Language Hegemony and the Construction of Identity

Language Hegemony
by Rajiv Malhotra

For most industries, packaging and distribution are more critical than production, and those in control of distribution often end up controlling production as well. This was a lesson from the spice and textile trade, where India was complacent being merely a producer, and abandoned the distribution role to Europeans who eventually also ended up controlling production and the producers. In the case of tea, until Tata's recent acquisition of Tetley, the British kept most of the end-user revenue because of their marketing role in packaging and distribution. Their value-added had expanded to making tea bags, developing ice tea and de-caffeinated tea. A dominant distributor eventually uses its power to also control development and production. This pattern has also been true of Indian ideas and heritage that went into Western civilization via the Arabs, Persians, and Greek. This non-involvement attitude towards the distribution of ideas was viable in the old days when the guru could wait for the right student to arrive, and any move to 'promote' knowledge was below his dignity. But in today's competing worldviews, this attitude is not viable and is often the mark of arrogance, psychological complexes, and an introverted mentality.

In this age of information and intellectual property, packaging, distribution and marketing of ideas is more key than their development. Language is the vehicle through which this packaging and distribution is accomplished. Hegemony of language is therefore comparable to control of ideas by controlling their distribution. Since language is ultimately a 'game' of contexts and meanings, whoever defines the language of discourse controls the rules of the game. Georg Feuerstein writes, "Language pre-structures the facts in a certain way and introduces various blind spots". Language battles, especial implicit or invisible, are more critical than battles over the ideas.

Ignoring that ours is in an age of global competition is foolish, howsoever noble and visionary the supporting rhetoric. It would be similar to not abandoning business or career success just to be nice to others. Lawyers have their own language of due process and contracts, and often the outcome can depend on mastery of this, rather than merit in a pure sense. Academicians have their scholar's language, involving games for publishing, peer reviews, career advancement, and market share of ideas. The whole case over Microsoft's breakup is about control of technological standards, which is equivalent to the hegemony of language.