news

Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic

Multilingual crisis communication has emerged as a global challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Global public health communication is characterized by the large-scale exclusion of linguistic minorities from timely high-quality information. The severe limitations of multilingual crisis communication that the COVID-19 crisis has laid bare result from the dominance of English-centric global mass communication; the longstanding devaluation of minoritized languages; and the failure to consider the importance of multilingual repertoires for building trust and resilient communities. These challenges, along with possible solutions, are explored in greater detail by the articles brought together in this special issue, which present case studies from China and the global Chinese diaspora.

The theme of the eighth biennial Explorations in Ethnography, Language and Communication conference is “Perspectives across disciplinary and political borders.”

Saving southern Africa’s oldest languages

Language and identity are inextricably interlinked. So what happens when a language dies, or is suppressed?

Abstracts are now solicited for the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism to be held in Warsaw, Poland in July 2021.

Important dates:
Call for individual paper and poster proposals: 15 July, 2020
Deadline for individual paper and poster abstract submission: 30 November, 2020
Notification of acceptance: 28 February, 2021
Final Academic Program: 15 April, 2021

Early Registration and Payment: 15 July, 2020 – 31 January, 2021
Regular Registration and Payment: 1 February – 31 March, 2021
Late Registration and Payment: 1 April – 31 May, 2021

More here: http://isb13.wls.uw.edu.pl/

Call for Abstracts

Coloniality as Knowledge and Being: Experiences of and Responses to Power

Interested in pursuing a PhD in Language and Communication? This might be the opportunity for you.

This online conference explores all aspects of multilingualism in the fields of linguistics, psychology, neurology, sociology, and educational sciences.

Conference on Multilingualism 2020

Due to Covid-19 and in the midst of the situation that the world is in, WAASAP5 is postponed to DECEMBER 10-11, 2020. We hope that by then, there will be no problems in holding the workshop.

https://linguistlist.org/issues/31/31-1610.html

A mesage from The Association of Commonwealth Universities

http://email.acu.ac.uk/IHCVkvpv0gxJKLMTVw0QanyLAc89UKXnyVN7rgrBDdH/WebView.aspx

Something that people here in Australia are doing to get information about COVID-19 out to small Indigenous communities in Australia.

INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES VISUAL COLLECTION
 
here will be continual work to do with adding to and maintaining this so if you would like to assist with this please contact Ruth or myself. The Indigenous language collection is organised with the title of each resource as follows: language/place_media_content_length_source. Indigenous Australian languages appear first in the collection in alphabetical order followed by Indigenous languages outside Australia (to be ordered). Here are the links:
 
Resources in Indigenous languages:
 
Resources in English aimed at Indigenous communities in remote areas
 
COVID-19 SPREADSHEET OF INFO IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES
This is a spreadsheet with links to information about COVID-19 in different languages (excluding major official languages). Help is always appreciated with filling out endonyms etc and adding languages and resources to the list.
 
 
HOW THIS DISCUSSION GROUP CAN BE EFFECTIVE 
 
Let’s keep the discussions in this group flowing organically and be open to changes but recalling Dr. Wenitong’s tweet I hope that we’ll always be focusing hard on opportunities to give back in the most effective way possible to the Indigenous communities we have worked with or been touched by. We are (largely) a community of linguists and mainly focused on Indigenous Australian languages and I feel that is where this group can make the best contribution and focus energies, however, COVID-19 presents a multidisciplinary and global crisis so I reckon we will also need to be flexible, inclusive and broad. Here are things we can all do:
 
  1. Find out what the Indigenous communities and organisations you are connected with, governments, health workers, interpreters and other sectors/groups are doing about COVID-19, what resources they have shared and where they might need help.
  2. Email me directly if you are sharing resources with the links (preferred) or files and details and I will ensure it gets added to the Visual Collection (if possible/appropriate) and also in an email digest like this. Also email me or other specific group members directly if you can assist with tasks like updating the VIsual Collection. This way there’ll be less of a flurry of emails and info is less likely to get lost.
  3. Use this discussion group email to share specific requests for help and ideas on how we can better manage sharing resources, galvanise as a group and respond appropriately to changes in the situation. Please be mindful of others when emailing and let’s collectively try to keep the overwhelming deluge of information to a minimum as much as possible at this time.
  4. If you notice that any of the resources in our visual collection are inaccurate or outdated (or any other errors) please let me know or email the group if you think this might be relevant to the whole group.
  5. Please forward these emails to anyone who may be benefit from the content or being part of the discussion and ask them to email me if they would like to be included in future emails.
 
OTHER HOUSEKEEPING 
 
Nick has requested that the “CoEDL News” mailing list not be used for the purpose of this discussion so please use this mailing list for now and do not include the “CoEDL News” address and avoid using other threads on this topic for that reason.
 
When replying try to always reply to the latest emails wherever possible so that the discussion and addresses are up to date and anyone who asked to be removed is no longer receiving them.
 
The mailing list is not “undisclosed” which I feel is better so we all know who else is part of the discussion but please be aware that the emails could go to others not already on this list.
 
Finally, I will do my very best to update resources and the mailing list and respond to direct emails but may not reply if you’re just sharing a resource as I’m also trying to keep myself from being overwhelmed! Also please be mindful when sharing files of the sizes. Links to WeTransfer are preferred. If you don’t see your resource in the Visual Collections or in an email within a week of you emailing me please email me again. My apologies in advance if this does happen. 🙂
 

A letter from the VC of Rhodes University which demonstrates what a relatively small rural university is doing – thinking about the immediate student and staff community, outwards to the local E Cape communities, thinking relevance and practical contributions. 

