‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version MBA & EMBA Spring 2023 Cesena ‘Wednesday, 28 December, 2022 @ / Vducation / Using English asa Weapon of Resistance Using English as a Weapon of Resistance Jainab Tabassum Banu Sonali Oth February, 2019 120000 AM @Print news TRUE ANDIMPARTIAL More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) tn Ads |Sponsorec El VoIP Phone | Se Read Newt xy > Jana 5 buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket to -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance an‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version + JP candidate Mostafizar Rahman reelected Rangpur city mayor + Russell Domingo resigns as Bangladesh head coach Like owe Fw oe «3 ‘Mastering language gives strength, increases confidence and develops power in any individual. An international language like English actually makes the subaltern speak. We can write about our version of history and let the world know about it. Many writers have written English books on our Liberation War. Itis, very important to let people from the other side of the glabe know about our national and collective struggle during such a miserable time ‘The “land, labour, language and body” of Bangladesh has been physically and ideologically colonised by various colonisers in different times. The British colonial period is precisely marked from 1757 to 1947 in Bengal and Indian subcontinent. The tyranny of Bengal was threatened by the British during the reign of Nawab Siraj-ud- Dawla, Finally they took the power-position in Bengal in 1757 by defeating the last Muslim Nawab of Bengal. Then, began the colonial rule of the British Empire where “the sun never sets" ‘The history of colonialism is the history of oppression, suppression, physical and ideological subjugation, individual and collective alienation and so on. The British exploited the colonised people both physically and ally. In the process of colonisation, language was one of the major target areas to subjugate people. in “> = More People Switching to VoIP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) VoIP Phone |Search Ads |Spansores Read Netty > buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket to -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance oo‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version According to a legislative act called English Education Act 1835, the council of India took an effective decision to promote English as a language of instruction from 1835 on. The British colonisers claimed that western education required superior understanding which could only be perceived through the medium of English. In this way, English became the language of aequiring formal and higher education. In order to become civilised, superior and cultured like the white colonisers, the people were bound to learn and use English in schools, colleges and official sectors. Thomas Babington Macaulay commented on his Minute, "Whoever knows [English] has ready access to all the vast intellectual wealth, which all the wisest nations of the earth have created and hoarded in the course of ninety generations’. These discourses made people believe that the only powerful language is English which produced all the higher and superior knowledge in the world People of Bengal soon started writing in English on the basis of the knowledge they were provided, that too, in English by the English. But the problem is, the first generation Bengali writers who wrote in English were just following the footprint of their colonial masters. The English would teach them English language and ideology, but they would not appreciate their productive works. This is why, the father of Bengali sonnet and the pioneer of modern Bengali drama Michael Madhusudan Dutta was not much acknowledged when he wrote his literary pieces in English, He was greatly influenced by the famous English poets like William Wordsworth and John Milton. The then president of the council of education suggested him to follow the English style and use his own Bangla language to compose literary pieces. Then Dutta switched to Bangla language and wrote a few masterpieces on the basis of the English knowledge and style. ‘The first generation Bengali writers, thus, could not remarkably write about their colonial and subaltern, experiences in the colonisers’ language. English language has heen imposed on native Bengali people through the enforcement of power. Michael Foucault writes, Where there is power, there is resistance." As time passed by, the writers of later generation started showing their resistance against English. They started writing about their own experience and story in English. English has become a global language. It provides an international readership when a writer writes something in English, The new generation Bengali writers properly utilised this global quality of English language. Chinua Achebe, the Noble Prize winning famous Nigerian writer, writes that English language is able to carry his African culture by becoming Africanised English. Similarly, English language can carry Bangladeshi experience if we own this language. William Shakespeare portrayed a character called Caliban in his last play The Tempest. The colonial master Prospero teaches Caliban his language English. After mastering, or | will rather say owning, the language Caliban \_ Shis resistance against his master and says, a More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) El VoIP Phone |Search Ads |Spansores Read Netty > Janwary 1.2023 PM buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance ant‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version Mastering a language gives strength, increases confidence and develops power in any individual. An international language like English actually makes the subaltern speak. We can write about our version of history and let the world know about it, Many writers have written English books on our Liberation War. Itis very important to let people from the other side of the globe know about our national and collective struggle during such a miserable time. Many writers have written about our tradition and culture in English. For example, Syed Waliullah’s Lal Shalu is a very popular and critically a Jaimed Bengali novel. The author depicts a blindly religious society and the people living in it. The English version of this novel entitled Tree Without Roots is internationally read and admired. After composing the