Paper short abstract:

Linguistic racism in Latin America, where speakers of indigenous languages are disadvantaged in relation to Spanish speakers, intersects with racial, ethnic and gender difference, and is by its nature a subtle form of discrimination that, despite new legislation, is hard to counteract.

Paper long abstract:

This paper takes as its premise the daily realities of linguistic racism in Latin America, most powerful where speakers of indigenous languages are socially disadvantaged in relation to Spanish speakers, as in the Andean-Amazonian states of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The paper will discuss how linguistic discrimination intersects with, and mediates, racial, ethnic and gender discrimination, and is also a function of unequal educational opportunities and access to literacy. It will examine the legislative frameworks currently being put in place to counter these problems. It will discuss how emerging legislation on language rights articulates with new anti-racism laws, laws on prior consultation, education reform, and constitutional reform. The paper will seek to make a contribution to the debates generated by the panel by bringing the key issue of linguistic identity to the fore. Linguistic racism is one of the hardest forms of racism to tackle, because language as a medium of social interaction can act below the level of consciousness, allowing for subtle and unrecognised forms of discrimination that, despite legislation, are hard to counteract in practice.