Dear Rhodes University Alumni

 

I write to you in the midst of an extraordinary challenge and uncertainty as nations of the world battle the COVID-19 pandemic which is wreaking havoc in our society and beyond. Today is the nineteenth day of what was initially a 21-day nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown has been extended for a further two weeks to the end of April. As at today, known cases of virus infection stand at 2 272, while 27 people have succumbed to COVID-19.  I hope that you and your loved ones remain safe and healthy in this global health crisis. My thoughts and prayers are with those individuals and families who are infected and/or affected by this virus. I wish them a speedy and full recovery.  I am writing to you to make you aware of what is happening at your alma mater and how we are adapting and adjusting to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. I also wish to share with you some of what Rhodes University is doing to support the national efforts to respond to, and fight, the scourge of COVID-19.

1. Coronavirus Response Task Team (CVRTT)
Early in March when the spread of the novel coronavirus across the globe gained momentum, we established an institutional Coronavirus Response Task Team (CVRTT), under the leadership of our Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic & Student Affairs, Dr Mabokang Monnapula-Mapesela, to lead the University’s efforts to address challenges that might arise should there be a suspected or confirmed case of virus infection at Rhodes University. The CVRTT put strategies and action plans in place to raise awareness and implement preventative measures to mitigate the potential impact of the disease on the campus. They worked with stakeholders across the University to develop and implement business continuity plans to respond to the risks of COVID-19 and mitigate its impact on our academic project and the institution in general. The Task Team established COVID-19 related relationships and collaborations with the Grahamstown Business Forum, Local Municipality, and the Provincial Disaster Management Committee (PDMC) for purposes of establishing mutual awareness of each other’s plans, identifying cross-cutting challenges, building synergies between the respective plans and agreeing on/formalising collaborative arrangements in the immediate, medium and long-term.

2. Cancellation of face-to-face teaching and other events
As the threat of COVID-19 escalated, and the need to practise physical distancing and de-densifying of our campus became necessary, we took a very difficult decision to cancel all events that would involve big numbers of people in close proximity to each other and/or in confined spaces. The decision to postpone our graduation ceremonies that had been scheduled for 02-04 April 2020 was a particularly hard one. However, the safety and wellbeing of our staff, graduands and their families had to be our highest priority in the circumstances. We have communicated with our graduands and have given an undertaking that, once the threat of COVID-19 has subsided, we will gather, together with them, to celebrate their achievements and their significant personal milestone.  On 19 March 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa declared COVID-19 a national State of Disaster. On 23 March 2020, he declared a 21-day nationwide lockdown to reduce the overall number of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and to delay the spread of infection over a longer period.  We support President Ramaphosa on the measures he has taken to reduce the rate of spread of the virus and commend him for the strong and decisive leadership he has provided our nation in these challenging and unprecedented times.  On our part, we had to bring forward the first term recess and advised students to leave campus residences. A few students who, for one reason or another could not leave for their homes, were allowed to stay in one University residence.  Our campus is empty now, except for a few people who are rendering essential services. Staff are working from home.

3. Resumption of the University academic programme and online teaching and learning
We are working towards the completion of the 2020 academic year within this calendar. That said, we are mindful of the fact that the trajectory of the pandemic may require us constantly to reassess what is and what is not possible. We are continually monitoring the evolving situation around the spread and impact of COVID-19. We will take our lead from the national government (COVID-19 National Command Council), the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and health and science experts. We will also follow the advice and guidance of the Department of Higher Education, Science & Technology and work closely with the Universities SA (USAf) on the collective sectoral approach to salvage the 2020 academic year.  Given the experience of other countries, and the need to adhere to physical distancing, it is clear to us that it will not be possible, in the short-term, to return to face-to-face teaching and learning, without placing the health, safety and wellbeing of our students and staff at high risk.  The serious global health challenges created by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic demand of us to adapt our teaching and learning arrangements to ensure that our students are able to complete their studies. In light of the uncertainty regarding the trajectory and the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, we are gearing up for a transition into digital/online delivery of teaching and learning. We are fully cognisant of the challenges that any switch to online teaching and learning systems creates, given the deep levels of inequality and poverty in our society. Some of our students do not have access to the appropriate devices and/or connectivity to participate fully in an online teaching and learning platform. We have a moral obligation and an ethical duty to ensure that no student will be disadvantaged by the delivery of teaching and learning using online systems.  An online Orientation Programme aimed at introducing students to remote/online learning is being developed by staff of the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) and this will be ready when we resume our academic activities.  Academic staff, heads of department, deans, education technology specialists, and academic support divisions are involved in a huge round-the-clock effort to move teaching and learning material into the digital domain. Our Community Engagement Division is mounting its Service Learning accredited course online, and the Rhodes Business School is putting in place online modules to replace postgraduate block release teaching modules.  Our Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic & Student Affairs, Dr Mabokang Monnapula-Mapesela, holds regular meetings to assess progress towards the migration to online teaching and learning platforms. On the research front, our Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research & Innovation, Dr Peter Clayton, is providing much needed support and guidance to researchers and postgraduate students. Access to electronic resources is critical to sustain our research endeavours. Much is being done to enhance the University’s capacity in this regard.  When the COVID-19 situation has sufficiently stabilised such that it is safe for our students to return to campus, an appropriate decision will be taken at that time. Our most important consideration in making that decision will be the health, safety and wellbeing of our students and staff.

