Necropolitical Language Oppression: From the Delegitimization of Local Spanish to the Promotion of Espancano

• In Event: Bridging Languages: Innovative Approaches to Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Diverse Contexts

Abstract

The paper brings to the forefront the notion of necrolanguage oppression, its relationship to raciolinguistics, social injustice, and erasure to illustrate how schools and school policies recruit and incentivize students for taking on necrolanguage oppressive ideologies in an effort to discourage and eventually eradicate the use of Spanish in any contexts such as schools, government institutions, and official public events. In an effort to counter necrolanguage oppression, this paper introduces the concept of Espancano, a place-based conceptualization of vibrant Spanish bilingualism and provides a series of proactive ways to become aware of necrolanguage oppression, and also to reject policies, language ideologies, and restrictions on the expressive use of Espancano bilingualism in schools and other official and public venues.

Author

• Christian J. Faltis, Texas A&M International University