Chasing Encounters

Cristina has international experience teaching in formal and informal spaces in Japan and in Canada. She was born in Trinidad and is the first woman in the family pursuing a Ph.D. We discussed how the English language has been used for domination and control but also shaped the way we think in a capitalist society. Mainly, these mentalities stem from colonization. To this, Cristina explains how colonialism is very different depending on the contexts, however, there are some patterns that help us understand what happens to the local languages, cultures and knowledges and what counts and what is being valued or not. We engaged in conversations around questioning why some people denigrate local languages and cultures in order to behave and speak properly to fit in this society and be perceived as more intelligent so they can move socially. While mastering English may be practical and gives us power, multilingualism helps us understanding other human beings and other modes of understating the world, and it allows