4. We salute all those who are serving our nation in these challenging times
You no doubt will be proud to learn of the tremendous work being done by our staff and students in our national effort to confront the scourge of this virus.  The University is using its expertise and its teaching and research facilities to facilitate academic continuity measures, as well as to actively support targeted volunteer programs which are aimed at responding to the global Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis. All staff and students involved are participating for no personal gain, but to save lives and minimise the effects of COVID-19 of the people and economy of our country.

  • While many colleagues and students are making significant contributions at a local and provincial levels, some have been called to serve at a national level. Professors Justin Jonas of our Department of Physics & Electronics, and Professor Michael Rogan of the Department of Economics and researcher in the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit, have been called upon in this way. Prof Jonas will serve as a technical adviser to the National Task Team to produce ventilators for the country, and Prof Rogan as a member of the Presidential Task Team looking into social policy measures to assist informal workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
  • The Faculty of Pharmacy is hard at work manufacturing hand sanitisers using the World Health Organisation procedure, and has to date distributed thousands of litres of sanitisers to hospitals and district clinics across the Eastern Cape to be used by health workers and patients. The work is being undertaken under the personal supervision of Prof Rod Walker, a senior Professor of Pharmaceutics and registered pharmacist. Strict batch records are being kept, and the sanitiser product is being distributed at no cost to recipients on a no liability basis, under the direction of the East Cape Provincial Disaster and Security Task Team. Key partners in this effort are the Eastern Cape Department of Health and the SA Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), an associated institute of Rhodes University, which has sourced many thousands of litres of ethanol to resource this effort.
  • The University’s Housekeeping Services Unit has manufactured several hundred protective masks which were distributed to community and essential healthcare workers. These are not intended to be medical grade personal protection equipment, but first line community care materials.
  • The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has been hard at work daily, distributing food parcels to the vulnerable, and posters, pamphlets, and related materials in English and isiXhosa, and using loudhailers to raise awareness and promote healthy practices everywhere where people gather, as well as working through the suburbs. Their impact has been huge. The SARChI Chairs in Biotechnology Innovation & Engagement and in Global Change Social Learning Systems Development are working with the Community Engagement programme, as well as producing public understanding materials about the science behind the pandemic and how to understand one’s body and keep healthy.A COVID-19 Science Engagement Team, coordinated by Prof Janice Limson, NRF Research Chair for Biotechnology Innovation and Engagement, is working with the Communications and Advancement Division to distribute innovative messages about the pandemic in novel designs. The team comprises high-level scientists and Journalism staff members from the University and counterparts in India and the United KingdomThese colleagues are ensuring that factual messages on responsible and hygienic practices during this period go out regularly and repeatedly.
  • Prof Denis Pollney of the Department of Mathematics (Pure & Applied) is working with the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council (ECSECC) to develop a mathematical model of the pandemic in the Eastern Cape and its implications in a variety of other areas.
  • The university’s Communications and Advancement Division coordinates the University’s work with the East Cape Provincial Disaster and Security Task Team. It is also coordinating the various communication and public engagement initiatives of different parts of the university, and is running a social media campaign related to COVID-19 issues in the town and its surrounds. Grocott’s Mail, an award-winning community newspaper, run by the School of Journalism and Media Studies, has continued to operate throughout the national lockdown. They are currently producing predominantly isiXhosa editions for free distribution in the eastern parts of the community of our city. Rhodes Music Radio (RMR) has similarly continued to operate throughout the lockdown, and is the only local community radio station which has done so. It has switched its programming to focus on promoting the government’s message around COVID-19, and debunking false news. It broadcasts over a 50km radius from the university campus in English and isiXhosa. The focus of all of these efforts is to inform, educate and raise awareness in our surrounding community, and to keep the message straight and correct false news.
  • The Psychology Department has produced guidelines to help us all keep track of our emotional and mental health during the lockdown. This information, with the permission of the Head of the Department of Psychology, Prof Charles Young, has been shared with the Provincial Health and Social Development Departments.
  • The Centre for Social Development (CSD) and the SA Numeracy Chair have produced entertaining materials for parents to home school their children.
  • Several individual members of the University are providing online video enrichment material for people at home during the lockdown, such as fitness classes and group support sessions. Many other individuals are volunteering in a range of diverse and worthy initiatives and projects in our Municipality, including providing meals and shelter to the homeless, destitute and vulnerable.
  • The Centre for Postgraduate Studies is mounting daily interactive online workshops to keep postgraduates motivated and make productive use of the time that people have away from their regular commitments.
  • Our Division of Student Affairs sends daily wellness tips and motivational SMS messages to students during this national lockdown period.

We all can take great pride in the ways our University community has stepped up to contribute towards our common objective of defeating the coronavirus.  The weeks and months ahead will be testing for all of us as this pandemic worsens and more of our fellow compatriots succumb to COVID-19. We hope that our efforts, combined with those of other institutions, can do much to slow the spread of the virus and avert a human catastrophe.

There is as yet no vaccine for COVAD-19. Scientists estimate that it may be another 12 -18 months before a vaccine is developed. Health experts and epidemiologists advise that, in the circumstances, the next best strategy to avert the catastrophic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is for all of us to change our behaviour. In particular, practising physical distancing and adhering to good hygiene will help curb the transmission and spread of COVID-19.

Our gratitude goes to all the courageous, dedicated and committed people, including our alumni, who are at the frontlines of our battle against COVID-19. Every single day they place their lives, and those of their loved ones, at the risk of contracting the virus as they render essential services aimed at saving the lives of others. The least we can do on our part is to adhere to the preventative measures such as physical distancing and good hygiene and abiding by the regulations pertaining to the nationwide lockdown.

