La globalización de la lengua inglesa y los estudios postcoloniales

Abstract

This article is based on the assumption that the expansion of the English language across the world, as well as its current acceptance as a lingua franca, can be traced back both to the impact of the British Empire on all continents since the sixteenth century, and to the economic, military and cultural supremacy of the United States during the twentieth century and up to the present. Hence, a link between the English language and the colonial and imperialist processes is firmly established. This article aims at presenting, from a literary vantage point, the debate originated within the discipline of postcolonial studies concerning the use of the English language as a literary and a political tool, firstly used by the colonizers to impose their authority on the colonized world, and eventually either accepted or rejected by the different postcolonial cultures on their way to self-affirmation and in the search for an authentic national identity.