Resisting neoliberalism: testimonios of language teachers as social activists

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the testimonios of Mexican language teachers who experienced the violent and institutional imposition of neoliberal policies at the main university at the state of Puebla. Through the analysis of testimonios, language teachers narrated their own trajectories to resist the implementation of the neoliberal policies, such as the restriction of teaching freedom for educators, the elimination of the right to free education for students, and the current subjugation educators experience at the site of study. Based on the Foucauldian concepts of sovereign and institutional power, along with governmentality, this article analyzes the activism of language teachers, and the oppression and re-signification that neoliberal elites have carried out to silence dissident voices. While current research regarding neoliberalism and language teaching has focused on pedagogic materials and neocolonial publishing houses, the creation of learners’ subjectivities, and social-class perpetuation through language instruction, second language research has not extensively concentrated on way neoliberalism has impacted the professional development of language teachers. In this regard, the present article aims to raise awareness about the way neoliberalism has been normalized as a tool for suppression among language educators in Mexico.