Language as Statecraft

<p>This book examines the rise of English in Rwanda, offering critical insights into the links between language, colonialism, and capitalism, with implications for our understanding of global English.</p><p>Spowage takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on political theory, cultural-materialism, and critical sociolinguistics. She positions language policy as an instrument for social reproduction and exploitation, but also a site of struggle and contest. Unravelling the complex history of language politics and policy in Rwanda, Spowage elaborates a theory of language as statecraft. This approach draws attention to the endurance of a colonial-capitalist link between language and social class, while illuminating the specific power of English in legitimising neoliberal political power and class hierarchies. On this basis, Spowage argues for a theoretical reimagining of the spread of English through the ‘global English nébuleuse’, a model which aims to capture the complex mechanisms that reinforce the dominance of English and to identify points where those mechanisms are fragile.</p><p>This innovative volume will be of interest to scholars in sociolinguistics, global Englishes, language and politics, and African studies.</p>