SUMMARY:

In this interview with the historian Akshya Saxena, she discusses her research on how a global, elite tongue – English – has been transformed into a local tool for democratic inclusion and political resistance in postcolonial India. Saxena challenges the traditional view of English as merely a colonial tool of dominance, arguing instead that it has become a relational and historical medium through which marginalized groups, such as caste-oppressed and minority communities, make political claims. By examining nonliterary sites like dictionaries, transliteration, and subtitling, she reveals how the language is lived and understood even by those who do not formally speak it. The interview highlights Saxena’s effort to move beyond binary oppositions of global versus local, suggesting that the “vernacular” is not a fixed site of authenticity but a negotiated space where power is both exercised and contested.