From advocacy to enacting Anti-racist language policy change in elite historically white primary schools: an autoethnography

Abstract This paper is an autoethnographic account of our journey as parents, language activists, researchers and teacher educators in achieving anti-racist language policy change at two historically White primary schools in South Africa. The paper is situated within the critical ethnography of language policy and draws on the coloniality of language including Anglonormativity as well as Kosonen and Benson’s (2021. Bringing non-dominant languages into education systems: Change from above, from below, from the side—or a combination? In Carol Benson & Kimmo Kosonen (eds.), Language issues in comparative education II: Policy and practice in multilingual education based on non-dominant languages. Leiden & Boston: Brill) framework of language policy change from above-below-side. We describe briefly the socio-historical and political context in which policy change took place, including university student protest movements and a social media campaign focused on experiences of racism in historically White schools. The paper offers first-hand accounts from parent activists who are also language policy researchers and were involved in the process of language policy revision at the two schools, influencing policy as parents and as “side” actors (Brown 2021. Jumping, sliding, and creating shared spaces “from the side”: Reflections on Võro language education in Estonia. In Carol Benson & Kimmo Kosonen (eds.), Language issues in comparative education II: Policy and practice in multilingual education based on non-dominant languages . Leiden & Boston: Brill). Processes that moved from activism to language policy revision at the two schools and the conditions which supported and/or prevented this will be compared and contrasted. Our paper illuminates the complex, contested process of moving from ideological critique and advocacy to enacting sustained anti-racist language policy change. It also expands theorising of grassroots, anti-racist language policy development in the global South.