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<br><b><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size=+2>Temple University Press</font></font></b>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">announces</font>
<br><b><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size=+3>Language Policy and
Identity Politics in the United States</font></font></b>
<br><b><font face="Bookman Old Style">Ronald Schmidt, Sr.</font></b></center>
<font face="Bookman Old Style"><font color="#000000"></font></font>
<p><font face="Bookman Old Style"> <i>"Finally,
a study that is at one and the same time understandable and</i></font>
<br><i><font face="Bookman Old Style"> scholarly,
factual and ethical, pluralist and integrationist, and sensitive to</font></i>
<br><i><font face="Bookman Old Style"> the often
disregarded overlap between class, race and ethnicity, a study</font></i>
<br><i><font face="Bookman Old Style"> that sympathetically
examines all sides of the American language policy</font></i>
<br><i><font face="Bookman Old Style"> issue and
finds that these sides can and should come together productively,</font></i>
<br><i><font face="Bookman Old Style"> so that
both pluribus and unum will obtain."</font></i>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style"> —Joshua A.
Fishman, Ph.D., editor of Language and Ethnic Identity,</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style"> Oxford University
Press</font><font face="Bookman Old Style"></font>
<p><font face="Bookman Old Style">Well over thirty million people in the
United States speak a primary language other than English. Nearly twenty
million of them speak Spanish. And these numbers are growing. Critics of
immigration and multiculturalism argue that recent government language
policies such as bilingual education, non-English election materials, and
social service and workplace "language rights" threaten the national character
of the United States. Proponents of bilingualism, on the other hand, maintain
that, far from being a threat, these language policies and programs provide
an opportunity to right old wrongs and make the United States a more democratic
society.</font><font face="Bookman Old Style"></font>
<p><font face="Bookman Old Style">This book lays out the two approaches
to language policy—linguistic assimilation and linguistic pluralism—in
clear and accessible terms. Filled with examples and narratives, it provides
a readable overview of the U.S. "culture wars" and explains why the conflict
has just now emerged as a major issue in the United States.</font><font face="Bookman Old Style"></font>
<p><font face="Bookman Old Style">Professor Schmidt examines bilingual
education in the public schools, "linguistic access" rights to public services,
and the designation of English as the United States' "official" language.
He illuminates the conflict by describing the comparative, theoretical,
and social contexts for the debate. The source of the disagreement, he
maintains, is not a disagreement over language per se but over identity
and the consequences of identity for individuals, ethnic groups, and the
country as a whole. Who are "the American people"? Are we one national
group into which newcomers must assimilate? Or are we composed of many
cultural communities, each of which is a unique but integral part of the
national fabric? This fundamental point is what underlies the specific
disputes over language policy. This way of looking at identity politics,
as Professor Schmidt shows, calls into question the dichotomy between "material
interest" politics and "symbolic" politics in relation to group identities.</font><font face="Bookman Old Style"></font>
<p><font face="Bookman Old Style">Not limited to describing the nature
and context of the language debate, Language Policy and Identity Politics
in the United States reaches the conclusion that a policy of linguistic
pluralism, coupled with an immigrant settlement policy and egalitarian
economic reforms, will best meet the aims of justice and the common good.
Only by attacking both the symbolic and material effects of racialization
will the United States be able to attain the goals of social equality and
national harmony.</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style"> </font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">Ronald Schmidt, Sr. is Professor of
Political Science at California State University,</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">Long Beach.</font><font face="Bookman Old Style"></font>
<p><font face="Bookman Old Style">cloth 1-56639-754-5 $65.50
296 pp, 14 tables</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">paper 1-56639-755-3 $21.95
6 x 9</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">
April 2000</font>
<br><b><font face="Bookman Old Style">TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS</font></b>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">1601 N. Broad Street, 305 USB ·
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6099</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style">For orders call 1-800-447-1656 ·
Fax orders 1-800-207-4442</font>
<br><font face="Bookman Old Style"></font>
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