Resisting the Hegemony of English in Indian Subcontinent

Abstract

The educational language policy of the British Raj undervalued the indigenous languages of Indian sub-continent and promoted English to construct ‘a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect’ (Macaulay, 1972) in the educational system of the sub-continent. This threatened our cultural and linguistic diversities by imposing cultural values and ideologies of the west. The Raj educational system constructed a distinct identity of peoples speaking diverse languages of the sub-continent devaluing these languages and promoting the English language.   The English language was instrumental for linguistic and cultural assimilation of these people speaking diverse languages against the linguistic and cultural heterogeneity of the region. The Raj succeeded in instilling the western ideology intervening the educational system. Gradually, the peoples of the region have widely adopted the western values and created a gap between the English educated and non-English speaking masses. Within the theoretical framework of linguistic and cultural hegemony (Woolard, 1985), I argue that the adaption of the English language by the people of the sub-continent was neither random nor accidental but planned and strategic. For the purpose of this study, I define the notion of hegemony as a cultural and intellectual domination in which the dominated people are convinced that they are better off because of the domination than they were before. In the context of this study the dominant group i.e., the Raj tends to liquidate or subjugate the dominated groups (i.e., the general mass of the sub-continent).  The dominant group achieves this liquidation or subjugation through coercive forces and the dominated groups get consented the existence and practices of coercion. Through coercion and consent, the dominant group establishes superior position over the dominated groups.