https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v23n2.90374
Configuration of Racial Identities of Learners of English
Configuración de identidades raciales de aprendientes de inglés
Sandra Ximena Bonilla-Medina
Karen Vanessa Varela
Katherine García
1
Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá, Colombia
Racial identity, as well as other social identities, is intrinsically related to language learning. Nevertheless,
this relationship has been taken for granted. Despite research done in the area, not a lot has centred
explicitly on finding the connections between race and language learning. This article addresses that point
in an attempt to shed light specifically on English language learning and teaching. We used a qualitative
research methodology to analyse oral and written narratives that were produced by participants telling
their experience as English language learners. This article underscores the results that relate language
learners’ racial experiences as a crucial factor in the configuration of their identity as well as the economic,
social, and cultural factors involved.
Keywords: English language learning, English language learners, race, racial identity
La identidad racial, como otras categorías sociales, está intrínsecamente relacionada con el aprendizaje
de idiomas. Sin embargo, esta relación se ha dado por sentado. A pesar de las investigaciones realizadas,
no mucho se ha centrado explícitamente en encontrar conexiones entre la raza y el aprendizaje de
idiomas. Este artículo aborda ese punto en un intento por iluminar el aprendizaje y la enseñanza del
idioma inglés. Se utilizó una metodología de investigación cualitativa para analizar las narraciones
orales y escritas, producidas por participantes aprendices de inglés, sobre su experiencia. Este artículo
resalta los resultados que relacionan las experiencias raciales de los estudiantes con los idiomas como
un factor crucial en la configuración de su identidad, así como los factores económicos, sociales y
culturales involucrados.
Palabras clave: aprendientes de inglés, aprendizaje del inglés, identidad racial, raza
Sandra Ximena Bonilla-Medina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6625-501X · Email: sxbonillam@udistrital.edu.co
Karen Vanessa Varela https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5970-3278 · Email: kvvarelac@correo.udistrital.edu.co
Katherine García https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9029-9303 · Email: kgarciar@correo.udistrital.edu.co
How to cite this article (apa, 7th ed.): Bonilla-Medina, S. X., Varela, K. V., & García, K. (2021). Configuration of racial identities of learners
of English. Profile: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 23(2), 137–150. https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v23n2.90374
This article was received on September 6, 2020 and accepted on March 16, 2021.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
4.0 International License. Consultation is possible at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Profile: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 2, Jul-Dec, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 137-150
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Bonilla-Medina, Varela, & García
Introduction
Learning a foreign language implies a commitment to the foreign culture and the language itself;
however, language learners cannot separate language
from identity since, as Norton (2013) says, language is
intrinsic in the identity of the individual. In this sense,
the interaction with others allows learners to establish
their self-identifications, configuring identities as a
discursive process (Davies & Harré, 1990; De Fina
& Georgakopoulou, 2012; Harré et al., 2009), which
implies taking one side or another through sharing
with others.
Hence, the use of another language does not only
involve communication with native speakers, but also
the organization of meanings about who the learners are
and how they are related to the social world (Norton,
2013). Thus, racial identity is implicit in second language
learning due to the connections that coexist in language
and identity (Bonilla-Medina, 2018). Those ideas relate
language learning to identity construction by means of
the tensions that can arise about who the speakers of a
determined language are or what it means to become
its user.
In the following article, we focus on the way English language learners configure their racial identity
through the process of learning the language. In order
to develop this study, we formulated the following
research questions: How do the processes of learning
English as a foreign language in the Colombian context
relate to the construction of the racial identity of the
learners? What relationships can be established between
the meanings that learners give to the learning of a
particular foreign language and the construction of
their racial identities?
In doing so, we use a narrative approach where
we collected life stories from 10 participants who were
learning English in the Colombian context. In these
stories, they expressed their thoughts about their
processes of learning and the changes that they had
experience along the way, and they related racial experi-
138
ences. We expanded the information through in-depth
interviews where we tried to direct the conversation
toward identity and English learning. In this manner,
the analysis made on those instruments was useful for
us to determine categories that were linked to the theory
and the research question. Consequently, we identified
three categories: (a) The Construction of the Learners’
Imaginary Based on Global Whiteness, (b) Temporary
Identities Subsidised by English Whiteness, and (c)
Learners’ Racial Identity Constructions Fighting and
Negotiating Structural Racism Reinforced by English.
All these categories reflected the complexities in terms
of identity configuration in the process of learning and
language and how race was imbricated in such a process.
