The English language, multilingualism, and the politics of location

Drawing on Pennycook’s frameworks for understanding the global role of English, we discuss the paradoxes of English language usage in what Canagarajah terms ‘periphery communities’ internationally. This analysis is complemented by Canagarajah’s work on a ‘politics of location’, which provides powerful insights into a periphery community’s local and global investments in English. This notion is explored with particular reference to Norton’s work in South Africa and Pakistan, which suggests that creative responses to the dominance of English, whether through codeswitching, appropriation, or subversion, defy essentialist analysis. We argue further that the notion of a politics of location can provide insights into English language usage not only in periphery communities, but also in center communities as well. In this regard, there is urgent need for the ongoing research of such scholars as Cummins, who has sought to better understand the challenges to bilingualism and multilingualism in center communities.