Abstract:
The coloniality of English in India continues to be a source of tension and
paradox. The language maintains its elite metropolitan prestige yet holds
the aspirations for social mobility among millions in peripheral communities.
Its spread is publicly condemned by nationalist politicians yet English
medium schools continue to proliferate. Patriarchal codes implore boys
to learn English to boost their job prospects but urge girls to instead mind
their marriage prospects. Most scholars lament the social divisions English
has brought, while others insist that English represents a tool for decolonial
resistance, offering economic opportunity, voice and agency to those in
marginalized communities who otherwise face relentless barriers of gender,
class, caste and religion. In this talk, based on research for my doctoral thesis,
I explore how young women from disadvantaged and non-metropolitan
communities navigate the many tensions around English as they complete
their higher education and plan their lives beyond. The study was conducted
at an English-medium women’s college in a small city in the state of Andhra
Pradesh, where promises of student empowerment through English collide
with the intersectional barriers of gender and social class, and wide disparities
between the English haves and the have nots. Through the lens of student
narratives, interactive interviews and the capability approach theoretical
framework, I examine how English both empowers and disempowers
students’ capabilities like aspiration, autonomy and voice. I further probe the
role of status, fear and patriarchy as structural constraints which hinder the
development of key capabilities. Finally, I propose a decolonial pedagogy
which challenges elite and ‘native speaker’ standards, nurtures translingual
and participatory learning spaces, and emboldens students to use English on
their own terms.
