Paper short abstract:

From research using qualitative ethnographic methods in a village involved with social welfare work in the Western Indian state of Maharashtra, inclusive mother tongue language ideologies and pedagogies contribute to citizenship building and address social disparities for more equitable education.

Paper long abstract:

In India, where elementary education is a fundamental right, significant barriers stall educational equity through linguistic inclusivity in contexts of social stratification (Annamalai 2001, Groff 2017, Mohanty 2019). Addressing social segregation, this paper examines intersectional student identities through connections with language where social structures, such as caste and socioeconomic class, present frameworks of privilege and develop connections between social structure, belonging and identity, and language in education (Mohanty 2006, 2019). From research using qualitative ethnographic methods with a settled nomadic Tribe in a rural district in Maharashtra, this paper highlights the social distinctions and disparities in which Banjara youth position themselves from their own perspectives with their Mother Tongue in their communities illuminating language ideologies within a political economy of languages that emerges in and about education. Banjara-speaking students find it more difficult to find a sense of belonging in classrooms and the broader community than their peers whose Mother Tongue is Marathi, the regional language, language of instruction in schools, and the language of power. As it is difficult to speak about the transformative power of education without addressing the continuing need for equitable learning opportunities for students from educationally disenfranchised populations, a key insight of this study are the dynamic intersections of power and impacts of language mapped onto identity and belonging in socially and linguistically stratified settings.