The myopic focus on decoloniality in applied linguistics and English language education: citations and stolen subjectivities

Abstract

The recent surge in acknowledging and critically engaging with identity, advocacy, social justice, criticality, anti-racism, and decolonization in applied linguistics has initiated a process aimed at destabilizing, disrupting, and eventually transforming the geopolitics of knowledge, epistemological orientations, ideological commitments, and methodological practices in research. The current study investigates the evolutionary trajectory of decoloniality in applied linguistics, specifically focusing on citation practices as a point of entry in knowledge building, theorization, and dissemination in major journals over the past 5 years. The findings uncover the consistent invisibility of scholars from the Global South as authors (who use their voices [in]form the knowledge building and dissemination), cited authors (whose voices are used to [in]form the knowledge building and dissemination), and editors/editorial board members (whose vision and practices that ultimately [in]form disciplinary norms, expectations, and directions about knowledge building and dissemination). These (in)advertent (self-) exclusionary trends relegate Southern voices, subjectivities, and epistemological perspectives, perpetuating the dominance of the Anglosphere and obscuring ongoing epistemic appropriation. It concludes that resisting epistemic injustices (erasure, silence, and theft) must be regarded as an ethical, ideological, and professional imperative and demand the deployment of rhetorical strategies, equitable citation practices, collaborative initiatives, and a sustained commitment to decolonial skepticism.