Decolonising the language of citizenship

Abstract

This article investigates how language becomes a contested site for decolonising the study of citizenship. In particular, I look at the linguistic conditions where the English language is used as a means of writing about citizenship and ask: how do we, as authors, decolonise scholarship if the very means to do so requires the language of the colonisers to begin with? Drawing on writers including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Rey Chow, Jacques Derrida, and Gloria Anzaldúa, this article problematises ‘colonial’ expectations embedded in the practice of writing, such as an expectation to write like a native speaker, and to produce a coherent understanding of the text. I argue that these writers’ approaches to language show various ways in which writing becomes integral to de/coloniality. Building on their works, I further suggest different tactics of writing we can adopt to decolonise citizenship studies. They include: using minoritised languages for writing; provincialising English-speaking scholarship; developing a writing style unique to the author; and disappropriating the text.