English and the transnational Ismaili Muslim community

Identity, the Aga Khan, and infrastructure

Bibliographic Data

ID2886400
AuthorsBrook Bolander (0000-0001-7377-0362, University of Hong Kong, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume45
Issue4
Pages583-604
Publication date2016-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404516000439
OpenAlexW2498598161
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited34

The adoption of English as the official language of the transnational Ismaili Muslim community has its roots in the British Raj, which provides the backdrop for recent Ismaili history. Yet it is the Aga Khan IV, spiritual leader of the community since 1957, who has most avidly pushed English as part of a 'language policy'. Drawing on Ismaili discourse published online, historical sources, secondary literature, and data collected during ethnographic fieldwork in Northern Pakistan and Eastern Tajikistan, this article addresses how English emerged as the community's official language, how and why it was made integral to the community's transnational infrastructure, and what English means to Ismailis living in a village in Hunza, Northern Pakistan and the city of Khorog, Eastern Tajikistan. It thereby underscores that identity and infrastructure emerge as entangled, and it reflects upon the implications of this relationship for research on English and Islam, and language and transnationalism. (Transnationalism, English, Ismaili, Pakistan, Tajikistan, identity, infrastructure, Islam

Archaeology · Art · English language · Ethnography · Identity (music) · Islam · Linguistics · Muslim community · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Transnationalism · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · History · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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