Language in context seminar

Speaker: Haley de Korne (University of Oslo, Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan)

Title: Language activism strategies from multilingual Mexico

Abstract: While top-down policies and declarations have yet to establish equal status and opportunities for speakers of all languages in practice, activists and advocates at local levels are playing an increasingly significant role in the creation of new social imaginaries and practices in multilingual contexts. This presentation examines how social actors across multiple domains contribute to the elusive goal of linguistic equality or justice through their language activism practices. Through an ethnographic account of Indigenous Isthmus Zapotec language activism in Oaxaca, Mexico, this presentation illuminates the (sometimes conflicting) imaginaries of what positive social change is and how it should be achieved, and the repertoire of strategies through which these imaginaries are being pursued. Ethnographic and action research conducted from 2013-2018 in the multilingual Isthmus of Tehuantepec brings to light the experiences of teachers, students, writers, scholars and diverse cultural activists whose aspirations and strategies of social change are significant in shaping the future language ecology. Their repertoire of strategies may inform and encourage language activists, scholars, and educators working for change in other contexts of linguistic diversity and inequality.

Speaker bio: Haley De Korne is Associate Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies and leader of the research group in ‘Multilingual practices, ideologies and policies’ at the MultiLing Center, University of Oslo, Norway. She works at the intersection of Linguistics, Education, and Anthropology to examine and contribute to language learning, literacy practices, language politics and social justice in multilingual education contexts. She is a member of the Young Researcher Academy of Norway and the Online Education and Outreach Committee of the American Association of Applied Linguistics.