Sunday, October 31, 2021

Language and Power


My Relantionship to Language:

Hi all! My name is Jenna Dietl and welcome to my blog. I am a senior at Webster University and I major in International Human rights with a minor in Cultural Anthropology and a certificate in Japanese language. I have been passionate about seeing the world and culture since high school. In my free time I like to read, nap, and play with my cat Hazel! 

How do Language and Power Intersect?:


While attending Webster I had the opportunity to go on a faculty led study abroad trip to Costa Rica during fall break of 2019. I struggled in the first few days as I am not fluent in Spanish and felt powerless. However, I had to overcome my anxiety and realize that people experience that same feeling not knowing English every day in the United States. Language can bring people together but also has been a way of othering people. In the United States the government has a long history of eliminating Native American languages and forcing children to only speak English. Currently, conservative American society has outcasted Spanish speakers so much that some individuals have stopped teaching their children Spanish. 

What Would Foucault Say?:

Overall, Foucault would say the erasure of languages in the United States is the cause of normalizing power. In schools there are no history, science, literature, etc classes taught in school. On television ads there are little to none in Spanish or other languages. The power behind language reveals power and the power regarding the United States is rooted in white supremacy and using the English language is one of their strongest tools. 





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2 comments:

  1. Dr. KNovember 2, 2021 at 3:29 PM

    Nice to meet you! Konnichi Wa : )
    I loved my stay in Japan, and I know how alienating not being able to speak the language is! I was dependent on my host family.

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  2. Olivia A.November 2, 2021 at 6:48 PM

    Hi Jenna, nice to have a class with you again, though I can't believe you're leaving so soon! I really like the image you included in the sidebar of people speaking different languages together, it added a friendly touch! Your analysis of indigenous languages being suppressed is definitely timely and something I believe needs to be discussed further. I would add to your analysis that in addition to normalizing power, Ng and Deng (working from Foucault) might also classify indigenous language loss as a way to maintain existing dominance, and to divide the nation. So much of American history seems founded on forgetting or erasing who came before us and divides indigenous history away from that of the rest of the nation.

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