Theoretical Basis
Race and Second Language
Teaching Background
In the field of second or foreign language teaching
and learning in the country, studies addressing race are
rather few and they indirectly relate racial categories as
fixed, and singularised in reference to majorities and
minorities. Usma et al. (2018) is one of the examples
whose reflection develops a political agenda towards
highlighting indigenous identities as a community
affected by the way linguistics policies in the country are
planned and mandated. With the same goal but from a
different perspective, Clavijo (2017) pinpoints characteristics of community pedagogies to teach English as
a suitable approach to rescue the values and principles
of indigenous communities. Others, such as Agudelo
(2007), propose innovative pedagogical models to teach
English incorporating intercultural perspectives that
balance both foreign language curiosity with interest in
local autochthonous indigenous knowledge. In this line
of thought, these and other studies particularly relate
to indigenous and Afro-Colombians as the centre of
attention. Race referring to racial identities that do not
fit in these categories appear not to be addressed in these
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
Configuration of Racial Identities of Learners of English
studies. It appears that race categories are exclusive of
indigenous or Afro-Colombian communities so there
is an assumption that “others” are not racialised or
affected by racial structures. In agreement with critical
race theory (crt; Delgado & Stefancic, 2000) and more
specifically, whiteness theory (Bonnett, 2000; Clarke &
Garner, 2009; Telles & Flores, 2013), one of the arguments
in this study is that individuals, whatever their origin
or socially constructed race category, are immersed in
a race system which constitutes their identity, and this
construction usually comes to provide privileges or
disadvantages. From this perspective, language is taken
as a relevant factor involved in racialised practices and
discourses produced by racial structures which need to
be explored in the context of language learning.
The previous studies are instances of research
that have started to emerge in the country in regard
to the relations between race and foreign language
learning; nevertheless, those studies also attempt to
define racial identity as an unalterable category. Stating
the view that racial identities, as well as other type of
identities, are not fixed or unchangeable (Charles,
2019; Carbado & Gulati, 2003; Yosso, 2005), one presents the cited studies which show that there is a need
to explore what Thesen (1997) coined as “transition
identities.” That is, those identities that seem to be
non-racialised as opposed to those where emphasis
is given to racial categories (such an indigenous and
Afro-Colombian communities in the Colombian
context). In this case, we also want to refer to language
as a marker of racialised discourses that may shape
language learners’ racial identity despite their origin,
skin colour, or phenotype. In fact, those racialised
discourses and practices may grant privileges as well
as mask disadvantages to language learners who are
part of a race-structured world. Those practices are
referred to here as constitutions of racialised experiences which are generated by the general race system
(centred in whiteness). In this vein, analysing the way
in which language learning has impacted learners’
identity would be a path that is a contribution to the
studies initiated in this area.
Checking the arena of racial identity and the learning
of a second language, conclusions lead one to say that
these types of studies have been more popular in the
usa (Norton, 1997; Thesen, 1997), England (Leung et
al., 1997) and Australia and their major interests have
revolved around the role of language itself rather than
its effects on racial identity. In this study, the main
purpose is precisely to examine that latter area.
Premises to Conceptualising Race in
the Analysis of Language Learning
There are important theoretical underpinnings
that were part of the approach given to this study.
First of all, race is a social construction (Alexander &
Knowles, 2005; Du Bois, 2001; Runge-Peña & MuñozGaviria, 2005), therefore, this underlines the idea that
race is created and reinforced in social practice. In
other words, race is not real, however, it is perceived
as such (Chadderton, 2009). In this manner, thoughts
surrounding the idea of race are also created, produced,
and reproduced in social practice (Banton, 2002; Bernasconi, 2001; Lott, 2001). Underscoring this thinking
is significant because it explains how social tags, such
as the ones created in racial categories, are powerful
as to maintain discriminatory conditions towards
individuals or groups while social practices sustain
those conditions (Banton, 2002). In this respect, race
is problematised in order to understand it in practices
to see how it may contribute to unequal relationships.
Critical Race Theory: Whiteness
as a Lens to foreign Language
Learning and Identity
We used crt to have a theoretical framework backed
on a critical, historical, and structural viewpoint to
analyse race in the learning of a language. It was used
with the purpose of understanding how race tags
play a role in the realisation of most social practices.
