This book contributes significantly to our understanding of bilingualism and bilingual education as a sociocultural and political process by offering analyses of the stories of five Tibetan individual journeys of becoming bilingual in the Tibetan areas of China at four different points in time from 1950 to the present. The data presented comprises the narrative of their bilingual encounters, including their experiences of using language in their families, in village, and in school. Opportunities to develop bilingualism were intimately linked with historical and political events in the wider layers of experiences, which reveal the complexity of bilingualism. Moreover, their experiences of developing bilingualism are the stories of struggle to become bilingual. They struggle because they want to keep two languages in their lives. It illustrates their relationship with society. They are Tibetans. L1 is not the official language of their country, but it is the tie with their ethnicity. It addresses bilingualism linked with the formation of identity. The unique feature of this book is that it offers a deep understanding of bilingualism and bilingual education by examining the stories of five individuals’ learning experiences over a period of almost 60 years.

A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 A Globe & Mail Book of the Year "A stimulating work on the politics of language." LA Review of Books As globalisation continues languages are disappearing faster than ever, leaving our planet's linguistic diversity leaping towards extinction. The science of how languages are acquired is becoming more advanced and the internet is bringing us new ways of teaching the next generation, however it is increasingly challenging for minority languages to survive in the face of a handful of hegemonic 'super-tongues'. In Speak Not, James Griffiths reports from the frontlines of the battle to preserve minority languages, from his native Wales, Hawaii and indigenous American nations, to southern China and Hong Kong. He explores the revival of the Welsh language as a blueprint for how to ensure new generations are not robbed of their linguistic heritage, outlines how loss of indigenous languages is the direct result of colonialism and globalisation and examines how technology is both hindering and aiding the fight to prevent linguistic extinction. Introducing readers to compelling characters and examining how indigenous communities are fighting for their languages, Griffiths ultimately explores how languages hang on, what happens when they don't, and how indigenous tongues can be preserved and brought back from the brink.

Multilingual China explores the dynamics of multilingualism in one of the most multilingual countries in the world. This edited collection comprises frontline empirical research into a range of important issues that arise from the presence of 55 official ethnic minority groups, plus China’s search to modernize and strengthen the nation’s place in the world order. Topics focus on the dynamics of national, ethnic minority and foreign languages in use, policy making and education, inside China and beyond. Micro-studies of language contact and variation are included, as are chapters dealing with multilingual media and linguistic landscapes. The book highlights tensions such as threats to the sustainability of weak languages and dialects, the role and status of foreign languages (especially English) and how Chinese can be presented as a viable regional or international language. Multilingual China will appeal to academics and researchers working in multilingualism and multilingual education, as well as sinologists keen to examine the interplay of languages in this complex multilingual context.

Researching Education for Social Justice in Multilingual Settings provides innovative guidance on carrying out qualitative research in education by offering a wide range of examples of research projects with a focus on the methodologies and data collection strategies used. Rather than decontextualised 'how-to' advice, the book offers insights into the complexities of actually carrying out research in multilingual settings. In this practical guide, examples of real-life projects are framed by chapters providing a theoretical background to the principles of ethnography and to the processes and practices of qualitative research, focusing on data generation and collection strategies. Case study chapters offer a rich understanding of the detail of qualitative research in education from the points of view of people who have engaged in it. Moreover, the book promotes understanding of current research that aims to make a difference to pupils, students, teachers and families whose diverse languages and cultural experiences are not fully valued in society and in mainstream education contexts. Pedagogical features that support private study and use on courses include a glossary of key terms, guiding questions for reading at the start of each section, and discussion questions to promote reflection as well as suggestions for further reading. Researching Education for Social Justice in Multilingual Settings is a supportive guide to the principles of ethnography and the processes of qualitative research for all those wishing to investigate complex problems in multilingual education settings.

This work provides a comprehensive overview of education provision and policy in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) during the half century since China asserted control over the region. Catriona Bass sets her modern history of education in the TAR against the wider context of the political and educational shifts which have taken place in China since the Communist Party came to power in 1949.

The Chinese government's education policy in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is significantly reducing the access of ethnic Tibetans to education in their mother tongue. Although the policy claims to promote bilingual education, it is in practice, leading to the gradual replacement of Tibetan by Chinese as the medium of instruction in primary schools throughout the region, except for classes studying Tibetan as a language. This report details how state polices now mean that more primary schools and even kindergartens use Chinese as the teaching language for Tibetan students, and documents the impact on Tibetan families and children. Since the policies were introduced, Tibetans have staged protests against them, and written documents by students, scholars, and others attest to continuing concern about the direction of China's education policies for Tibetans. Human Rights Watch urges the Chinese government to ensure that all Tibetan children can learn in and use Tibetan, to end policies that erode access to mother tongue education, and to end repression of peaceful activism in support of language rights.

Only fifty years ago, Tibetan medicine, now seen in China as a vibrant aspect of Tibetan culture, was considered a feudal vestige to be eliminated through government-led social transformation. Medicine and Memory in Tibet examines medical revivalism on the geographic and sociopolitical margins both of China and of Tibet�s medical establishment in Lhasa, exploring the work of medical practitioners, or amchi, and of Medical Houses in the west-central region of Tsang. Due to difficult research access and the power of state institutions in the writing of history, the perspectives of more marginal amchi have been absent from most accounts of Tibetan medicine. Theresia Hofer breaks new ground both theoretically and ethnographically, in ways that would be impossible in today�s more restrictive political climate that severely limits access for researchers. She illuminates how medical practitioners safeguarded their professional heritage through great adversity and personal hardship.

This book brings together new theoretical perspectives and bilingual education models from different sociopolitical and cultural contexts across the globe in order to address the importance of sociocultural, educational and linguistic environments that create, enhance or limit the ways in which diasporic children and young people acquire the ‘Chinese’ language. The chapters present a variety of research-based studies on Chinese heritage language education and bilingual education drawing on detailed investigations of formal and informal educational input including language socialization in families, community heritage language schools and government sponsored educational institutions. Exploring the many pathways of learning ‘Chinese’ and being ‘Chinese’, this volume also examines the complex nature of language acquisition and development, involving language attitudes and ideologies as well as linguistic practices and identity formation. Learning Chinese in Diasporic Communities is intended for researchers, teacher-educators, students and practitioners in the fields of Chinese language education and bilingual education and more broadly those concerned with language policy studies and sociolinguistics.

Drawing upon his deep knowledge of the Tibetan culture and people, Goldstein takes us through the history of Tibet, concentrating on the political and cultural negotiations over the status of Tibet from the turn of the century to the present. He describes the role of Tibet in Chinese politics, the feeble and conflicting responses of foreign governments, overtures and rebuffs on both sides, and the nationalistic emotions that are inextricably entwined in the political debate. Ultimately, he presents a plan for a reasoned compromise, identifying key aspects of the conflict and appealing to the United States to play an active diplomatic role.

China has been ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. This volume recasts the pedagogical and policy challenges of minority education in China in the light of the state's efforts to balance unity and diversity. It brings together leading experts including both critical voices writing from outside China and those working inside China's educational system. The essays explore different aspects of ethnic minority education in China: the challenges associated with bilingual and trilingual education in Xinjiang and Tibet; Han Chinese reactions to preferential minority education; the ro.