Political instability has been a mainstay in Libya since the Italian occupation in 1911. In the intervening years, the shifting political landscape has had an undeniable influence on the presence of English in the country. In this paper, I argue that Libya presents an ideal case study for Kachru's Concentric Circles of English, where ‘linguistic ammunition’ (Kachru, 1986: 121) is used to manipulate and control the masses and spread anti-Western sentiment in this expanding circle country. To provide a much-needed socio-historical context for a country whose English language and linguistic history remains understudied (Hillman et al., 2020), this paper touches on key events in Libya's political history that have influenced the status of English and language use; from the Italian colonization, to Qaddafi's decade-long ban of English, to the 2011 Revolution, and beyond. This paper is divided into six sections: (1) critical approaches to language policy (Tollefson, 1991) and Foucault's governmentality approach (1991); (2) demographic and geographic description of Libya; (3) historical and political overview; (4) educational language policy and the development of the education system; (5) English language policy in Libya (the ban on use of English in 1986 following the 1969 coup that brought Qaddafi to power and the reintroduction of English in the mid-1990s); and will conclude with (6) English language in post-Qaddafi Libya. Understanding these key moments in Libyan political history will provide the context needed to understand how a generation of Libyans found themselves without the linguistic skills necessary to compete in the global economy.

中文翻译：

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利比亚英语的社会历史分析

自 1911 年意大利占领利比亚以来，政治不稳定一直是利比亚的一个主要问题。在此期间，政治格局的变化对英语在该国的存在产生了不可否认的影响。在本文中，我认为利比亚为卡奇鲁的英语同心圆提供了一个理想的案例研究，其中“语言弹药”（Kachru，1986：121）被用来操纵和控制群众并在这个不断扩大的圈子中传播反西方情绪国家。为了为一个英语和语言历史仍未得到充分研究的国家提供急需的社会历史背景（Hillman et al., 2020），本文涉及利比亚政治史上影响英语和语言使用状况的关键事件;从意大利殖民统治，到卡扎菲长达十年的英语禁令，到 2011 年革命，等等。本文分为六个部分：（1）语言政策的批判方法（Tollefson，1991）和福柯的治理性方法（1991）； (2) 利比亚的人口和地理描述； (3) 历史和政治概况； （四）教育语言政策和教育体系的发展； (5) 利比亚的英语政策（1969 年卡扎菲政变上台后于 1986 年禁止使用英语，并于 20 世纪 90 年代中期重新引入英语）；并以 (6) 后卡扎菲利比亚的英语作为结尾。了解利比亚政治史上的这些关键时刻将为理解一代利比亚人如何发现自己缺乏在全球经济中竞争所需的语言技能提供所需的背景。