Circulation of concepts, compartmentalisation and erasures in Western academic circles: sumak kawsay/buen vivir and translanguaging

Abstract

ABSTRACT Building on previous studies, this paper addresses the geopolitics of knowledge circulation in an academic field known as sociolinguistics in France, showing firstly the common erasure of research produced in the Global South and in languages other than English, and secondly the need to decolonise entire fields of research, in which analytic frameworks are mostly produced in hegemonic Global centres. As part of this special issue, we ask how far concepts rooted in Southern or non-hegemonic experiences are marginalised, co-opted or reused in academic circles in the West in general and in France in particular. As a modest epistemological contribution, this paper then focuses on two concepts – sumak kawsay/buen vivir and translanguaging – looking at their archaeology and development and at how they circulate in these fields, both in Northern and Southern academic circles. Both examples illustrate their circulation but also erasures and compartmentalisation through language.