“Internal linguistic colonialism and education for ethnically minoritized students in Vietnam”

More than three decades ago, Grant Evans described the political dominance and control of tribes and indigenous minorities in Vietnam as ‘internal colonialism’. Such internal colonialism has still persisted today, where power and privileges are held by the majority group, that colonizes ethnically-minoritized groups within a single political regime.

In this talk, I focus on the language aspect of internal colonialism, which I characterize as ‘internal linguistic colonialism’. Although manifestations of internal linguistic colonialism can be found in many social areas, I discuss the issue from an education perspective. Two major themes of the discussion, which I consider as ‘indications’ of internal linguistic colonialism in education, include double subtractive education and educational linguicism. Ethnically minoritized students’ first language/mother tongue, their second language (Vietnamese), as well as the foreign language they have to learn in school (English) will be brought into the discussion. Among the findings which are drawn on documentary data and conversations with school managers, teachers, and minoritized students, I highlight that internal linguistic colonialism has a widespread impact on many majority and minoritized people’s language ideologies, who believe in the superiority of Vietnamese and English and the subordination of minoritized languages. These ideologies may show their ‘colonized/ing mind’ and turn them into what Walter Mignolo calls the ‘coloniality of being’. Remedies for the issues should draw on decolonial approaches, which bring resources, culture, and knowledge of ethnically-minoritized groups to the fore.

Trang Nguyen is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on multilingualism and linguistic diversity in relation to ethnic minorities, migrants, and international stud