Linguistics as (not so) Hidden Racism?

In the past, I’d never really thought of linguistics as an inherently political field of study. Yet as we see in the readings, our understanding and privileging of certain linguistic habits is tightly intertwined with our perceptions of what is “right” and “correct” - and these perceptions are themselves built upon cultural hierarchies.  The result, I think, could be that the longstanding forms of structural discrimination that we've been fighting for many years may actually be continuing (at least at a cultural level) through the marginalization of dialects.

ENG 540 - Global Englishes and Popular Culture

For my first post for English 540 at Illinois State, I'll be responding to readings by Pennycook, Gee, Bamgbose, Bolton, and Matsuda.  Mostly, these readings represent an introduction to what it means to study English from a descriptive cultural perspective rather than simply a prescriptive or "language-focused" approach to what English "is" or "should be."