Hegemonies of Language and Their Discontents: The Southwest North American Region Since 1540

Spanish and English have fought a centuries-long battle for dominance in the Southwest North American Region, commonly known as the U.S.-Mexico transborder region. Covering the time period of 1540 to the present, Hegemonies of Language and Their Discontents provides a deep and broad understanding of the contradictory methods of establishing language supremacy in the region and the manner in which those affected have responded and acted, often in dissatisfaction and at times with inventive adaptations. Well-regarded author Carlos G. Vélez-Ibáñez details the linguistic and cultural processes used by penetrating imperial and national states. He argues that these impositions were not linear but hydra-headed, complex and contradictory, sometimes accommodating and at other times forcefully imposed. Such impositions created discontent resulting in physical and linguistic revolts, translanguage versions, and multilayered capacities of use and misuse of imposed languages—even the invention of community-created trilingual dictionaries. Vélez-Ibáñez gives particular attention to the region, including both sides of the border, explaining the consequences of the fragile splitting of the area through geopolitical border formation. He illustrates the many ways those discontents have manifested in linguistic, cultural, educational, political, and legal forms. From revolt to revitalization, from silent objection to expressive defiance, people in the Southwest North American Region have developed arcs of discontent from the Spanish colonial period to the present. These narratives are supported by multiple sources, including original Spanish colonial documents and new and original ethnographic studies of performance rituals like the matachines of New Mexico. This unique work discusses the most recent neurobiological studies of bilingualism and their implications for cognitive development and language as it spans multiple disciplines. Finally, it provides the most important models for dual language development and their integration to the Funds of Knowledge concept as creative contemporary discontents with monolingual approaches.

About the Author :
Carlos G. Vélez-Ibáñez is Regents' Professor and the Motorola Presidential Professor of Neighborhood Revitalization in the School of Transborder Studies and a professor of human evolution and social change at Arizona State University. His numerous honors include the 2004 Robert B. Textor and Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology and the 2003 Bronislaw Malinowski Medal. Vélez-Ibáñez was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1994 and was named as a corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (Miembro Correspondiente de la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias) in 2015. He is author or editor of numerous books, including An Impossible Living in a Transborder World: Culture, Confianza, and Economy of Mexican-Origin Populations and The U.S.-Mexico Transborder Region: Cultural Dynamics and Historical Interactions.

Review :
This book serves as a crash course in understanding language processes, dominance, and megascripts in the borderland regions of the United States and Mexico."" - Patricia Sánchez, co-editor of In Search of Hope and Home ""Vélez-Ibáñez’s vast knowledge of the region’s human geography and political economy comes through clearly in this impressive and far-reaching book. Weaving together narratives from different disciplines, archival research, and the author’s family history, the book invites readers to consider language hegemony and resistance over time."" - Patrick H. Smith, co-author of Mapping Applied Linguistics