Not Like a Native Speaker

On Languaging as a Postcolonial Experience

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations, Political Science
Cover of the book Not Like a Native Speaker by Rey Chow, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Rey Chow ISBN: 9780231522717
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: September 23, 2014
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Rey Chow
ISBN: 9780231522717
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: September 23, 2014
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering historical experience of being caught among unequal languages, is the subject of Rey Chow's book. A diverse group of personae, never before assembled in a similar manner, make their appearances in the various chapters: the young mulatto happening upon a photograph about skin color in a popular magazine; the man from Martinique hearing himself named "Negro" in public in France; call center agents in India trained to Americanize their accents while speaking with customers; the Algerian Jewish philosopher reflecting on his relation to the French language; African intellectuals debating the pros and cons of using English for purposes of creative writing; the translator acting by turns as a traitor and as a mourner in the course of cross-cultural exchange; Cantonese-speaking writers of Chinese contemplating the politics of food consumption; radio drama workers straddling the forms of traditional storytelling and mediatized sound broadcast.

In these riveting scenes of speaking and writing imbricated with race, pigmentation, and class demarcations, Chow suggests, postcolonial languaging becomes, de facto, an order of biopolitics. The native speaker, the fulcrum figure often accorded a transcendent status, is realigned here as the repository of illusory linguistic origins and unities. By inserting British and post-British Hong Kong (the city where she grew up) into the languaging controversies that tend to be pursued in Francophone (and occasionally Anglophone) deliberations, and by sketching the fraught situations faced by those coping with the specifics of using Chinese while negotiating with English, Chow not only redefines the geopolitical boundaries of postcolonial inquiry but also demonstrates how such inquiry must articulate historical experience to the habits, practices, affects, and imaginaries based in sounds and scripts.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering historical experience of being caught among unequal languages, is the subject of Rey Chow's book. A diverse group of personae, never before assembled in a similar manner, make their appearances in the various chapters: the young mulatto happening upon a photograph about skin color in a popular magazine; the man from Martinique hearing himself named "Negro" in public in France; call center agents in India trained to Americanize their accents while speaking with customers; the Algerian Jewish philosopher reflecting on his relation to the French language; African intellectuals debating the pros and cons of using English for purposes of creative writing; the translator acting by turns as a traitor and as a mourner in the course of cross-cultural exchange; Cantonese-speaking writers of Chinese contemplating the politics of food consumption; radio drama workers straddling the forms of traditional storytelling and mediatized sound broadcast.

In these riveting scenes of speaking and writing imbricated with race, pigmentation, and class demarcations, Chow suggests, postcolonial languaging becomes, de facto, an order of biopolitics. The native speaker, the fulcrum figure often accorded a transcendent status, is realigned here as the repository of illusory linguistic origins and unities. By inserting British and post-British Hong Kong (the city where she grew up) into the languaging controversies that tend to be pursued in Francophone (and occasionally Anglophone) deliberations, and by sketching the fraught situations faced by those coping with the specifics of using Chinese while negotiating with English, Chow not only redefines the geopolitical boundaries of postcolonial inquiry but also demonstrates how such inquiry must articulate historical experience to the habits, practices, affects, and imaginaries based in sounds and scripts.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book The Curious Tale of Mandogi's Ghost by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Investing: The Last Liberal Art by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Social Empathy by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Forging the Golden Urn by Rey Chow
Cover of the book With Dogs at the Edge of Life by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Pursuing Privacy in Cold War America by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Lust, Commerce, and Corruption by Rey Chow
Cover of the book The Dissent Papers by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Rescuing Retirement by Rey Chow
Cover of the book New Frontiers for Youth Development in the Twenty-First Century by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Conservatives Against Capitalism by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Our Savage Art by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Nexus of Global Jihad by Rey Chow
Cover of the book Time and the Other by Rey Chow
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy