Decolonising Multilingualism

What if my own multilingualism is simply that of one who is fluent in way too many colonial languages?

If we are going to do this, if we are going to decolonise multilingualism, let’s do it as an attempt at a way of doing it.

If we are going to do this, let’s cite with an eye to decolonising.

If we are going to do this then let’s improvise and devise. This is how we might learn the arts of decolonising.

If we are going to do this then we need different companions.

If we are going to do this we will need artists and poetic activists.

If we are going to do this, let’s do it in a way which is as local as it is global; which affirms the granulations of the way peoples name their worlds.

Finally, if we are going to do this, let’s do it multilingually.

Alison Phipps is a poet and holds the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Education, Languages and Arts at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.