The Ideological Politics of English in Rwanda and the Implications for ‘Global English’

‘Global English’ is a defining linguistic issue of our time. In part, English is considered the ‘global language’ because it has been given a special status in at least 70 countries. Yet, despite the importance of different governments in producing ‘global English’, the role played by English in individual States is rarely analysed through political theory. In this thesis, I investigate how local politics underpin ‘global English’ through a case study of Rwanda. Specifically, I draw on linguistic and political theory in order to interrogate the political importance of Rwanda’s recent shift from a French-medium to an English-medium education system.
In the first part of this thesis, I situate the move towards English within Rwanda’s historical and political context. In Chapter 1, I outline important developments from the pre-colonial period up to 1962, when Rwanda achieved independence. I discuss the foundations of the Rwandan State, and the politics of class and language in relation to Rwanda’s first language policy (1962). In the second chapter, I use Gramscian theory to interrogate the circumstances surrounding Rwanda’s second language policy (1996), in which English was added as an official language.
In the second part of the thesis, I develop an original theoretical model of language with which to investigate the ideological role played by particular languages. In Chapter 3, I introduce the model through a case study of the discursive construction of English and the Bantu languages throughout the colonial period. In Chapter 4, I use the model in a broader analysis of the relationship between the representation of English and Rwandan hegemony.
The thesis closes with a set of theoretical reflections on how the Rwandan case study can advance our understanding of ‘global English’. On the basis of my findings, I advocate a politically-sophisticated approach to ‘global English’.