Hegemony and language politics in Hawaii

Bibliographic Data

ID2268645
AuthorsKevin Y Kawamoto, Kevin Kawamoto (University of Washington, corresponding author)
Year1993
Volume12
Issue2
Pages193-207
Publication date1993-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Englishes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0883-2919 • E-ISSN: 1467-971X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-971x.1993.tb00021.x
OpenAlexW2055810259
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited7

This paper discusses issues of language and power in Hawaii and argues that enforced English language assimilation was one of the most important instruments through which American colonization was able to occur. Language politics in Hawaii, however, took a number of schizophrenic turns. The motivating force behind early language policies was the American oligarchy's need to acquire, centralize, and maintain power. This required that both official and unofficial language policies be manipulated in a variety of seemingly contradictory ways, depending on what the particular needs and concerns of the time happened to be. As circumstances presented themselves, the American business-missionary-government combine modified their policies to insure that certain objectives (e.g., conversion to Christianity, language and cultural assimilation, language and cultural diversity, annexation, etc.) served to perpetuate the status quo. This paper further argues that language served - and continues to serve - as a counter-hegemonic strategy by disenfranchised groups in Hawaiian society to reclaim sovereignty over their culture, beliefs, and communication practices

Cultural hegemony · Government (linguistics · Hegemony · Language policy · Language politics · Linguistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Status quo · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Law · Linguistic Education and Pedagogy · Research in Social Sciences

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