I must, again, commend President Ramaphosa and his Cabinet for providing strong, decisive and courageous leadership to our nation during this time of extraordinary challenge and uncertainty.
We believe that we will get through this national and global health emergency. Working together, we can and will, defeat COVID-19.

As I conclude, I wish to express my sincere appreciation and deep gratitude to many alumni who give generously to our University to support students in need. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought considerable financial pressure on our students and their families. I am painfully aware that the ruinous economic and social effects of COVID-19 will be felt by all of us for a considerable amount of time to come. If you can, I request that you consider helping our students through a contribution to a special COVID-19 Student Financial Aid Initiative. This contribution will be used to purchase laptops for students who do not have one and respond to their other needs. Kindly contact Mr Qondakele Sompondo at q.sompondo@ru.ac.za in this regard.

Please stay safe and healthy and play your part in flattening the curve of new infections.

Yours sincerely,

Sizwe Mabizela,
Vice-Chancellor & Principal.
 

Call for Special Issue Papers: “Stereotypes and Intercultural Relations: Interdisciplinary Integration, New Approaches, and New Contexts”

We are pleased to announce that the 7th International Conference on Multicultural Discourses will be held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from October 24-26, 2020. The Call for Papers is attached herewith.

Call for Papers for 12th Linguistic Landscape Workshop, 9-11 September, which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Call for paper proposals for Special issue in Bandung Journal of the
Global South (2021)

MultiLing Winter School 2020: Issues in second language learning (with)in marginalized populations: Research methods, language policy, teacher education, ideologies

The MultiLing Winter School 2020 will take place from 24 to 28 February, 2020 . This year, we will explore issues in second language learning (with)in marginalized populations.

Explorations in Ethnography, Language and Communication 8 (EELC8)

24 – 25 September 2020  |  University of Oslo

The theme of the eighth biennial Explorations in Ethnography, Language and Communication conference is “Perspectives across disciplinary and political borders.”

UWC African-language Classics in English (1)

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The Society for Linguistic Anthropology, in partnership with graduate students in the Program in Culture, Language, and Social Practice (CLASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, is pleased to announce the SLA 2020 Spring Conference, to take place at the Hiltons on Canyon in Boulder, Colorado, on April 2-5, 2020. The SLA Conference Steering Committee welcomes all submissions advancing the study of language and society, but we are especially interested in work that engages the 2020 conference theme: Future Imperfect: Language in Times of Crisis and Hope.

The Global Association of Linguistic Anthropology (COMELA / CALA / MEALA / SCAALA / COOLA / AFALA), announces The COMELA 2020, The (Annual) Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2020, at The American University of Greece, Athens, Greece, September 2-5, 2020.

After the huge success of the 1st edition of the International Conference on Multilingual Awareness and Multilingual Practices (MAMP) held at Tallinn University (Estonia) in November 2018, the 2nd edition of the Conference will take place at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Antwerp (Belgium) from 28 to 29 October 2019.

The symposium for AILA 2020 Groningen  ‘Spaces of otherwise’? South-North dialogues on languaging, race, (im)mobilitieshas been accepted for the World Congress of Applied Linguistics, 9-14 August 2020 in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Chris Stroud (University of the Western Cape & Stockholm University), whose scholarship has consistently engaged with South-North epistemologies in the sociolinguistics of diversity, will be the featured speaker.

PROFESSOR/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR: LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT (FACULTY OF ARTS)

The Department of Linguistics currently has a vacancy for a suitably qualified candidate at the level of Associate Professor or Professor. To complement its strengths in multilingualism, sociolinguistics/semiotics, and critical discourse analysis, the Department seeks to appoint an individual working in formal African linguistics with knowledge of the phonology and morphosyntax of the languages in Central, Southeast and Southern Africa.

The Centre for Translation Studies at Surrey, UK, has recently been awarded a substantial Expanding Excellence in England grant to launch an ambitious new research programme. The programme will focus on the convergence of human and automated approaches to different modalities of translation, audiovisual/multimodal translation and interpreting. It will bring together human-based research practices with advances in machine learning and AI to enable and promote a responsible integration of human and machine translation. To complement our own strengths in researching applications of technologies in translation and interpreting, we are currently recruiting to the following positions:

Professor of Language and Translation Technologies https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/043019

Senior Lecturer in Translation and Natural Language Processing https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/044419

Senior Lecturer in Translation and Multimodal Technologies https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/044519

Research Fellow in Translation/Interpreting Technologies and Natural Language Processing http://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/042619

Research Fellow in Interpreting and Technologies http://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/042719

Technical Specialist (Translation Technologies and Data) https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/044619

7th International Conference on Multicultural Discourses

Multicultural Discourses in a Turbulent World
Cluj-Napoca, Romania, October 24-26, 2020.

Conference on Deaf and Hearing Children in Multilingual Settings – in Accra, Ghana – 10 August 2019

XV CONFERENCE OF THE LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF SADC UNIVERSITIES (LASU), 5th – 7th AUGUST 2019, Lusaka, Zambia – Registration Form here

UNESCO Special Edition on Indigenous Languages…

Speak your language, be heard!
https://en.unesco.org/courier/2019-1

Check out more here; https://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-589.html

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Contact and Multilingualism, a new series at Language Press Science.

Call for manuscripts proposals.

