Resisting Linguistic Hegemony in Critical and Participatory Qualitative Methodologies through Reverse Language Shift

• In Event: Dwelling in the In-Between: Relational and Sensory Turns in Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

Knowledge creation and mobilization frequently require a shift to English, the hegemonic academic lingua franca, a process often rooted in an extractive colonial logic. Drawing on applied linguistics theories and the concepts of language shift and linguistic repertoire, this methodological paper argues for the meaningful use of community languages as a crucial component of emancipatory and linguistically just practices in qualitative research. Through examples from recent critical inquiry with multilingual immigrant groups in Türkiye and the US, we illustrate how two approaches, community-based translation and translanguaging, can be enacted in resisting a shift to hegemonic language. We close with reflections on promising practices and cautions for enacting reverse language shift as a critical praxis of linguistic, cultural, and methodological justice.

Authors

• Pengfei Zhao, McGill University

• Melissa Hauber-Özer, University of Missouri

• Meagan Call-Cummings, Johns Hopkins University

• Jesse Van Divier, Johns Hopkins University

• Heather Mehrtens, Johns Hopkins University