The Victorious English language: hegemonic process in the management academy

We explore hegemonic linguistic process, i.e. the dominant and unreflective use of the English language in the knowledge production process, by management academics. Empirically, our investigation focuses on those management academics, who are non-native speakers of English (MA NNE), yet who have to articulate and publish 'what they know' in English. We argue that this is not only a technical-language based disadvantage to these scholars, but also a continuation of 'linguistic imperialism', a historical-political process by which one language and the knowledge it contains comes to supersede all other ways of knowledge generation and its articulation. This, as we show, has consequences for the careers and well-being of management academics as well as for the generation and dissemination of knowledge itself. In concluding we propose that in particular power, literary and knowledge brokers in the academy need to stimulate debate and break the silence on which the hegemony of the English language is based.