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Bonilla-Medina, Varela, & García
Furthermore, crt helped us to challenge circumstances
in which racial categories interacting with language
learning are used to marginalise individuals or social
groups (Carbado & Gulati, 2003; Ladson-Billings &
Tate, 2006; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001). According to crt
theorists, uncovering discrimination in a system that
has taken practices for granted has been their major
goal (DeCuir & Dixon, 2004; Gillborn, 2006, 2010;
Leonardo, 2002). That is to say, crt is committed to
combating subtler forms of racism, especially those
practices that have become accepted, unquestioned,
and normalised. Although crt is soundly important in
identifying features that have allowed the reproduction
of unperceived discriminatory practices, it is necessary
to say that determining differences based on skin colour
in Colombia would be rather difficult (Koopman, 2012).
Therefore, this research used “whiteness” as a theory
which attempts to envisage practices that go beyond
skin colour (Bonnett, 2000; Clarke & Gardner, 2009;
King, 1991). In this regard, whiteness is not a way to label
subjects with certain skin colour, but it is a cognitive
dimension that is displayed in discourses that have
been embedded in social practices and that situate
some in a racial, social, economic, political, and cultural
hierarchical position.
Whiteness, as a theory, resonates with this study
because it looks to explain racial structures that shape the
identities of individuals apart from their conventionally
assigned race tags. It is a theory that coincides with the
analytical marker of “whiteness device” (dispositivo de
blancura) as explained by Castro-Gómez (2000) and
Mignolo (2000, 2005) who, from a postcolonial perspective, have argued that Latin-American countries have
been colonised not only historically and economically,
but also symbolically. In this vein, these authors assert
that after colonisation, social, economic, and cultural
structures remained latent and they became common
sense to people of this territory subjecting them to
different levels: the knowledge level (coloniality of
knowledge), the political level (coloniality of power), and
140
the subject level (coloniality of being; Granados-Beltrán,
2016). In turn, this constructed a common sense that
has become a regime of truth (Said, 1976) that has been
a platform for a whiteness cognitive device. That is, a
psychological instance that maintains human beings
organised and divided in racial categories.
Whiteness theory has been focused on as going
beyond the racial structures as a socio-political and
economic system to scrutinise more deeply the symbolic
dimension of race and derived constructs of a race
hierarchy. In this manner, the “whiteness device” of
post colonialists and a debate for a whiteness unconsciousness in crt are interwoven and they come to be
useful to explain what happens in English language
learning in regard to conceptions of racial identity,
self-identification, and the consequences that those
ideas bring about.
Method
This study was carried out in Bogota, Colombia. The
methodology used in this project was narrative-oriented.
In this context, written life stories and in-depth interviews were collected from 10 intermediate–advanced
English language learners (see Table 1) who told about
their English learning process and related racial experiences. Most participants were Colombians, except
for one Taiwanese woman (Maya), and they learned
English for personal purposes. To choose participants
we focused on a variety of socio-economic and physical
aspects that could lead us to obtain rich data from the
participants’ experiences.
Narratives, considered as a form of construction
of social reality (Somers, 1994; Spector-Mersel, 2010),
favour the creation of meanings about social phenomena
(De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2012) and facilitate access
to the realities that individuals construct. In this view,
data were analysed through the lenses of our theoretical
framework and emerging themes were grouped in order
to try to find relationships with the learners’ meanings
of their experiences.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
Configuration of Racial Identities of Learners of English
Table 1. Participants’ Information
Pseudonym
Age Group
Gender
Damian
20–25
Male
Charlie
20–25
Male
Connie
25–30
Female
Manuela
40–45
Female
Louise
20–25
Female
Jean Pierre
20–25
Male
Johns
20–25
Male
Pola
25–30
Female
Edwin
40–45
Male
Maya
25–30
Female
Results
The analysis of the narratives developed by the
participants let us see that the learners’ experiences as
speakers of a foreign language are usually fraught with
certain ideals or expectations around that language and
its native speakers. Those experiences, and the ones
proper of the learning activity, are the ones that we want
to highlight for the analysis of racial identity construction. What is clear here is that most of the participants
started learning English with the interest of traveling
around the world and interacting with diverse cultures.
However, this desire has some nuances that learners are
usually unconscious about and that, from the point of
view of race, must be dismantled. As researchers, we
consider that this exercise would contribute to bringing
a new lens to language learning and that, by learning
from these experiences, language learning could be
addressed to more responsible, equitable practices.
