What languages will be used in schools is an especially complicated issue in postcolonial societies. A language associated with colonialism is often required for use in schools. Classroom interaction reveals that teachers and students often lack knowledge of the language. A handful of scholars have developed a notion, safetalk, for explaining that teachers and students in such classrooms are colluding in saving face and managing their lack of knowledge. This presentation describes classroom interaction in Varanasi, India, and demonstrates that safetalk exists in an especially obvious way in the English class at the Hindi-medium school. This is unsurprising in that it coincides with dominant perspectives on education in Varanasi. But the presentation also questions whether the notion accounts for the ways in which people who are working class envision English and its uses in Varanasi and in northern India more generally.

Speaking:
LaDousa Chaise
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Hamilton College

More information...

Location:	Maxwell Auditorium
Price:	free
Sponsoring department/organization:	Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs
Contact:	Nicholas Turner npturner@syr.edu 443-9248
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