Language and the Right to Culture

Ø United Nations "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (1948)

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community.

Ø Cees J. Hamelink, “Language and the right to communicate.”

s “Right to communicate”

s Governance:

- The state

- Global institutions (e.g., the WTO)

- The market

Ø Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, “What fate awaits the world’s languages?”

s “Linguistic genocide”

“Prohibiting the use of the language of the group in daily intercourse or in schools, or the printing and circulation of publications in the language of the group” (p. 5). Deleted from the final draft of the UN International Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)

s “Killer languages” (Chinese, English, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Bengali, Japanese, German, French)

s Linguistic diversity » biodiversity

Ø English in America

Ø

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): English-only rules are discriminatory on the basis of culture and ethnicity.

s What does it mean to be a citizen?

s What role does language play in defining citizenship?

s What does it mean to be an American?

s Tensions: cultural preservation versus:

- Efficiency (of governments, of markets)

- Competent citizenship (ability to participate effectively in public life)

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