Linguistic power-geometries: Language purposes and practices in a ‘decolonial’ multi-lingual research network

Language is central to knowledge production, but comparative and international education (CIE) research has paid limited attention to language practices in the context of multi-lingual research partnerships. Working across languages is complex and accounts of this kind of work in CIE are often neglected. This paper explores the uses, purposes and intermingling of different languages in the context of a UK-sponsored international education research network. The analysis draws on Doreen Massey’s conceptualisation of ‘power-geometries’ and relational space as a lens to explore power dynamics within the Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures (TESF) research network. We present five vignettes to explore linguistic power-geometries and the extent to which language practices transformed, challenged, or sustained existing hierarchies in knowledge production. We find that while English often retained institutional dominance, strategic, context-specific uses of local languages enabled epistemic inclusivity as part of multi-lingual norms that are often overlooked by the Anglonormative Northern academe.