Dismantling Coloniality in Language Education in the Caribbean: Exploring Caribbean Dialects as a Cultural Attraction in Tourism(Pt 1.)

The Caribbean's Version of "My Fair Lady"

Colonial Language engineering in the Anglophone, Francophone but not their own.

1. Introduction

The Caribbean is a rich and diverse region with a complex history marked by colonialism, imperialism, and slavery. The Caribbean today is shaped by the legacies of these historical experiences. The colonial past has also left a heritage of coloniality, which refers to the ongoing patterns of power that facilitate Eurocentric domination in the modern world. In education, language has often been used as a means of enforcing colonial power.

Background

As Shah (2016) notes, "Such hegemonic power has been very well-sewn under the cloth of language, especially the colonial languages." While the Caribbean has inherited colonial languages such as English, Spanish, French, and Dutch, which dominate the education and official systems, Caribbean dialects are widely spoken in everyday life. This study aims to explore the potential of dismantling coloniality in language education in the Caribbean by investigating Caribbean dialects as a cultural attraction in tourism. The introduction provides background information and states the purpose of the study, along with the research questions.

1.1. Background

The Caribbean has experienced numerous external influences in the past - beginning with the colonization drive by the Europeans from the 1600s up to the 1800s. The British dominated the English-speaking Caribbean, which included four colonial territories: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean.

In the latter half of the 20th century, there were moves to independence, and a significant national identity has developed around the English language. However, the legacy of colonialism is ever present even in modern societies, including the influential power that English has on the domination of social, economic, and political institutions. Moreover, marginalized groups have been oppressed through the tradition, culture, and even language that the influential power brings.

Such subjects have been critically analyzed by postcolonial thinkers focusing on the oppression suffered by the people subject to colonialism by drawing on theories such as Gramsci's hegemony and Lefebvre's governmental rights. As a result, since the mid-20th century, decolonization movements suggested that the answer was to establish self-sovereignty and cultural self-determination and preserve a cultural identity.

This approach would attempt to liberalize and move away from tradition and social divisions imperialism brought to the country - an idea that centralizes the freedom and betterment of all people based on a shared culture and ancestral history. Such a notion would include the total overturning of imperial cultural and social belief systems and the formation of a new form of social and political identity adaptive to modern-day globalization. However, primarily English language in the Caribbean is the legacy of European colonialism. English has been established as an official language, and it is strongly associated with social, economic, and political power in education and the public domain.

Caribbean Dialectology

Sweet Talk or not

Over time, English has become the medium of instruction in schools and institutions. Such influence has led to the development of a variety of English called "Caribbean Creole" used by people at home and informal contexts. However, both the standard English taught in schools and Caribbean Creole have been treated unequally and lower prestige than standard English. As a result, people in the Caribbean often experience some form of linguicism - discrimination because of the language they use.

Young (2003) suggested that teachers may fail to recognize Caribbean Creole as a valid language, and students are expected to conform to the standard English forms in the classroom. Moreover, despite Caribbean people being bi- or multilinguals, the colonial language policies and teachings have undermined the cultural and linguistic diversity in the Caribbean.

This study will critically evaluate the colonial legacy in language education in the Caribbean, focusing specifically on the English-speaking Caribbean. The dismantling of colonialism and the development of cultural confidence will be explored. Work by post-colonial writers and theorists will be drawn upon - attitudes will be explored, and investigation into the successes of language revolution will take place to assess the potential end to what Noam Chomsky described as "cultural genocide".

The study will take shape in five main stages. It will start with identification and establishment of colonial legacy in language teachings. This will lead to an investigation into challenges - the status quo. Then, potential reforms and emergent practices that attempt to secure a post-colonial harmony will be analyzed.

THE NUTS& BOLTS

Current successes and the analysis of what has been afforded through the standardization of education across the Caribbean will lead to the penultimate assessment of the development of cultural confidence. Such progress, however, is reactionary to the suppression of national pride and will be further quantified and qualified during the final assessment of the impact of the power standard language has over social institutions.

THE DISCUSSION CONTINUES............