Three are the emergent categories. The first category—The Construction of the Learners’ Imaginary
Based on Global Whiteness—describes how language
learners constitute themselves by constructing imaginaries which usually come to them in discriminatory
discourses of global whiteness where English is subsidiary. The second category—Temporary Identities
Subsidised by English Whiteness—is related to the way
learners consciously and unconsciously take advantage
of racial structures enhanced by English. In doing this,
learners experience social mobility, but without being
aware that those gains are temporary and that they also
reproduce subtle discriminatory practices. And the
third category—Learners’ Racial Identity Constructions
Fighting and Negotiating Structural Racism Reinforced
by English—aims to describe learners’ identity construction shaped by structural racism in English learning
practices as well as other practices that learners develop
in order to fight and resist injustice caused by other
racial structures.
The Construction of the
Learners’ Imaginary Based
on Global Whiteness
This category is defined by the symbolic power that
extends from whiteness to a global level by imperceptible
means, and which builds the learners’ imaginaries of
desire about language and what it means constructing
their identity. According to Delgado and Stefancic (2001),
English global recognition has been greatly enhanced
by pop culture. That is, the media, technology, music,
films, and so on, have helped strengthen the status of
English as the language of business as well as increase
the perceived prestige and power of this language. In
this line of thought, English, as well as its command,
has gained more importance and prestige over other
languages. In other words, having knowledge of English
builds a coloniality of being in the learners’ imaginaries
where this language becomes the ideal that aligns with
that of the ideal native speaker (Leung et al., 1997).
This idealisation of English is subtle if we follow
what Delgado and Stefancic (2001) claim: “whiteness
[represented in English] is often associated with innocence and goodness” (p. 75) which clearly become very
attractive for receivers (learners). That is the case of
Maya, a Taiwanese woman, who learns English in the
Colombian context and who asserted that her interest
in the language increased through films. Thus, the mass
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Bonilla-Medina, Varela, & García
media appear to influence the way she sees the culture
of the language and herself. In the following excerpt,
we asked Maya if she had a preference for any variety
of English. She answered:
Today English produces knowledge, then that generates,
I would say the British accent is always very cool . . . it
them are going to appear in English. And many times, it’s
sounds very cool . . . England centuries movies which
even written by people who don’t speak English as a native
are really fun, like Pride and Prejudice or like, I would
language, . . . the language of science is English.” [sic]
like a linguistic or idiomatic monopoly . . . it detracts other
languages that also give opportunities . . . if you look for…
like scientific research or…academic writings, most of
say, Harry Potter . . . that British accent . . . although,
I can’t understand them but it’s really cool, how they
speaking that way yeah. [sic]
Maya’s taste for the English accent directly related
to what she has seen in films, unveils that those media
discourses have instilled in her an imaginary of the
foreign language that is full of fantasy. Indeed, media
appear here to have a big role in furthering the prestige
of a given accent, in this case, the English one. These
are aspects that construct an imaginary that reinforces
dominant ideologies. Quijano (as cited in CastroGómez, 2000) refers to this created desire for others’
culture as a derivation of whiteness that colonization
has left in the mindset of the colonized countries’
population. Intelligibility, which is a very relevant
element in Maya’s learning process, is sacrificed by
her view, as long as the accent sounds “cool.” In this
sense, the coloniality of being, spread by media, usually
seduces foreign language learners rather than oppresses
by means of those propagated discourses of goodness
and superiority that English language has.
In Jean Pierre’s narrative, this power of English
comes via other means and affects differently the
way he constructs his identity as an English learner.
Although he appears to be aware of the imperialism of
the English language that governs academic production
(a coloniality of knowledge), this recognition does not
lead him to take an active role as a learner (coloniality
of power) because he thinks in the end there is no
other choice but to assume a subaltern position and
accept that the idea that language is superior at the
global level.
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As seen, Jean Pierre suggests that for someone to
aspire to scientific production, English is indispensable.
Behind the participant’s words there is the idea that,
nowadays, scientific knowledge is exclusively produced
in English. By asserting that “the language of science is
English” Jean Pierre promotes the belief (or imaginary)
that, in the scientific arena, this language is superior
to all other existing languages. In this vein, English is
hiding discriminatory discourses that connect learners
to white supremacy since English is a synonym of
whiteness: bringing ideas of white power, privilege,
and taken-for-granted benefit (Clarke & Garner,
2009). Thus, English, as well as whiteness, becomes
a membership where a person who possesses it is
automatically benefited with the privileges of the
dominant race (McIntosh, 2004).