World Congress of Applied Linguistics
9-14 August 2020 in Groningen, the Netherlands

Call for Symposia proposals. Deadline: May 6th 2019

Registration

The Inclusion, Mobility and Multilingual Education Conference: Exploring the role of languages for education and development

24-26 September 2019
Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Bangkok, Thailand

To submit your proposal, please click https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLScGNHkPZbv9Svyka0…/viewform

Call for Papers for the 9th International Interdisciplinary Conference, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya on June 26 to 28, 2019 at Multimedia University of Kenya.

SAALT and SALALS

Joint Annual Language Conference 2019

Theme: Indigenous languages in contemporary African society

30 June – 04 July

Call for Papers; See here.

The Annual Conference of the International Association for the Integrational Study of Language and Communication

August 30-September 2, 2019
The Pennsylvania State University

Joint Annual Conference of GAPS and IACPL
30 May-2 June 2019, University of Bremen

Postcolonial Oceans – Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water.

Job application for Associate Professor of Multilingualism with an emphasis on Psycholinguistics

CALL FOR PAPER ABSTRACTS

Multilingualism, Diversity and Democracy (MuDD) Conference 2019 

An international conference organized by the Communication, Culture and Diversity (CCD) network-based research group, School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University

Sponsored by the Swedish Research Council

8-10 April 2019

MuDD2019 is part of a series of conferences/workshops that the CCD research environment, Communication, Culture and Diversity, has organized since 1998. Research and societal developmental projects that focus on communication, diversity, identity and learning have been on the agenda at CCD since the mid-1990s.

UNESCO CHAIR REFUGEE INTEGRATION THROUGH LANGUAGES AND THE ARTS

Call for proposals – Spring School 2019 – The Art of Integrating: Labouring and Resting.

The UNESCO Chair project at the University of Glasgow is organising a knowledge exchange event around best practice in integration through languages and the arts. This will be a cross-over event, linking academics to practitioners in the field, learning from each other and getting inspired by each other.

ILA 2019 CONFERENCE

The International Literacy Association 2019 Conference (ILA 2019) is an ideal forum for literacy professionals to share their knowledge and best practices and to network with colleagues. The educational programming that is submitted, reviewed, and selected by literacy educators is key to the event’s success. Due to space and time limitations, only an estimated 30% of submissions can be accepted each year. This acceptance rate maintains
a high-quality level of programming—and it’s a primary reason ILA conferences are so successful. All reviewed proposals must be submitted electronically via the ILA 2019 Proposal Submission Site.

11TH PAN-AFRICAN LITERACY FOR ALL CONFERENCE 2019

the Reading Association of Uganda (RAU) in conjunction with its African umbrella organizations- the International Development Committee in Africa (IDC-A) and the International Literacy Association (ILA) will host literacy Researchers, Policy makers, Sociologists, Multilateral partners, Curriculum specialists, literacy educators to a forum of experts to share evidence-based findings, practices and policies that interrogate the role of literacy in bridging the Equity

LSA Solicits Feedback on Statement on Race

The draft LSA Statement on Race has several, interrelated aims: to address inequality in linguistics, to inform research on language and race and its intersections, to help empower and welcome people from various racial backgrounds into linguistics, and to broaden the conversation on race so that future work can best promote diversity and inclusion.

Language in the Media 8 

Initiated in 2005, and previously hosted in the UK, USA, Ireland, Germany and South Africa, Language in the Media (LiM) visits South America for the first time. The theme of the 2019 conference dealing with language and the mediatisation of resistance is particularly relevant these days, in view of the tensions, intolerance and polarization we have been experiencing worldwide.

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2019 Emerging Scholars & New Research in Southern Africa

Journal of Southern African Studies

The Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS, UK) will host a three-day Early Career Scholars’ Writing Workshop on 16-18 July 2019 at the National University of Lesotho, Roma Campus. Primarily, this Workshop is intended to benefit early-to-mid-career scholars working in the Universities of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, though a few places will be available for scholars from other parts of southern Africa.

International Symposium on Linguistics, Cognition, and Culture

The Faculty of Humanities at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and the
Department of English and American Studies at the University of Potsdam are
pleased to announce the International Symposium on Linguistics, Cognition, and
Culture (LCC), to be held in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) on 13-15 March 2019.

LCC 2019 aims to bring together researchers in the fields of cognitive,
cultural and/or anthropological linguistics, interactional sociolinguistics,
and intercultural communication. The main objective is to trigger a deeper
reflection upon the relationship between language, cognition, and culture in
Brazil and beyond.

International Webinar for Emergent Researchers of
Multilingualism and Education

The World Education Research Association (WERA) is pleased to announce an international
webinar for emerging scholars on Implications of Societal Multilingualism for Language
Education. This WERA webinar is being undertaken in cooperation with the Coordination
Office for Research on Multilingualism and Language Education (aka KoMBi) at the University
of Hamburg and Dr. Gregory Poarch at the University of Münster.

For more check out WERA Webinar Call

Kiswahili gets minister’s stamp to be taught in SA schools

ACALAN to launch its online TV

The African Academy of languages (ACALAN) is set to launch its online TV. The launching is expected to take place at the meeting of experts on African languages in Lome, Togo from 01 to 05 October 2018 . With the lunch of ACALAN online TV, millions of Africans and lovers of African languages across the world , will have the opportunity to be part of the meeting African Languages expects.

South Africa has 11 official languages but some are saying indigenous languages are under threat.

2019 Congress

The 9th Congress of the European Society for Translation Studies will be hosted in South Africa, at Stellenbosch University, from 9 to 13 September 2019. Look forward to exploring the congress theme of Living Translation: People, Processes, Products with colleagues from around the world.