same novel in English, the writer gets his international readership. ‘The famous contemporary Bangladeshi poet Kaiser Huq's widely read and analysed poem "Ode on the Lungi” has been included in our national curriculum for a long time. This poem represents the subaltern group of this continent. The British taught us to wear boots and suits. But poet Hug here celebrates our traditional costume “Lungi’Itis,in this way, also a kind of resistance against the English. Another contemporary female novelist ‘Tahmima Anam's debut lish novel The Golden Age is nationally and internationally admired. By setting it in the context of 1971, Anam writes a story of passion, revolution and heroism. Itis an undeniable fact that English language still rules all over the world, Itis also true that we have to be connected with the world through English. Itis also a matter of fact that this language will give local writers a global platform, English language has given us a reason to revolt for ourselves: a voice to raise for our right: a choice to make for our betterment and a power to build and establish our own identity. The British might think, as itis said in Urdu, "hamari billi hami se meow’, But it is time to fight back. Its time to own this language and use it in our way to express and share our story. ‘We must learn to curse in T) lish. For example, am writing my articles in English just to share my version of ideas, am writing about the brutal history of colonisation in the colonisers’ language. [ have learnt to fight back. | have learnt to curse. Thanks to our English daily newspapers for letting the Bengali people share their thoughts with the world in a language which was used as a tool of subjugation, and now is used as a weapon of resistance. ‘The writer is a Lecturer,Department of English Language and Literature, Premier University Chittagong < © DB vy uted News a More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) El VoIP Phone |Search Ads [Sponsors -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance am Read Newt oxy >‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version Speaker greets PM on her reelection as AL's president Cae? Green takes five as Australia seize control Giant spider lily is a beautifully fragrant and exotic flower planted in warmer regions. As an ornamental flower, it produces a very strong fragrance in the evening and has also medicinal properties. The photo was taken from Ramna Park in the capital on Friday. —Reaz Ahmed Sumon More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) VoIP Phone |Search Ads |Spansores Read Netty > -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance sit‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version iNew Delhi on Friday” Tadlia’s federal Health minishy inetricted State authorities on December 20 to Sep up genome sequencing of Covid cases in view of a "sudden spurt’ in cases in China and elsewhere. — AFP. Women rice producers work their harvest at the community of Bikol in the region of Tatick recently. Africa accounts for 52 percent of global rice imports for 15 percent of the world's population, according to Africa Rice, an Abidjan-based research center made up of 28 member countries. While India, one of the main rice. Call for social resistance against women violence President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stand in solemn silence as a mark of profound respects for the Liberation War martyrs after placing wreaths at the National Mausoleum at Savar on the outskirts of the capital on Friday, marking the Vietory Day. — PID photo More News More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) El VoIP Phone |Search Ads |Spansores tps: dally-sun.com/post!368472IUsing-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance ant Read Netty >‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version Young Generation Must Uphold the Spirit of Liberation War Quote of the day as Tigers once again proved their mettle More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) El VoIP Phone |Search Ads |Spansores Read Netty > Janwary 1.2023 PM buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket Sustainable use of maritime resources tps: dally-sun.com/post!368472IUsing-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance am‘21parn2, 8:37 PM Using English as @ Weapon of Resistance | Print Version LIL the world, LAY Ze ee oo Corporal Punishment Damages Receiver and Giver You May Like Sponsored Link by Tabools Hong Kong Apartments Might Surprise You Hong Kong Apariments |Search Ads More People Switching to VoIP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) VolP Phone| Search Ads How Meghan Markle Looks ene And Patron jout Makeup Is Tough To Handle Bangladesh Unsold Sofas could be Distributed Almost for Nothing (See Prices) Work as a Truck Driver in Canada (Visa Sponsorships Might Be Available) Trucking Jobs Canada Unsold 2020 SUVS In Sylhet Are Almost Being Given Away Unsold SUV | Search AD More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) VoIP Phone | Search Ads |Sponsores Read Newt oxy > hitps www. daly-sun comipost369472/Using-Englsh-as-a-Weapon-of Resistance ant‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version Latest News + Bashundhara Group Vice-Chairman Safwan Sobhan awarded as top young taxpayer + Govt to train 15,000 officials on advance tech befitting to smart Bangla © Passenger arrested with 2.5kg gold at Cig airport y ws CRS alle EE More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) tn Ads |Sponsorec El VoIP Phone | Se Read Newt oxy > January 1.2025 PM buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance ont‘2128122, 8:37 PM Using English as 8 Weapon of Resistance | Pint Version Editor : Enamul Hoque Chowdhury archive | E-paper Published by Maynal Hossain Chowdhury on behalf of Bashundhara Multi Trading Limi indhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka -1229 and Printed at East West Media Group Limited, Plot No undhara, Khilkhet, Badda, More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) VoIP Phone |Search Ads [Sponsors Read Newt oxy > buys Dhaka's first metro ral ticket tb -ntps:iww dally-sun.com/post!3684721Using-Englsh-as-2-Weapon-ot Resistance sont‘21parn2, 8:37 PM Using English as @ Weapon of Resistance | Print Version More People Switching to VolP Phones (Take a Look at the Prices) prea VoIP Phone |Search Ads [Sponsors NEWS Read Newt oxy > hitps www. daly-sun comipost369472/Using-Englsh-as-a-Weapon-of Resistance nn