520 "English is like the dollar": hard currency ideology and the status of English in Peru by Mugabonake, Stephanie Elisabeth - (mnake) https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru en-us 2023-02-27 22:19:50 UTC 2023-03-30 01:03:52 UTC hello@padlet.com ABSTRACT: This paper presents observations from an agro-pastoral village in the Andes, at the periphery of Lima and from an upper-class shopping area, and discusses attitudes toward the state-driven promotion of English. In these communities, a nearly universal ideology in Peru manifests itself in the belief that "hard currency'' cultural capital in the form of English competence is needed for technological advancement, employment opportunities, national progress and international travel. In education, there are increasing but ineffectual investments in public schools and a mushrooming private school industry. The struggle for linguistic distinction generates a low-level language war, where colonially rooted anxieties about race and class come into conflict with popular aspirations for social mobility. mnake1 https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537253645 2023-03-29 19:43:48 UTC https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537253645 Nino-Murcia, 1st Paragraph mnake1 https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537257706 Almost everyone in Peru covets knowledge ofthe English language. In rural as well as in urban Peru, English knowledge is seen as a door to better employment and higher social status for younger generations, as a way to gain prestige and as a sign of "distinction'' (Bourdieu, 1984). English has become a valued linguistic currency, a form of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1991). But most of all, English is seen as a requirement imposed by globalization and a global market. Learning English has become a component of an "imagined global citizenship,'' one of the many ways of "imagining globalization.''
"Global'' is one of the "most powerful terms in our geographical and social imagination'' (Massey, 1999: 27, 33), and in Peru's.
]]> 2023-03-29 19:48:14 UTC https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537257706 Read below the first Paragraph from Nino-Murcia. Do you feel like the pressure of learning English is similar in China- why or why not? mnake1 https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537259378 2023-03-29 19:49:57 UTC https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537259378 Speech/ Discourse Communities & Cultural Capital mnake1 https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537270144 We learned in English 106 last semester about discourse and speech communities.  Nino-Murcia is indicating that there is a cost to be involved to enter a speech or discourse community.

In order to unlock doors, you need know English / English = Cultural Captital

WHAT IS CULTURAL CAPITAL?
Cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as a social relation within an economy of practices (i.e. system of exchange), and includes the accumulated cultural knowledge that confers social status and power; thus cultural capital comprises the material and symbolic goods, without distinction, that society considers rare and worth seeking.

So...
By knowing English, you then own cultural capital- and can then gain access to cultural knowledge that confers social status and power.


]]> 2023-03-29 20:00:01 UTC https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537270144 Nino-Murcia, 2nd Paragraph mnake1 https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537294554 Because it is seen as the linguistic currency that makes one a potential actor in the global marketplace, English has acquired special ± perhaps inflated ± standing among forms of cultural capital. "El ingle
Âs es como el do  lar'' ("English is like the dollar") a taxi driver told me in Lima in June, 2001. This analogy, or similar ones, were voiced by other Peruvians when asked how they judge the importance of learning English. Language and currency are equated in a very overt form (Bourdieu, 1991, 1993). Another taxi driver commented, "El ingle Âs en el mundo de hoy es un mal necesario, lo necesitamos sõ
 o sõ Â'' (`English in today's world is a necessary evil, we need it, one way or another'). In the rest of our conversation, he expressed resentment about this particular demand, but he perceived it as
inevitable:  "No que sea lo mejor para nosotros pero no podemos escapar de la urgencia de aprenderlo'' (`Maybe it's not the best thing for us [Peruvians], but we can't escape the urgent need to learn it'). Asked why he felt resentment, the same driver replied "por la amenaza de la americanizacio Ân'' (`because of the threat of Americanization').
]]> 2023-03-29 20:27:38 UTC https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537294554 Read below the second paragraph from Nino-Murcia. Do you feel like there are similar attitudes about learning English in China (both positive and negative). Can you recall any quotes and sayings that might illustrate this attitude? mnake1 https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537295589 2023-03-29 20:28:54 UTC https://padlet.com/mnake1/Peru/wish/2537295589