 Journal for Translation Studies in Africa JTSA inaugural (special) edition: Call for papers

The majority of the world’s population lives in what is commonly known as emerging or developing countries. Most of these countries are highly multilingual and present a wealth of institutionalised and informal translation and interpreting (T&I) practices. In numerous African countries in particular, many citizens have limited mastery of their country’s official language (Djité, 2008), and T&I can play an important developmental role by contributing to the emergence of shared representations and social forms (Mazrui, 2016). This role can only be understood by adopting a non-reductionist perspective, which takes into account the plurality of cultural, political and economic factors that influence how populations experience development (Marais, 2014) and how they embrace or resist the social changes brought about in its name (Rist, 2015; Olivier de Sardan, 1995).

Seminar: Multilingual and Intercultural Education – Theory and practice from Latin America and Norway

This seminar aims to strengthen connections among Norwegian and Latin American scholars of multilingual and intercultural education, and is supported by the Norwegian Latin America Research Network.

11TH PAN-AFRICAN LITERACY FOR ALL CONFERENCE 2019

In the close to three (3) decades following the Jomitien conference (1990) and the Dakar framework for action a year later, most African leaders have mobilized their countries’ resources towards implementation of Universal Primary Education and this has had a great impact on the continent.

In view of that, the Reading Association of Uganda (RAU) in conjunction with its African umbrella organizations- the International Development Committee in Africa (IDC-A) and the International Literacy Association (ILA) will host literacy Researchers, Policy makers, Sociologists, Multilateral partners, Curriculum specialists, literacy educators to a forum of experts to share evidence-based findings, practices and policies that interrogate the role of literacy in bridging the Equity gap.

“Integrationism and Philosophies of Language: Emerging Alternative Epistemologies in the Global North and the Global South”

The annual International Conference on Integrationism (aka Integrational Linguistics) will be
held at the Pennsylvania State University, August 30 to September 2, 2019, hosted by the
Department of Applied Linguistics and the African Studies program. The conference hopes “to contribute towards the development of scholarship in Applied Linguistics and African Studies from decidedly Global South perspectives, that is those regions of the world which have been the object of colonialism. These perspectives have also been labeled under the term Southern Theory. The Global South is also found in the Global North in regions and parts of cities occupied by immigrants and the socio-politically and economically vulnerable.” 

8th International “Language in the Media” conference – LiM 2019 

Language in the Media (LiM) visits South America for the first time. The theme of the 2019 conference dealing with language and the mediatisation of resistance is particularly relevant these days, in view of the tensions, intolerance and polarization we have been experiencing worldwide.

International Forum of Culture, Literature and Applied Linguistics: practices and transgressions

This conference, organized by the Research Group “Identity and Reading”, from UFPR, was conceived in honour of Professor Lynn Mario Trindade Menezes de Souza (USP), whose name has become a reference in the areas of Applied Linguistics, Cultural Studies and Literature, both in Brazil and internationally.

Call for chapters in an Edited Volume on Multilingual Learning in Low-Resource Contexts

Locating the Urban University : International Dialogues with South African Policy and Practice

Linking research on the urban university at Georgia State University and the Human Sciences Research Council, this workshop offers an interactive forum to discuss strategic trends and challenges facing South African universities, and their relationship with cities, in context of a rapidly urbanizing and globalizing world.

15 EARLY STAGE RESEARCHERS (ESRS)/PHD STUDENTS

We are recruiting 15 ESRs to work for MultiMind while they do their PhD in one of the beneficiary institutions. See the section ‘Work packages and projects’ for a description of each project, information about the organisation and country where each project will be based, the main supervisor and the supervising committee.

Call for papers: University Public Engagement with Urban Multilingualism.

Abstracts are invited for an event on ‘University Public Engagement with Urban Multilingualism’, which will take place on 20-22 February 2019 at the University of Manchester.

On the Boarder of Art and Language Teaching in the Multilingual World.

Interesting research on learning about using artistic inquiry for research – how we could use artistic enquiry to establish a better understanding of multilingualism itself, about the process of language learning (becoming multilingual) and a language learner (being/ becoming a multilingual language speaker);

Associate Professor in Multilingualism with an emphasis on Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

Manufacturing Multilingualisms of Marginality in Mozambique: Exploring the Orders of Visibility of Local African Languages

Manuel Guissemo

Academic dissertation for the Degree of Philosophy in Bilingualism at Stockholm University.

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Why the decoloniality struggle surprised South Africans

ALASA19 and Sintu7, Cape Town, July 2018

The 19th Interim Conference of the African Languages Association of Southern Africa Conference. Theme: “#African Languages and Protest” and Sintu7: 7th International Conference on Bantu languages at The River Club, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Venue: Cape Town, South Africa

Dates: 9–11th July 2018

More information: caldi.uct.ac.za/…/ALASA19-Sintu7.pdf

International Congress of Linguists, Cape Town, July 2018

The Congress is held every five years, and is meant to showcase current developments in Linguistics. The Congress will run over five days, have a plenary panel on linguistics in South Africa, nine plenary speakers covering a range of major sub-fields, 10 paper sessions each with its own focus speaker, up to 30 workshops, and several poster sessions. While speakers and topics are drawn from a wide international pool, ICL 20 will take the additional opportunity of showcasing African language research. It will also cover applied linguistic areas of research of vital importance to the African continent and the 21st century at large, with a special extended session on Multilingualism, Education, Policy and Development.

