English Use and the Fear of Identity Loss

Although I’m neither a “professional” blogger nor a “gifted” writer, my mind has been racing (somehow creatively) to jot down some reflections about a particular micro-topic that can be germane to the macro-topic: English in Morocco. At last, I have decided to talk a bit about the use of English and the question of identity in our Moroccan context. As a practitioner who is genuinely interested in promoting ELT in my country, I feel that I have to say a word about this highly controversial issue. Before dealing with English and the question of identity I shall make some innocuous remarks about the relationship between one’s mother-tongue and identity and even about the concept of identity itself.


Despite the obvious fact that one’s native language is a powerful marker (badge) of one’s national, group or individual identity, many taken-for-granted assumptions about the relationship between one’s native language and identity and even about identity itself can be called into question. In fact, our native language helps us to a great extent to define who we are and to create linguistically our own socio-cultural identity. However, one sometimes can’t know what language to exactly include while talking about self-definition. In Morocco, for instance, what language can we include to define ourselves: is it Moroccan Arabic or Berber, which are the varieties that people widely use in everyday communication, or the Classical Arabic (the official language) which is paradoxically almost everyone’s written language and nobody’s mother-tongue. On the other hand, how can some young Moroccan immigrants express their individuality (at least from psycholinguistic point of view) if they can’t speak their parents’ native language(s)? As for identity, and because it is related to what is highly symbolic in one’s existence, it is so hard a concept to pin down that it has become recalcitrant to narrow definitions and resistant to simplistic characterization. People, for example, who have a static narrow view of identity tend to think of it as though it is something cast in stone and consequently can’t tolerate difference and reject anything “foreign”. Dogmatic positions on the matter can result in a distorted or even primitive view of identity.

Since there is a complex array of factors (hence variables) that can determine/influence our conceptions about identity, i.e. age, sex, ethnicity, homeland, common ideology, literacy, history, common interest, power symmetry, social belonging. It is far better to see the question of identity in a spectrum (along a cline). On the one hand, there is a highly inclusive view of it (more or less open-minded, tolerant, flexible, humanistic, etc.). On the other, a very exclusive view (more or less racist, dogmatic, chauvinistic, etc.). Even when we talk about a principally “secular” or “religious” view(s) of identity, there are “extreme” as well as “moderate” versions about the matter (also along a continuum). (In human phenomenon, there seems to be little room for dichotomies and polarities that many scholars are so keen on). Additionally, each one of us has a particularized view besides our collective one.

As far as English language is concerned,can it really threaten people' s identity?Many people tend to believe that the wide use of English can represent a serious menace for their cultural identity.All too often,they seem to see the matter in terms of the current Anglo-American"cultural imperialism" and political domination in the world.Other people who seem toequate "globalisation" with "Americanisation" and who hate the Anglo-American foreign policy(especially in the Middle-East) can be strongly hostile to English language and its culture.

Moroccan Writers in English

Leila Abouzeid (Bio of)

http://www.ukzn.ac.za/cca/images/tow/TOW2004/Abouseid.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Abouzeid

Laila alami (blog)

http://www.lailalalami.com/blog/

Said Leghlid (blog)

http://www.tinfou.com/novels.htm


Leila Ghandi (blog)

http://www.leilaghandi.com/aboutme.htm


Jamal Laoudi (bio)


http://www.moroccoboard.com/viewpoint/jamal/index.html


M.A. Lagouader (blog)

http://arabicwithlagouader.blogspot.com/