Authors

Blair Biggar¹;  ¹ University of Glasgow, UK

Discussion

Not speaking the dominant language of the state poses challenges “in communication, in symbolic affirmation, and in identity promotion” (Patten, 2001, p. 695). The languages used by public institutions and the political sphere impact on which, and how, citizens can participate in public life. As a result, migrants can be rendered dependent on complex and precarious forms of mediation to enact their rights.

During over 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Scotland with EU Roma migrants from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania, I found a consensus among participants on the importance of learning English. Understanding citizenship as a lived experience that has both instrumental (rights and participation) and affective tenets (belonging), this paper considers how language learning featured in their everyday.

My findings reflect the array of locations and ways in which language can be learned, especially when formal channels are limited or closed; language learning as challenging; and the availability of opportunities to learn as embedded within wider inequalities. Language learning at the level of community presented a useful and creative way of circumventing the barriers faced by non-English speakers. I aim to contribute to the literature on language and citizenship more broadly, through a focus on the process of language learning itself.