Venue: Cape Town, South Africa

Dates: 2–6th July 2018

Website: icl20capetown.com

 

Reading three great southern lands: from the outback to the Pampa and the Karoo

The 11th Pan-African Literacy for All Literacy Conference 2019

Kampala, Uganda

Tentative Period of Conference: July-August 2019

We’re preparing information regarding the next Pan-African Conference 2019 (PALFA) which will be available on a new conference website: www.literacyuganda.org (under construction) in June 2018.

Kindly reserve the dates and plan to be part of the conference in the beautiful “Pearl of Africa”.

 Email  raureads@gmail.com for inquiries.

To add the email addresses of colleagues to this mail group or to change your email address, contact judithbakr@gmail.com.

Current Issue: Volume 7, Issue 1 (2018) A Global South Dialogue on African Art and Historical Narratives from D.R. Congo

 

A very interesting new issue from Artl@s on debates about art history around the Congo. Source: Artl@s Bulletin | Scholarly Publishing Services Open Access Journals | Purdue University

The volume editors of the Oxford Handbook of Global South Youth Studies (forthcoming 2020), Sharlene Swartz, Adam Cooper, Clarence Batan and Rosa-Maria Camarena-Cordova, invite contributions and partnerships towards this important and exciting new project. Please feel free to circulate this call to other colleagues who you think will have a contribution to make.

 Why a new handbook?

 Ninety percent of the world’s youth live in Africa, Latin America and the developing countries of Asia. Despite this, the field of Youth Studies, like many other academic domains, is dominated by the knowledge economy of the global North especially WENA (Western Europe, North America and Australia), with its associated universities, disciplines, theories, journals and conferences. While Northern Youth Studies’ theory and research provides insights into the lives of Southern youth, it contains assumptions and generalisations that are contextually incongruent with Southern youth’s life-worlds. To address these geo-political imbalances, this handbook turns the gaze of Youth Studies onto youth living in the global South and the theories and practices needed to address their lives. It is hoped that the handbook will function as an intervention to re-orient Youth Studies as a whole. In other words, the handbook will ask what do Southern theorists have to contribute to the study of youth in the Global South, and how might these ideas contribute to Global Youth Studies?

 Handbook outline

 We attach the full details of the proposal accepted by Oxford University Press separately but summarise it below.

 Foreword

Chapter 1               INTRODUCTION: Knowledge, epistemicide and justice

 Part 1: The South and Southern Youth

These are foundational chapters and have largely been allocated amongst the editors. Feel free to propose a partnership for any of these chapters or let us know if you’d like to review one of these chapters.

 Chapter 2               THE SOUTH: Who, what and where is the Global South?

Chapter 3               SOUTHERN YOUTH: Who are global South youth and how are they the same as or different to Global North youth?

Chapter 4               SOUTHERN THEORY: What is Southern theory and how does it aid in engaging Southern youth?

Chapter 5               YOUTH STUDIES: What is youth studies and why should Southern youth be studied?

 Part 2: Southern contributions to youth studies – a new perspective linking theoretical concepts to contemporary issues

Here we envisage three essays that address each of the following theoretical aspects of young people in the Global South. Feel free to propose a chapter on a concept not listed here that you believe has salience.

 Chapter 6–8          PERSONHOOD: Being, Identity, Knowing, Belonging, Representation, Equality, Dignity, Humanising, Recognition, Respect

Chapter 9–11       INTERSECTIONALITY: Race, Class, Gender, Inequality, Stratification, Oppression, Domination, Enslavement, and Exploitation

Chapter 12–14    VIOLENCES: Physical violence, Structural violence, Symbolic violence, Decolonisation, Liberation, Freedom, Power, Legacies of oppression

Chapter 15–17    CONSCIOUSNESS: Black Consciousness, Wokeness, Allyship, Conscientising, Critical consciousness, Pitfalls of national consciousness, Corruption, Mobility, Tall poppy syndrome, Symbolic violence, Capitalism, Absence

Chapter 18–20    PRECARITY: Capitals, Marginality, Material deficits, Periphery, Instability, Unpredictability, Resources, Wealth, and Poverty

Chapter 21–23    SOLIDARITY: Collectivity, Community, Participation, Autonomy, Social harmony, Social cohesion, Kinship, Interconnectedness, Capabilities, and Continuity

Chapter 24–26    ONTOLOGICAL INSECURITY: Genocide, Epistemicide, Linguicide, Waithood, Corporatisation

Chapter 27–29    NAVIGATIONAL CAPACITIES: Improvising, Strategising, Hustling, Surviving, Capabilities, Skills

Chapter 30–32    COLLECTIVE AGENCY: Resistance, Revolution, Chimurenga

 Part 3: Defining the field: Southern youth research, policy and practice

Here we envisage a broad overview and proposals for how each area should and could be developed from a Southern perspective, and how these proposals differ from current approaches in the Global North.

 Chapter 33            METHODOLOGIES Emancipatory methodologies and methods from the South

Chapter 34            RESEARCH An evolving agenda for Critical Global South Youth Studies

Chapter 35            INTERVENTIONS Transferable interventions for Southern Youth

Chapter 36            POLICY Innovative Southern youth policy recommendations

Chapter 37            CONCLUSION: Decolonising drifts and shifts, convergences and divergences over time in the South

 What contributions are we looking for?

