Asserting "Needs" and Claiming "Rights": The Cultural Politics of Community Language Education in England

Abstract

Language education policy is a contested terrain on which political conflicts are played out and relations of inequality are symbolically articulated and challenged. Language policies involve a paradox: for "language" is invoked as a reified object associated with essentialist constructs of identity to stand for much more complex and changing patterns of language use. In this article, I consider this paradox from the perspective of a campaign led by Sikh parents to have Punjabi introduced into curriculum in secondary school in Leeds, England. The study explores how "rights talk" and "needs talk" were used as idioms for making political claims about the value of teaching and learning Punjabi at school. This use of Punjabi as a reified political symbol is contrasted with Sikh teenagers' patterns of Punjabi language use. The analysis brings into relief 2 processes for asserting and contesting the value of Punjabi for different purposes and to distinctive ends.