Governmentality and Power in Language Change: A Case Study of the Construction of “Fijian Sign Language”

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the history and contemporary changes in Fiji (an) Sign Language (FJSL) from the perspective of “governmentality”, and to identify how/what languages and subjects are formed in the action of various powers. “Government” can be defined as something that “conducts the conduct” of people and acts as a power that shapes specific knowledge, subjects, and objects. From the perspective of governmentality, an overview of the history of sign languages and the deaf community in Fiji shows that various people, institutions and discourses have been involved in the formation of these languages and community, and that they have dynamically changed over time. In recent years, young deaf people who have traveled abroad have taken initiatives to make FJSL an official language, which have resulted in the monolingualization of FJSL and its joining with national ideology, mainly in the public sphere. This paper uses ethnographic data to examine the changes that are occurring under the influence of various governmental powers.