This imaginary of English language based on global
whiteness is transformed in Charlie as an unconscious
feature of identity construction. This is argued because,
he claims he identifies with the English culture to the
point that he becomes detached from his own Colombian
culture, music, and language.
Look, first I don’t feel identified living in this country . .
. there are cultural issues that I don’t feel identified with.
[I prefer to be in contact with] English most of the time,
in the YouTube videos, the movies, and literature. [sic]
As seen, global whiteness spread through English
is a symbolic power that influences learners’ identity
construction, heavily accommodating to racialised discourses of blind acceptability to whiteness. As reflected
in the participants, apparent innocent discourses spread
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
Configuration of Racial Identities of Learners of English
whiteness subtly and individuals accept these discourses
consciously and unconsciously but also perpetuating
the estrangement of selves and causing what for Charlie
is a detachment of his own culture, his identity.
the next day [the captain] made me a letter and he sent
me for the tourism speciality. The tourism police is one
of the best workspaces they have because there, they
accompany the tourists who come and, [diplomats],
people from abroad come. [sic]
Temporary Identities Subsidised
by English Whiteness
As related in the previous category, whiteness
represented in English supports the construction of
a racial identity which is subordinated to a stereotypical environment established by social convention.
In this vein, we can say those stereotypes in English
also provide economic opportunities for people who
learn this language. This category is then, related to
the learners’ construction of their identity favoured by
the cultural and economic dimensions present in the
English language ideas. This dimension works similarly
to what race theorists have called white privilege. In
this sense, the category means that learners experience
a shifting of their (racial) identities as they go along
their path of learning the language. English language
learners are aware of the language’s privileged status
which, according to them, grants them access to better jobs, schools, occupations, and various economic
opportunities (Telles & Flores, 2013), and they seem to
use this knowledge strategically to modify social status.
However, as seen in the data, this racialised experience
is usually temporary, and does not really transcend
learners’ life project and keep them subaltern (Spivak,
1988). This is why we refer to these racial identities as
temporary or transitional, following Thesen (1997).
Edwin, one of our participants who was in police
service as part of the government’s mandatory rule for
men in Colombia, appeared to construct this transitional
identity that granted him access to the privileges attached
to English. He was promoted in police internal ranks
thanks to his previous knowledge of English.
A captain arrived and, we started to speak in English
so, he said: “what are you doing, at this time here?
Wasting yourself, nooo, go tomorrow for tourism!” Then,
As Edwin relates in this brief story, the opportunity to speak in English to a superior police officer
allowed him to be moved to a better position in his
police career. Thus, English worked as a provider of
opportunities which, in this case, had to do with the
chance of obtaining a better position in society (Vela,
2012; Wade, 1995). In other words, Edwin takes advantage
of English white privilege to escalate to a higher status
that at that moment was provided for him.
From this perspective, Edwin was able to be part of
a select group in which, not only did he obtain prestige
at a social level, but he also managed to place himself
in a higher level in terms of employment. Those are
benefits provided for Edwin because of the whiteness
that the language brings. Edwin claims that due to
his proficiency in English, he had the opportunity to
interact with foreign diplomats, which also allowed him
to look like someone from a superior social position.
In this way, English as a means of whiteness became
a type of “property” for him from which he obtained
benefits that according to Harris (1995, as cited in DeCuir
& Dixson, 2004) are “the right of possession, the right
to use, and the right to disposition, the right to transfer,
the right of use and enjoyment” (p. 28).
However, as we named in our category, those benefits do not last long. As seen in Edwin’s description,
English proficiency allowed him to use the whiteness of
English to enjoy social advantages at a certain moment
of his mandatory military service. Nonetheless, this
did not appear to be a long-lasting advantage since it
worked in favour of the rich (white) foreign diplomats
visiting the country rather than changing Edwin’s socioeconomic position. This is something that crt has
called “interest convergence,” which is, white’s social
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Bonilla-Medina, Varela, & García
sensitivity for others working for the white benefit
(Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
As seen, English as well as whiteness works in this
learner’s identity as a kind of property which gives
him privilege. Privilege that is social and economic,
and yet, it is also temporary because it is provided
according to the needs of traditional privileged English
speakers who come to the Colombian context rather
than new English speakers such as Edwin.
Pola, a future teacher of English, is another participant who narrates in her story how her identity
was shifting during her learning of the language and
how she strategically used whiteness through English
as socio-economic advantage. This was represented in
how, thanks to a trip she made to the United States,
she managed to get a job easily back in Colombia.
