Language and Power in Asia and the Pacific

Around half of the world’s languages are spoken in the Asia-Pacific region. How does this incredible linguistic diversity shape people’s everyday lives? The course uses case studies from across Asia and the Pacific to explore how the multiplicity of languages – spoken, written and signed – is a resource for individuals, communities and nation-states. Language, and different patterns of multilingualism, reflect and create social and cultural identities, and are intertwined with the social and political hierarchies that influence conflict and conflict resolution, equality and inequality, and processes of social stability and change. The language diversity of Asia and the Pacific is also influential on a global scale. The region is the source of some of the world’s most widely used languages, as well as leading the global diversification of English. This course introduces concepts, theories and models from linguistics that allow us to develop more nuanced analyses of the Asia-Pacific region through the lens of language.