Reading Derrida on Being Monolingual

Abstract

The essay is a study of Derrida’s autobiographical reflections on the politics of language under colonialism, reflections that are made especially thought-provoking by Derrida’s candid revelations of his own anguished relationship to the French language. In particular, by juxtaposing Derrida’s reference to French as an absolute “habitat” and Bourdieu’s use of the concept “habitus,” Chow suggests that Derrida’s life-long work on language may be understood as a form of resistance, not so much to colonialism per se as to the presumption that any language can ever be mastered. Chow concludes with questions about monolingualism and multilingualism that Derrida’s interventions have enabled but left open, and that remain important considerations in the study of postcolonial cultures.