This book asks how we¿as citizens immigrants activists teachers¿can counter the abuse of
language in our midst. How can we take back the power of language from those who flaunt that
power to silence or erase us and our fellows? In search of answers Linguistic Disobedience
recalls ages and situations that made critiquing correcting and caring for language essential
for survival. From turn-of-the-twentieth-century Central Europe to the miseries of the Third
Reich from the Movement for Black Lives to the ongoing effort to decolonize African languages
the study and practice of linguistic disobedience have been crucial. But what are we to do
today when reactionary supremacists and authoritarians are screen-testing their own forms of
so-called disobedience to quash oppositional social justice movements and their languages?
Blending lyric essay with cultural criticism historical analysis and applied linguistics
Linguistic Disobedience offers suggestions for a hopeful pathway forward in violent times.