I arrived from the usa in August and in October I
already had a job, and…even though I didn’t have
certified work experience and I didn’t have an international exam, then I think…that can be seen to be
like an advantage. There are many people who go to
work in different things such as in a call center or,
well, I don’t know, in other jobs . . . or tourist guide
and they earn the same as what they earn as teachers
or even a little more. [sic]
Pola’s gain can be seen as white privilege as it
was provided to her as a property that she could use
to obtain a job. This white privilege is even beyond
the language itself, as it is also related to the idea
of what living the experience in a foreign country
such as the usa means. By asserting to have had
experience abroad, she realised she was easily hired
without any certification by a company and started
to earn good money. However, this is also described
here as a temporary identity because there are hidden discriminatory practices involved. She does not
take into account that this privilege comprehends
non-professional jobs that may not maintain social
144
benefits for long (Mignolo, 2000). That is why she
even disdains her own future profession as a teacher
by establishing a comparative view on the wages each
job may provide. Self-discriminatory identity is what
comes to her as a professional. Accordingly, it can be
affirmed that Pola’s identity started shifting when she
took advantage of whiteness at that moment, however,
in the long term, this would not assure the brilliant
opportunities she devised.
The shifting of identity in Pola’s case uses the
advantages of speaking English but mainly of having
had an experience abroad. This experience positioned
her above the other applicants for the same job
revealing how the power of English impacts various
fields of the learner’s social practice. One of these
fields has to do with the difference in employment
opportunities one has when using this language.
This power equated in these terms is a device that
facilitates the acquisition of economic status in society
(Castro-Gómez, 2000). That is, as a commodity that
one possesses. For that reason, the language learner,
as stated by Zentella (1995), may potentially come to
be part of a society that creates stereotypes, labelling
those who do not speak English as coming from
deplorable socio-economic backgrounds, or as people
who do not deserve to enjoy corporate employment
opportunities.
In summary, the experiences of English language
learners let us see this situation critically and affirm
that, even though economic and cultural benefits were
obtained, thanks to English, there are two main factors
to consider: First, that benefits are not long-lasting
because they have limits mediated by interests which
usually do not impact the economy of peripheral
populations and the economy of the so-called third
world countries (Usma et al., 2018); and second, that
this shifting of identity may bring about subtle discriminatory discourses addressed to those who are
not associated with the language speakers.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
Configuration of Racial Identities of Learners of English
Learners’ Racial Identity
Constructions Fighting and
Negotiating Structural Racism
Reinforced by English
This category attempts to describe learners’ identity construction shaped by structural racism in the
English learning process and the practices that learners
develop in order to fight and resist injustice caused
by racial structures. First of all, it is necessary to refer
to structural racism which, from the view of crt, is
related to racism embedded in institutions shaping
people’s practices and identities and converting discrimination into common sense (Delgado & Stefancic,
2000). Structural racism is then developed through
a set of values, attitudes, symbols, and practices that
produce and reproduce stereotypes that usually place
a group of people over another (Mamani, 2020). In
the case of English language learners, their physical
characteristics or their identity as bilingual speakers
of Colombian origin are aspects that usually link them
to structural racism and consequently contribute to
shaping their identity along their learning route.
Manuela, for example, is a self-identified AfroColombian English learner and teacher. Her personal
narrative reveals how, despite becoming a competent
professional who has been recognised as good teacher
and language speaker, she has been overtly attacked
because of her skin colour, even by her colleagues. This
case represents one of the most visible recognised racist
experiences shaping a learner’s identity as a result of
structural racism based on skin colour. Moreover, as
Mamani (2020) says, structural racism contributes to
normalising practices that usually give privilege to a
group of people and excludes another not only on the
basis of phenotype, but also nationality, culture, religion,
place of living, class, or gender. Therefore, intersections
of race with categories such as class or gender also play
a key role in this category.
That English is racialised and produces structural
racism is not unknown to various participants in this
study. For example, Louise touches several times upon
the prevalence of racist linguistic policies disseminated
by the government in our country:
I think that “Colombia Bilingüe,” is a program that discriminates a lot; why? First, because it creates standards
in which only certain social wealthy groups are favoured,
and…there are not resources for that, and those are
creating stereotypes of…that is, of a political content
that is behind those standards” [sic]
Nevertheless, when the structural racism involved
in those policies becomes a practice affecting people’s
identity, it is usually accepted and unquestioned. In
Connie’s narrative, it is evident how, as part of the normalization of those practices, her identity as a teacher
was racialised, that is, she felt discriminated against and
undervalued as a Colombian English language teacher.
