Language as Statecraft (The Politics of Language)

Shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize 2026

This book examines the rise of English in Rwanda, offering critical insights into the links between language, colonialism, and capitalism, with implications for our understanding of global English.

Spowage takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on political theory, cultural-materialism, and critical sociolinguistics. She positions language policy as an instrument for social reproduction and exploitation, but also a site of struggle and contest. Unravelling the complex history of language politics and policy in Rwanda, Spowage elaborates a theory of language as statecraft. This approach draws attention to the endurance of a colonial-capitalist link between language and social class, while illuminating the specific power of English in legitimising neoliberal political power and class hierarchies. On this basis, Spowage argues for a theoretical reimagining of the spread of English through the ‘global English nébuleuse’, a model which aims to capture the complex mechanisms that reinforce the dominance of English and to identify points where those mechanisms are fragile.

This innovative volume will be of interest to scholars in sociolinguistics, global Englishes, language and politics, and African studies.

Kate Spowage is Lecturer in English Language at the School of English at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research centres on the politics of language.