English and Development: Voices from a Rural Bangladeshi Madrasa

Abstract

Abstract Because of its global status, donors and states promote English for economic development of countries in the global South such as Bangladesh. Governments, donors, and western leaders propose that people in madrasas (Islamic educational institutes) should learn English for development and security. But voices from madrasas are little heard. Based on a linguistic ethnography, this article presents some of these neglected perspectives on English for development at a private and unreformed Qawmi madrasa in rural Bangladesh. The findings show that people in the madrasa from a reflexively traditional stance, reject economic progress and western development programmes, and largely resist English as a language of development. These positions are considerably shaped by their commitments to religion and Arabic, supporting their alternative language and development visions. This article, based on the findings and drawing on Southern theory, interrogates the promotion of English for development, and asks how alert it is to heterogenous and complex southern realities.