Colombia’s Language Politics: Neoliberalism Under the Guise of Messianic Nationalism

In this duo-ethnography, two researchers revisit their critical analyses of Colombia’s English language policy, initially known as the National Program of Bilingualism (2004–2019). The researchers explore multiple ways in which this policy continues to align with Colombia’s right-wing governments’ neoliberal agenda by fabricating a false sense of meritocracy among citizens that is supposed to bring prosperity to the nation without acknowledging the existing inequity in a highly-stratified society. In addition, the authors discuss ways in which their research with pre-service and in-service teachers has allowed them to facilitate both groups of teacher-learners’ reflection on these often-invisible ideologies. Last, they make a case for the importance of deconstructing these nationalist and neoliberal ideologies among teachers to foster a sense of solidarity towards others, which is particularly important given the growing number of displaced Colombians and Venezuelan migrants moving to large urban centers.