A school where she used to work required teachers to
have international experience to keep being part of the
staff. Such pressure fostered discrimination among the
teacher staff.
Connie: When I was working in a school, well, one of
the requirements of the school was that, as teachers, we
had to have an experience abroad studying or living.
Researcher: And what happened if a teacher could not go?
c: Well, they gave you some time, and afterwards, they
didn’t hire you anymore.
r: And how long did they give you?
c: Me? No…I worked there for a year and a half and the
year after, I had the chance to travel and I left.
r: Did you know about any teacher who had been given
time limit if that experience was not achieved?
c: No, most of them had travelled and, I travelled, and
other three teachers were going to travel too, to the
United States, hmm with an organisation that used to
take teachers to teach Spanish in the usa? Well, I don’t
remember.
r: And those teachers travelled because the school helped
them to do so? or they did it by their own means?
Profile: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 2, Jul-Dec, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 137-150
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Bonilla-Medina, Varela, & García
c: No! not at all, nothing, everything was to keep our
job when we came back.
r: And did they wait for you?
c: Oh yes, but none came back…I mean, we didn’t
come back.
r: Was that written anywhere or it was just what happened in the school?
c: No, really, it was not written, when the…the language
boss gave us feedback, she would always, told us what we
had to do if we wanted to keep on working there. [sic]
Structural racism lived in the school as reported by
Connie here is embedded not only in the way school
institutional policies work to increase the English level
of teachers, but it is also seen in how the practices
around those policies reproduce those racist attitudes
by the teachers themselves. Despite that, apparently, the
institutional policy was not officially written anywhere,
and the teachers themselves contributed to the social
pressure over those teachers who have not had the
experience abroad. In Connie’s narrative it is clear that
the school culture was represented not only in policies,
but in teachers’ practices sustained in a racist system
that privileged centralisation of English nativeness. Such
attitudes pushed her to have an experience abroad and
to transform her identity to become a “good teacher”
in the school’s eyes.
Following Gillborn (2006), this structural racism
has wider implications in teachers’ identity that transcends the symbolic dimension represented in that social
prestige achieved by the native speaker experience, and
goes to the economic dimension for teachers to fulfil
this need as a matter of preserving their jobs. Obviously, the economic conditions were not given for these
teachers to comply with the school’s needs because, as
Connie said, teachers were not economically supported,
that is, “everything was to keep [their] job when [they
went] back”. Hence, racism is not only symbolic, but
also economic and this would certainly contribute to
constructing a racialised identity as a teacher in what
146
Louise noted as “standards in which only certain social
wealthy groups are favoured.” That is, only the ones
who have the economic possibilities would have access
to travel, and therefore, keep their job. In Colombia, a
country where the economy is weak, it is not strange
that those opportunities are limited because of factors
such as family or personal needs. Therefore, teachers
may represent another group that ends up losing their
jobs and being slammed by racism intersected with
socio-economic conditions.
Notwithstanding the difficulties mediated by
structural racism, learners who, in this case, are also
teachers, construct their identities with capacities to
negotiate with those structural conditions in multiple
and incommensurable ways. Connie particularly
accounts for her persistence to try to travel and achieve,
not only because of that symbolic power of a native
speaker her school demands, but also in order to gain
certain social mobility that would allow her to avoid
going back to her former school, as she reported in
the excerpt. Further in the interview, she also relates
how that desire of fighting the social conditions in
which she seemed to be encapsulated, empowered
her to fight hard.
Researcher: And do you think that learning the language
in the British context as a Latin American has advantages?
Connie: As a Latin American? well, of course, there are
differences, in the educative area, for example, Latin
American people have to pay more in terms of education.
While, obviously Britons have, they have their bursaries.
