ABSTRACT
Sri Lanka is a conflict-ridden postcolonial nation that was ravaged by a civil war. Largely excluded from mainstream representations of the ethnic conflict, Muslims constitute the country’s second largest minority group. In contrast to Sinhalas and Tamils, they define their ethnic identities on the basis of religion rather than language. This chapter draws on research at a trilingual government school to investigate how Muslim teachers and students made sense of Tamil- and English-medium education in relation to their separate ethno-religious identity and class differences. I analyze how Tamil-medium Muslim teachers responded to critiques of their speech by asserting that their heterogeneous linguistic practices were inextricably connected to their distinct ethno-religious identities. Muslim students’ lack of fit with the ethnolinguistic affiliations presupposed by the school enabled them to embrace English-medium education. However, the English bilingual program complicated Muslims’ narratives of identity by underscoring the relevance of English to class divisions and access to global networks. I argue that orientations to global English mediate ethnopolitical identities and everyday social relations.
