ABSTRACT
In this paper, we seek to deconstruct the discourses that naturalise and normalise what we call “postcolonial desires for colonial English,” a phenomenon observed in many officially postcolonial or independent societies, as well as in contexts themselves considered imperial powers. We do this first by tracing the historical origins of the gradual inscription of these desires upon the subjectivities and cultural imaginaries of the colonised by analysing the historical processes of imperialism, colonialism and Cold War structures, and the cultural and psychological aftermath of such processes. We conclude by outlining what is needed to interrupt the working of the effects of these processes at the level of subjectivity and cultural imaginary, and propose new ways of reconstituting desires in learning languages in multilingual contexts without subscribing to historical or contemporary hierarchies of languages.
