Language of the Land

Book excerpt: The idea for this volume arose out of a need for a treatment of the interplay between language and ethnonationalism within both formal and nonformal educational settings. In no way intended to be exhaustive in scope, the contents give the reader a critical overview of issues related to language, cultural identity formation, and ethnonationalism. The chapters within this work deal with the effects of different language groups with differing amounts of power within society coming into contact with one another, and provide insight into how language is both utilized by and affected by processes such as colonialism, post-colonialism, acculturation, and ethnonationalism. Language is central to culture—indeed houses cultural understandings and allows generational transfer of key aspects of a group’s heritage.