Systemic decolonisation of language: dismantling anti-Black linguistic racism through institutional reform
Original framing: “Seminar teaches how to resist anti-Black linguistic racism, build linguistic justice” — bing news
Anti-Black linguistic racism is rooted in the 18th-century pseudoscience of racial hierarchies, which classified African languages as 'deficient' to justify enslavement and colonial rule. The standardization of English in the 19th century was a tool of empire, erasing regional dialects and non-European languages to create a monolithic 'civilized' subject. The seminar’s presentism overlooks how linguistic gatekeeping in universities mirrors the exclusionary practices of the British civil service exams, which historically barred Black and working-class candidates.
The seminar’s framing of linguistic justice as a pedagogical tool within a neoliberal university obscures the historical continuity of anti-Black linguistic racism, which traces back to colonial linguistics and the transatlantic slave trade.
Structural solutions require dismantling the linguistic gatekeeping that privileges Standard English, a system designed to maintain racial and class hierarchies, as seen in the SAT’s disproportionate impact on Black students. Cross-cultural parallels, from Māori language revitalization to South Africa’s post-apartheid policies, demonstrate that linguistic justice is inseparable from land, sovereignty, and reparative justice. The trickster role of the university—simultaneously preaching inclusion and perpetuating exclusion—highlights the absurdity of performative anti-racism without material change. True transformation demands reparative policies co-designed with marginalised voices, integrating Indigenous knowledge, and centering grassroots movements over institutional branding.