Structures of Feeling in Unequal Englishes

Abstract

Inequalities involving English have been a subject of much critical scrutiny. The multiple dimensions of this inequality—the greater value attributed to ‘standard’ varieties of English over other varieties; the dominance English exerts over other languages as a ‘global language’; and the consequences of social inequality that derive from such unequal evaluations—have indeed been key topics for sociolinguistic and applied linguistic research. In this chapter, I aim to draw attention to how dimensions of subjectivity rooted in lived experiences may contribute to such inequalities of English. I propose that addressing and contesting inequalities of English requires politicization of seemingly personal and mundane feelings regarding English in everyday life, as it is such aspects of subjectivity through which more enduring effects of unequal Englishes are reproduced and naturalized. Through an account of how anxieties about English in Korea are rooted in multiple structures of inequalities, I argue that finding ways to articulate and reflect upon such insecurities becomes an important way of making visible the mechanisms of unequal Englishes and securing political space for transforming the meaning of English.