ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on what happened in the period of history after colonization and up to the current phase of globalization that the world is experiencing. By tracing the emigration of ex-colonial subjects as labour migrants to the global North, the chapter examines how cultural ties are strengthened as subsequent generations migrate and chain migration develops. Case studies of language brokers and mediators demonstrate how migrants from former colonies who, for generations, have made their home in the Global North are simultaneously, culturally, hybrid. The lenses of cultural diversity, multiculturalism and interculturalism are employed to understand cultural maintenance and social integration in the contexts of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The concept of identity is explored in relation to language and ethnicity, while notions such as language standardization and the standard language myth are used to examine the relationship between migration, education and employment for multilingual migrants. Discourses of assimilation and integration are explored through case studies, vignettes and real-world examples from migrants’ lives.
