New Books in Islamic Studies Radio ReOrient 13.7: "Linguistics, Citizenship and Belonging,” with Kamran Khan, hosted by Claudia Radiven and Marchella Ward
Nov 28, 2025
In this engaging conversation, Kamran Khan, an Associate Professor specializing in language, citizenship, and security, sheds light on the vital connection between linguistics and identity. He discusses how language requirements impact perceptions of belonging, tracing historical shifts in citizenship policies from multiculturalism to assimilation. Khan highlights the implications of language policing under the Prevent policy, linking it to issues of racialized perceptions and exclusion. He wraps up with a call for activism and linguistic justice, emphasizing the power of language as both resistance and protection.
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English As A Political Boundary
- English functions as a political tool that defines who belongs in Britain, not just a neutral medium.
- Language requirements and tests became mechanisms to draw exclusionary national boundaries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
1981 Act Rewrote Citizenship Rules
- The 1981 British Nationality Act reframed citizenship from Commonwealth ties to a national model linked to immigration control.
- The later rise of standardized language testing hardened those borders and operationalized exclusion.
Prevent Turns Speech Into Risk Signals
- Prevent and counter-extremism rely on linguistic signals as predictive markers of risk, producing securitized interpretations of speech.
- Perception and interpretation determine referrals more than demonstrated intent, making language a precarious marker.
