Reading Class Diary

Stella Calderón

CULTURAL HEGEMONY, LANGUAGE, AND THE POLITICS OF

FORGETTING: Interrogating Restrictive Language Policies

Antonia Darder

1. How do you feel Reading texts? What emotions are trigger and after reading
the text?

Antonia Darder talks about topics that I really interested on. In this article, I felt so identify
with some situations, but the author expressed them with specific concepts like “linguistic
genocide “ or “ English-only classroom” . Moreover, this paper has a sense of melancholy
because every year many languages die and all those important knowledges disappear with
them. When Darder includes the word “culture of forgetting” it is another gloomy aspect
which shows a critical situation about the use of Spanish and other language of immigrants
in United States. The language policies make Latinos believe that Spanish is not functional
and speaking it does not value. If this community start to ignore their language, they also
forgetting their linguistic connection with their ancestral culture. This situation is the result
of social and racism against “ the other” because the neoliberal system tries to include those
communities under the idea of cohesion and stability in a common-nation state.

Last situation is also seen in our country, specifically in language policies education.
Colombia has 68 native language but education policies only encourage the learning of
English. I know, this in an important language to interact with the current world, but the
learning of native language can give us a better perspective about our past, context, practice
and nature because language and culture are two inseparable terms.
In general way, this article show a common situation about the supremacy of some
language in the world and what political mechanism is behind these policies. However, it
opens a way to reflect on our profession because we are English teacher, but also
Colombian people and it is necessary to know and care our values.

2.Visually represented one of the ideas that talked to your mindbodyspirit.

2. Conversation
 Authors encounters:

In this case, I compared Darder´s and Freire’s ideas in terms of language conception. The
first author claims for considering the language as an important tool for recognizing the
identity of a community. She considers that using certain language goes beyond
communicative purposes and involves personal aspects about identity, beliefs, worldview
and history. Similarly, Freire (1985) proposes that “the language is knowledge and not just
mediation of knowledge “( p,19).For that reason, If the use of language is discriminated, an
entire culture and community are segregated too. Furthermore, Antonia says that the goal
of language repression of the native language is the conservation of nation state. This
assumption is related to Freire’s idea in the Pedagogy of the oppressed (1971) where
students are expected to reject their native tongue and uncritically adopt the hegemonic
language and cultural system imposed upon them by the dominant culture. In these sense, a
huge pollical system controls both social and linguistic repression.

 Quotes

Students learn English, stereotypical perceptions of deficiency persist,

denying them meaningful opportunities to participate in ways that English-

proficient students readily enjoy in the process of their academic formation

( p, 12)

Newspaper, television, and film portrayals of immigrants fulfill their

hegemonic role of racialization by presenting immigrant populations as
uncivilized, ignorant, or dangerous. (p, 4)

Racism, manifested through processes of linguistic racialization, is intricately

linked to political-economic power, control of natural resources, and the

subordination of those inferiorized as the “Other.” ( p, 3)

 “Life experience:

This is not a story itself, but a current feeling of my soul that I ever had. “ Eliecin was the
most shy person that I had known in my life. He was a school partners some years ago.
When, he had to make a presentation in front of the class, he simply deny to do it or say
some few words, the only time that we listen to him voice was in sport classes, he really
enjoyed them because Eliecin was the fastest person that I have known in my life. He ran
like the wind and of course he was the superstar in that class.
Sometimes, I tried to talk with him but it was a hard task, but sometimes I explained some
concepts about their town. One day, Eliecin lost a bet and he had to sing and talk in U´was
language ( his mother language) . The impossible occurred, the most shy person that I had
known ( until that time) talked and sing for all the class ( incredible moment for all).
Since that moment, I started to think the grade of difficulty for expressing yourself in
another language, for studying with people who everyday speak their native language, but
never ask for yours, for learning knew values, but do not show your own beliefs. Now,
when am studying English it is too difficult to express my original ideas in English, and
sometimes I prefer to be silent and say nothing. Now, I am totally convinced that I can
teach English and learn new cultures and languages of my country at the same time. I won
´t be English teacher, I will be language teacher.

 Questions raised after reading the texts

How can we include ancestral knowledge and language in our practices, if English policies
only include culture of the target language?

How can we develop non- discriminated linguistic practices in our classes?

 Reflections:
Education: The kind of content in our classes cannot by limited by governmental policies. It
is necessary to include aspects about the own realities and culture. Education needs to teach
history about our past, show the diversity of the country and finally understand the cultural
behaviors of our students and the most important respect them.
Social justice: Discrimination can be seen in any daily activity. Social justice includes
social struggles like religion, woman situation, but also hidden problems like linguistic
genocide because repression is huge but the desire of change is bigger.

References .

Freire, P. (1985). Reading the World and Reading the Word: An Interview with Paulo Freire.
Language Arts, 62(1), 15-21. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41405241

Freire P. (1971). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.