From linguistics to classrooms: Ideologies in Peruvian education

Taking into account the notion of symbolic market and the view of education as an instrument for social distinction (Bourdieu 2002, 2008a, 2008b, 2013), we approach in this paper the linkages between linguistics and education in Peru. With this view in mind, we analyse the language ideologies that José Jiménez Borja (1901-1982) and Luis Hernán Ramírez (1926-1997) displayed in their academic work. Both scholars have been influential in Peruvian basic education and university instruction, respectively. Our account shows that linguistics has taken a share in disseminating a hierarchic and discriminatory agenda in Peruvian schools and universities. Paramount for this process is a set of ideologies that are still prevailing in Hispanic countries, both in common sense and in the academia. We suggest that a critical and historical approach to the relationship between linguistics and education can enrich the articulation between both fields, in Peru and Latin America.