On Tue, 25 Jun 1996 15:00:40 +0200 (MET DST) "Paul.Treanor" 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>I had intended to post something to crit-geog about the pretensions of 
>the list and its users, but this mail has pre-empted it. I mailed the 
>mailbase secretariat yesyerday asking them to take all monolingual 
lists 
>off their server. Somehow, I do not expect a positive reply.

1. There are very few which explicitly bar the use of more than one 
language.
2. Despite this, removing all lists that have only used one language is a 
ridiculous suggestion, what possible advantage would there be in 
stopping people communicating.


>My impression is that geographers as as conned by the global 
pretensions 
>of internet as anyone else. However this does not date from Internet or 
>telematica. I counted the editors and editorial board of Antipode 
recently, 
>all but 4 of 28 (from memory, this) from English speaking universities 
in 
>ex-British colonies. Everyone finds this pattern normal, no-one 
questions 
>that all the articles are in English. 

Other langauages have their own journals, French, Russian, Chinese etc

No-one questions that some-one can 
>get to be a Professor of Geography without ever having read a word in 
a 
>language other than English.
If you mean this literally it may be true. But this does mean that the field 
of study hasn't been influenced by other cultures. There is such a thing 
as translation. Look at the contribution the Russians made to soil 
science.

>
>Of course this is standard pattern in the natural scineces, but also in 
>most of the humanities. Nevertheless it is clearly racist, in the usual 
>sense. Strictly, it discriminates on the basis of ethno-linguistic 
>groups. Discriminates by exclusion, obviously, but also by inequal 
>access. Sitting opposite me at the moment is a woman who has come 
from 
>Australia to do an environmental philosophy course at the University of 
>Amsterdam. For the convenience of this white middle-class Australian, 
and 
>similar students, the 
>course is offered in English. The second languages in Amsterdam, 
after 
>Dutch, are Moroccan Arabic, Berber, Turkish and Kurdish. Needless to 
say, 
>the University of Amsterdam offers no environmental philosophy 
courses in 
>these languages. Needless to say, despite EU funding, no courses for 
>exchange students are offered ion any other EU language than Dutch 
or 
>English. For everyone it is absolutely normal, that such a student may 
do 
>her work in her own language, while a newly arrived Moroccan student 
has 
>to learn a fourth language to academic level.
>
>The academic dominance of English, which is now being reproduced in 
>electronic form, benefits the national elites in English speaking 
>countries

it benefits many people, just look at India where English is the langauge 
used to communicate between many different groups 

: it combines race, class, income and territorial barriers. And 
>despite the pretensions of journals like Antipode, it discriminates 
>poltically too. The winner is the Anglo-American liberalo-communitarian 
>tradtition. Probably, most students at British or USA universities by 
>now think these are the only political alternatives in history. 
>Certainly, many geographers also seem unable to step outside 
>Anglo-American patterns of thought.

Your argument essentially boils down to either everyone learns 
esparanto or becomes a polyglot or we stop communicating.


Jonathan Fairburn                                                               
Division of Geography
Brindley Building
Staffordshire University
Leek Road
Stoke on Trent
ST4 2DF
01782-294015 Direct Line
01782 747167 Fax
01782 294018 Division
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/sands/scis/geography/Geogtop.HTM



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