Curriculum for the month: language and identity

Reading list:

• Babel by R. F. Kuang
• Raciolinguistics: How language shapes our ideas about race edited by H. Sammy Alim and others

Unrelated book I’m also reading:

• Butter by Asako Yuzuki (I seem to always have a horror/thriller book going)

How the topic relates to me: I grew up not knowing the language my family spoke (Cantonese/Mandarin/Vietnamese/Teochew). I’m interested in learning more about how that contributed to my learned identity. I do have a goal to learn Mandarin and then Cantonese. I regret not trying to learn sooner. These things feel so deeply uncomfortable for me to talk about. They have for a long time but I don’t want to ignore it anymore.