National and ethnic minorities: Language rights and recognition

Abstract

In an increasingly globalized world, marked by transmigration, transnationalism, and the apparent porosity of national borders, debates over what constitutes (ongoing) citizenship in modern nation- states have become increasingly contested. What rights and responsibilities ensue for national citizens in this late modern, globalized age? How should nation-states respond to rapidly changing demographic patterns that reflect the rise of what Vertovec (2007) has termed “superdiversity” – the rapid ethnic and linguistic diversification of constituent national populations via migration and transmigration, particularly in major urban areas? What distinct entitlements (if any) might be accorded existing minority populations in these territories – that is, those groups who have long been associated historically with a particular territory but who, as a result of colonization, confederation, or conquest (or some combination of all three), now find themselves socially and politically marginalized? These broad groups are most often described as “national minorities” (Kymlicka 1995) and include within them the distinct subset of indigenous peoples (Xanthaki 2007; May 2012a). And what of ethnic minorities – those who have migrated to a new country and/or have been the subject of forced relocation? Do their histories of recent migration afford them any rights or recognition beyond the usual national imperatives of cultural and linguistic assimilation?