English and the Discourses of Colonialism

Challenging and provocative, English and the Discourses of Colonialism looks at the English language and its colonial legacy. Through detailed analysis, Alastair Pennycook reveals how colonial practice permeated the discourses of both the colonial and colonized cultures, leaving lasting marks still evident today. He explores the extent to which English is, as commonly assumed, a language of neutrality and global communication, and to what extent it is, by contrast, a language laden with meanings, still weighed down by its colonial past. Travel writing, newspaper articles and popular books on English are all referred to, as well as personal experiences and interviews with learners of English in India, Malaysia, China and Australia. Pennycook concludes with an appeal to postcolonial writing as a means of creating a politics of opposition and rupture.