They always want to argue with you

Navigating raciolinguistic ideologies at airport security

Bibliographic Data

ID3645680
AuthorsPippa Sterk (0000-0002-1293-341X, King's College London School of Education Communication & Society London UK, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume27
Issue4
Pages364-383
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sociolinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-6441 • E-ISSN: 1467-9841
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/josl.12621
OpenAlexW4379259972
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited42

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Dutch public discourse promotes a self-image of the Netherlands as 'innocently' post-racial, a place where distinctions are drawn based on cultural differences rather than bodily characteristics. However, this innocence is called into question when groups or individuals, who culturally, legally and linguistically 'fit' within the Netherlands, are still racialised to the point of not being recognised as properly Dutch.This paper uses a feminist approach to autoethnography and critical discourse analysis to explore the author's racialised/racialising experiences of Dutch airport security, and how these experiences are both informed by and themselves re-inform wider enactments of normative raciolinguistic ideologies. Drawing on theorisations of the links among language, embodiment and (self-)surveillance by Sara Ahmed and Samy Alim, this paper argues that although markers of citizenship and linguistic ability can be fluidly employed and engaged with, raciolinguistic categorisation is still heavily influenced by bodily appearance

Aesthetics · Autoethnography · Citizenship · Ideology · Innocence · Media studies · Normative · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender Studies in Language · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology

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