ABSTRACT
The U.S./Mexico borderlands are intimately tied to colonial and Western monolingual understandings of language. In this chapter, the authors grapple with how colonialist language ideologies permeate all aspects of schools and society. The authors contend that language ideologies must be studied within the context of the legacy of colonialism and how they re-articulated in present day. Any discussion on language must address such a legacy—a legacy that continues to normalize a Euro-American onto-epistemology. Through the use of Chicana feminist methodology known as pláticas, the authors examine how language ideologies and policies permeate and impact their south Texas borderlands community. Finally, they offer examples of resistance and rethinking of language ideologies found within colonialist spaces such as the U.S./Mexico border as a way to highlight the decolonial imaginary, border thinking and linguistic possibilities that transpire on the borderlands.
