Resumen de Language policy and the apprehension of history

Jeff Bale

• The goals of this paper are to think carefully about the uncertain place historical thinking has had in Language Policy and to consider alternatives available to us. Along the way, the paper makes three arguments. First, it identifies two sides of the same problem, namely a narrow understanding of history as a way of seeing and doing language policy that informs, and is exacerbated by, apprehensions about empiricism in Language Policy. Second, the paper expands on an argument introduced in the editorial for this issue that there is a richer tradition of historical inquiry in language policy than is often recognized. Finally, the paper argues for notions of historical thinking in language-policy scholarship that eschew a unitary model and instead hold on to the openness of history in ways that might inform new leaps towards radical change.