Decolonising Language Studies Symposium II

This symposium on Decolonising Language Studies is the second event in a series that responds to current calls about decolonising the curriculum by fostering a transdisciplinary dialogue across linguistics, cultural studies, social sciences and politics as well as the critical study of discourse, intercultural communication, and multilingualism. On this second symposium, and a planned conference in 2024, we continue to explore the ways in which sociolinguistic ethnographic methods and participatory research can contribute to the conceptual and institutional re-grounding of the study of language(s) in a way which pinpoints the role of language in understanding political and social professes of (in)securitisation, intercultural understanding, and social equity. By engaging in this discussion, we would like to bring the study of minoritized groups, linguistic citizenship, and transcultural becoming to the fore in language education.

Questions addressed in the second symposium include:

• How do participatory initiatives in learning and research translate into policy and how can they be embedded in institutional settings?
• How open are institutions and individual researchers to implementing progressive agendas – not only as the subject and scope of research but also as an epistemic and methodological commitment to listening to those who provide “the data”?
• What are the ethical and moral dilemmas and risks of not including community members who provide or check data as co-authors – and what are the dilemmas and risks of including them? What are the ways in which non-academic research partners can contribute to the analysis – can data be analysed entirely from their perspective?
• Leaving the field: what is it that linguists and social scientists leave behind when they „leave the field” and how can the outcome of contact between members of the academic community and civil researchers be of benefit to the communities? 
• What are the main issues to consider with regards to ethical approval of research? Participatory research is not entirely predictable, it does not follow the script written by academic researchers; instead, it is jointly shaped with non-academic research partners. How can this be reflected in research ethics approvals?
• Finally, how can these dilemmas and possible answers to them be reflected in an ethnographic and decolonial approach to language studies, where language learners are actively involved in finding the „language data” that serves as a basis for their learning through their ethnographic involvement with the communities whose language they study? 

What makes this discussion on decolonising and transcultural becoming particularly timely for the region studied at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the School itself is the current need to engage with research on the region in contexts of violence – now again. Invited speakers from critical sociolinguistics and linguistics will respond to the questions raised above and to a position paper presented by the organisers, which will be followed by reflections from colleagues working in sociolinguistics, politics and social sciences, and cultural and literary studies.

This event will take place in person at UCL IAS and will also be livestreamed online.

Organisers: Dr Jelena Ćalić and Dr Eszter Tarsoly on behalf of the PROLang (Policy, Research and Outreach for Language-based area studies) Research Group in collaboration with UCL Institute of Advanced Studies.

Confirmed speakers: Professor Li Wei (UCL Institute of Education), Professor Alison Phipps (University of Glasgow), and Dr Victoria Odeniyi (University of Arts London).

Discussants: Dr Riitta-Liisa Valijarvi (UCL SSEES), Dr Rachel Morley (UCL SSEES), Dr Olga Voronina (UCL SSEES), Professor Ben Rampton (King’s College London).

Image credit: Ann H on Pexels