Of course, it is much more difficult for a Colombian
person. To study abroad in that sense, well…many times
has to do with preferences. Well, those preferences for
the native speaker hmm, well, that is. [sic]
As seen in the excerpt, Connie’s narrative shows
that, to overcome those barriers imposed by racial
structures, she was involved in an economic and
symbolic investment (Bourdieu, 1986). In other words,
acceptance of asymmetric relationships between an
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
Configuration of Racial Identities of Learners of English
English native and Latin American student led her to pay
more money for her education while she also perceived
native British were even provided with bursaries to
do so. Moreover, she accounts for white supremacy
which was the symbolism of a native speaker she had
to face to be able to achieve her dreams. She says, “it is
much more difficult for a Colombian person.” To study
abroad, “many times has to do with preferences. Well,
those preferences for the native speaker.” What she
calls “preferences” is really whiteness which, echoing
McIntosh (2004), works here as a commodity bringing
benefit to the ones who possess it and that she, as a Latin
American, did not. These factors forced her to make
other skills stand out and through them increase her
hope to overcome the racial barriers that framed her
Colombian identity. We can see that in the following
excerpt:
Researcher: How did you reach the experience to work
as an English teacher over there if you already realised
that it was that difficult for a Latin American?
Connie: I finished my language program, I had experience
teaching in Colombia, I got an a+ in my training course,
I was outstanding in my practicum with college students,
I prepared excellent material, I delivered very good
lessons, the feedback from my students was always really
good. [sic]
This is evidence of the participant’s fights against
racial structures in which there is an awareness process
of a racialisation of her identity as a Latin American
that involved her in an unjust system and which she
found as the motivation to fight harder to overcome it.
Finally, other testimonies showed how English as
a whiteness device (Castro-Gómez, 2000) seemed to
be used strategically by participants as a resource to
negotiate and fight against other racial structures that
shaped their identity based on phenotype. A significant example was presented by Manuela in her life
history when she talks about the poor socioeconomic
circumstances she had to live as an emigrant from
Quibdó, moving first to Medellin, and then to Bogotá.
She emphasised how she felt social conditions were
always more difficult for an Afro-Colombian family
like hers. In her hometown she felt it was not that
demanding while the attitude of people in Medellin
and Bogota towards them always shaped them as
“different”; a feeling that usually came associated
with estrangement and disdain. In her narrative, she
explained that phenotypical racial structures played in
her favour once when she was given the opportunity
to work as a marketing assistant in a shop: “We were
100 candidates and only 10 were chosen, and I was
picked in that bunch because they said they required
to have a white blond, a brown, and black girl to serve
as the publicity for their products.”
Unfortunately, with time, she realised that the job
conditions were poor. She was assigned full-time work
and that meant working 12 hours a day from Monday
to Sunday and earning the minimum wage. Then, she
decided to start another type of investment by enrolling
in the university to achieve a career as an English teacher,
so she used English as a whiteness device strategically
to fight the given social conditions on her racialised
identity as a black woman. In her view, this new decision would always be better than staying and enduring
the racialised conditions to which she was submitted
at the shop. Then, Manuela’s story tells that race was
always crucial in her life as a black person and being
an English language learner provided whiteness as an
opportunity to cope with her phenotypical racialisation.
Conclusions
The development of this article helps one to understand that racial identity and English learning maintain
power relations, which are worthy of being addressed in
research so new understandings of language learning are
visualised. The direction taken from this study aimed
to address the complexities of language learning that
usually involves hidden discriminatory practices affecting identities. This study reveals the preponderance of
Profile: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 2, Jul-Dec, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 137-150
147
Bonilla-Medina, Varela, & García
hierarchical discourses that classify groups and provide
advantages and disadvantages to different people under
different circumstances. We think that understanding
those relations may be a way to illuminate areas in
language learning to find clues for developing more
socially sensitive practices.
Specifically, in the findings of this study, it has
been seen how learners’ identity is shaped by being
involved in a sentiment of attraction to the language
and speakers that is usually transmitted unconsciously
through media. Through this construction, it is shown
that this imaginary of English and its speakers not only
affects learners’ perception of the foreign culture, but also
affects the image that they have of themselves. Having
in mind these affections, learners also appear to model
and shift their identity according to the characteristics
that are provided with by the environment and social
conditions. That was evident as learners accommodate
to major discourses of English as success but ignore
the discriminatory practices that are subtle and keep
them as subaltern. Finally, those experiences presented
by learners here reveal that, despite the constant
reproduction of racist practices, they also sometimes
offer learners tools to develop strategies to overcome
such racial barriers.
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About the Authors
Sandra Ximena Bonilla-Medina holds a Doctor of Education degree from the University of East London.
She is currently a full-time professor and researcher of Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. She
is a member of the research group estupoli and director of the “semillero” second language teaching and
learning, culture, and social justice.
Karen Vanessa Varela and Katherine García are students in the bachelor’s degree programme in English
language teaching at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. They are members of the “semillero”
second language teaching and learning, culture, and social justice.
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Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras