The Colonial Constitution of Poly as a Racial and Linguistic Category through Policing, Gentrification, and an Ideology of Oppressionlessness

Abstract

This article examines the historical, institutional, and interactional processes by which “Poly” (i.e., Polynesian) has come to be understood as a race and language within a context in the California Bay Area. Rather than understanding “races” as discrete categories—as well as sociolinguistic features as permanently attributable and patterned to specific racialized groups—I argue that racialization is ever-changing and rooted in power relations that are (re)produced from interaction to interaction, and moment to moment. I primarily draw upon a semi-structured interview with a Tongan young woman (“Maklea”), and more broadly ethnographic research conducted within her local language context, and argue that a racialized Polyness (i.e., Polynesianness) is becoming raciolinguistically enregistered due to experiences with White supremacy and processes of colonialism. That is, Polyness is in the process of being rendered mutually perceivable as a racial category and coherent set of semiotic practices as Polynesian diasporic peoples in this community are confronting policing, gentrification, and an ideology of oppressionlessness. The raciolinguistic enregisterment of Polyness is occurring as Maklea, and more broadly Polynesian young people, are grappling with and challenging the ways White supremacist institutions and systems are seeking to violently structure their lives and ways of knowing, being, valuing, and speaking.