine how racial neoliberalism produces a normalized, unmarked subject‐position through the conflation of moral responsibility with human capital accumulation. This ideological production prioritizes one conception of humanness at the expense of all others, rendering “deviant” or “bad” categories as racially marked. Performing a critical conversation and membership categorization analysis, I then investigate a critical incident in which long‐term student visa residents (LTSVRs) sought to use a TOEIC preparation course to maintain their student visas. During the encounter, the focal teacher contrasted a locally constructed “bad” LTSVR category version with a normalized, unmarked student category that was underpinned by morally relevant claims derived from neoliberal language instrumentalism. Although traditional racial categories were not explicitly mentioned in the interaction, the categorization practices of the teacher nevertheless constituted the LTSVR category as a racial category through its contrast with a “good” neoliberal student subject‐position. I conclude by drawing pedagogical implications regarding (post‐)critical approaches to pedagogy and advocacy for student desires from the foregoing analysis.