Programs in Anthropology are proud to announce the release of Professor Nicholas Limerick’s new book, Multilingual Nations, Monolingual Schools: Confronting Colonial Language Policies Across the Americas. Dr. Limerick is an Editor of the publication along with Jamie L. Schissel, Mario López-Gopar, and Vilma Huerta Cordova.

The effects of colonialism in education and society have deep and difficult legacies. This book argues that it is necessary to better understand the deep roots of colonialism in order to realize justice and overturn forms of oppression in education policy, in classrooms, or in family and community-based education. Highlighting research from across Abya Yala with examples from various contexts throughout North, Central, and South America, chapter authors explore the ways that colonialism manifests in current educational policy and practice; how this happens through language use and communication; and, by starting locally, what comparisons can be gained from different cases across the continent. This volume examines forms of communication and knowledge―such as Indigenous and/or colonial languages, standardized testing, and institutionally sanctioned forms of literacy―and seeks to historicize, provide further context, look at other cases, and follow encouraging examples with the goal of interrupting colonial trajectories.

Multilingual Nations, Monolingual Schools: Confronting Colonial Language Policies Across the Americas is now available here.