"The Multi/Plural Turn in Research and Practice in Language Studies: Postcolonial Theory, Neoliberalism, and Complicities" Dr. Kubota's web seminar addressed how in applied linguistics and language education, an increased focus has been placed on plurality and hybridity to challenge monolingualism, the native speaker norm, and the modernist view of language and language use as unitary and bounded. The multi/plural turn parallels postcolonial theory in that they both support hybridity and fluidity while problematizing the essentialist understanding of language and identity. However, postcolonial theory, which has been influenced by poststructuralism, met criticisms in the 1990s in cultural studies for its Eurocentric orientation and disparity between theory and practice. Furthermore, the conceptual features of the multi/plural turn resonates in part with neoliberalism and neoliberal multiculturalism that support diversity, plurality, flexibility, and difference while promoting both colorblindness and new racism. The multi/plural trend is prone to support the neoliberal principles of human capital in critiquing the modernist fixed understanding of linguistic forms and practices. This presentation will examine the multi/plural trend drawing on some critiques of postcolonial theory and neoliberal ideologies and propose an increased attention to issues of power and inequalities.

• published: 24 Feb 2014
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