Medadi Erisa Ssentanda

This study examines power and ideological relations between Luganda and English as they play out within the sociocultural and pedagogic space of the school environment in Uganda. The study draws on diverse perspectives in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) brought into conversation with Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of language, symbolic power, capital and economy of social practices. The study argues that perspectives from ethnological experiences allow for an examination of the linguistic landscape (LL), embodied in the classrooms and school compounds in Uganda. The main premise taken by this study is that the school is a microcosmic spatiotemporal site through which it is possible to identify and consider the manner in which indigenous Ugandan languages interact with English, a language that is embedded with symbolic Imperial power. The study seeks to examine how learners and teachers relate to this metaphorical clash of linguistic repertoires. It also will investigate the ways language policies are factored into how languages are used within and outside of the pedagogic space of the school.