Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 23 - Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024. This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 23 - Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism - contributed by Maria Rosa Garrido. From the introduction The humanitarian workers that Footitt et al. (2020) interviewed felt that language was institutionally accorded a low status and that ‘language needs and challenges were not systematically discussed in the context of programme planning, delivery and evaluation’ (p. 97). Limited resources and the imperative to deliver specific project objectives to the donors makes it difficult for Northern humanitarian agencies like Oxfam to adopt multilingual policies. Thus, many adopt English as a lingua franca internally ( Tesseur, 2021: 262 ) and ad hoc solutions for unplanned linguistic needs in the field (see Section 4.2). Language train...