Muslim Women as Speakers of English - Hardcover

by Madiha Neelam (Author)

This book examines representations of Muslim women as speakers of English in the context of a language ideological debate in the UK in 2016. The author shows how Muslim women are stereotyped as non-speakers of English through the manipulation of census data, and how this supposed lack of English is discursively constructed as an index of their supposed oppression, complicity in the threat of extremism emanating from their sons, and limited participation in the labour force. The book aims to complement a growing body of research on raciolinguistics and language ideologies. It illuminates the intersection of language, Islamophobia, and securitization, and will be of interest to postgraduate students and academics working in applied linguistics and discourse analysis, and interdisciplinary audiences in studies of race, Islamophobia, and gender.

Back Jacket

"In this important and timely book Madiha Neelam reveals the discriminatory ideological discourses which underpin government policy on migration. Through critical multimodal discourse analysis she carefully demonstrates how presuppositions about the English language proficiency of Muslim women in the UK precipitate the imposition of coercive, iniquitous language tests. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with language and social justice in global relations. There should be more like this."

--Adrian Blackledge, University of Stirling, UK

"This is an excellent and timely book which focuses on notions of Islamophobia and gender. The book contributes to the growing literature around language and securitisation through work on CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) in relation to Muslim women and how orientalist tropes are discursively constructed relating to language policy in the UK. The book is scholarly and the subject matter is dealt with poise and senstivity by Dr Neelam befitting the gravity of the issues discussed."

--Kamran Khan, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

This book examines representations of Muslim women as speakers of English in the context of a language ideological debate in the UK in 2016. The author shows how Muslim women are stereotyped as non-speakers of English through the manipulation of census data, and how this supposed lack of English is discursively constructed as an index of their supposed oppression, complicity in the threat of extremism emanating from their sons, and limited participation in the labour force. The book aims to complement a growing body of research on raciolinguistics and language ideologies. It illuminates the intersection of language, Islamophobia, and securitization, and will be of interest to postgraduate students and academics working in applied linguistics and discourse analysis, and interdisciplinary audiences in studies of race, Islamophobia, and gender.

​Madiha Neelam is a postdoctoral fellow in the Linguistics Department at Macquarie University, Australia. She has worked as an English language teacher for more than ten years. Her research interests include applied sociolinguistics, second language learning and Islamophobia.

Author Biography

​Madiha Neelam is a postdoctoral fellow in the Linguistics Department at Macquarie University, Australia. She has worked as an English language teacher for more than ten years. Her research interests include applied sociolinguistics, second language learning and Islamophobia.