 We are especially interested in contributions to Section 2, the nine concepts we have identified (for example personhood, intersectionality, violences, consciousness) that we believe will advance our understanding of the lives of youth in one or more regions of the global South. Each essay will be an original work (4,000 words), predominantly by Southern scholars using mainly Southern theorists or their own theoretical frameworks to develop their chapters, to offer insights into the lives of Southern youth. Contributors could also re-imagine and translate Northern theories into Southern contexts. Wherever possible authors should offer comparative perspectives of Southern contexts and young people. For Section 3 authors could make suggestions for how methodologies, research, interventions and policies may be developed from a Southern perspective, and how these differ from current research and practice in the Global North.

 Who would we like to contribute?

 Contributors will predominately be from the Global South (working in either the North or South) or from the diaspora or aboriginal communities in the North. While the handbook is open to contributions from Scholars working on the Global South but who are not from the Global South, we expect these contributions to be in a minority or to be in partnership with Southern scholars.

 What a proposal for a chapter should consist of?

  • The entire proposal should be no more than 1 page long.
  • An abstract of approximately 300 words that describes your ideas for addressing a particular concept, with the theory/ies you will advance or the theorist/s you will use, the key argument you will make, the regions addressed and youth studies issues that will be engaged in their chapter.
  • A brief outline of the proposed chapter including sub-headings and the focus of each sub-section.
  • A short biosketch (150 word maximum) that includes your research areas, national origin, current institution and motivation for involvement in this project.

 Evaluation of submissions

 Proposals will be reviewed by the volume editors according to the following criteria:

  • Does the chapter contribute to advancing a Southern approach to youth studies?
  • Is it an original piece of work, not previously published, and contributing to knowledge?
  • Is it critical and theoretically informed? Does it use empirical evidence?
  • Does it contain some comparative aspects across Southern contexts?
  • Is the author from the Global South or the diaspora, or if not, are there other compelling reasons to accept their contribution?

 Important dates

Call for papers released 20 April 2018
Final date for submission of chapter proposals 15 June 2018
Authors notified of outcome of chapter proposals 30 June 2018
Meeting of contributors in Toronto (for those at ISA Conference) 18 July 2018
Outstanding contributions to be invited 30 July 2018
Final contents and author list to be finalised 15 August 2018
Authors to be contracted as contributors 15 September 2018
Meeting of contributors in Cape Town (for those who can attend) 27-28 November 2018
Authors to submit first draft essays to volume editors for review 15 January to 15 March 2019
Volume Editors to submit initial comments for revision 15 February to 15 April 2019
Authors to submit second drafts to editors for external review 15 May 2019 – 15 June 2019
Volume Editors to submit revision requests to authors 15 June 2019
Authors to submit final chapters to Volume Editors 15 September 2019
Submit final manuscript to OUP 15 October 2019
Publication 6-8 months after that June 2020

 Where to submit proposals?

 Please send questions and proposals (abstract, brief outline and biosketch) to any of the following:

 Sharlene Swartz: sswartz@hsrc.ac.za

Adam Cooper acooper@hsrc.ac.za

Clarence Batan cmbatan@ust.edu.ph

Rosa-Maria Camarena-Cordova rcamaren2001@yahoo.com.mx (Spanish proposals welcome)

In case you missed it, Dr Melanie Cook will be hitting our shores next week…

Date: 12 April 2018
Venue: Hive/Arts Space
Time: 13h00 – 14h30

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The Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research is pleased to be hosting Torun Reite, Stockholm University…

Date: 5 April 2018
Time: 13h00 – 14h30
Venue: Hive/Arts Space

Torun-Reite-Facebook

Call for Papers: Ninth Multidisciplinary Conference on Indigenous Peoples

 

It’s a great pleasure to invite everyone to the Ninth Multidisciplinary Conference on Indigenous Peoples entitled “Territories in dispute: epistemologies, resistances, spiritualities and rights”, on 30/31 May and 1 June 2018 at the University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University (Middelburg, the Netherlands).

The International Congress of Linguists in Cape Town 2018, under the theme “The Dynamics of Language” is here.  (The congress includes the 2018 meetings of the Linguistics and Applied Language Studies societies of South Africa; and welcomes members of all other societies).  It’s a big all-week affair in the first week of July 2018, covering a wide range of topics in contemporary Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.   A number of workshops cover themes and languages of the African continent. Please take a look at the website and share this link within your academic networks. And do encourage your PhD students to attend and participate.  We look forward to receiving abstracts from you (via our website) and welcoming you to the southern tip of Africa…

NORRAG at CIES: Update

Bulletin #39, we are pleased to share the list of updated sessions featuring NORRAG participation at the CIES conference in Mexico City next week, as well as a list of highlighted sessions with NORRAG Members or affiliates.

NORRAG at CIES Flyer
NORRAG’s Highlighted Sessions

We also take this opportunity to share our call for guest editor(s) for NORRAG Special Issue 02 which will focus on the question: “Global Monitoring of National Development: Coercive or Constructive?”

Read the complete call for guest editor(s)

MELLON VISITING ‘GLOBAL SOUTH’ PROFESSORSHIPS AND MELLON ‘GLOBAL SOUTH’ FELLOWSHIPS

The Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research is pleased to be hosting Haley De Korne for a seminar on “Imagining convivial multilingualism in Oaxaca, Mexico.”

Date: 13:00 – 14:30
Venue: Hive/Arts Space
Date: 22nd March 2018

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Children Thriving in Many Languages: In a land of a hundred languages, children are finally allowed to learn in their own.

A Job Vacancy for Senior Researcher at the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research…

UWC Jobs Site

Language Policy and Conflict Prevention – The Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities revisited

Call for papers on Southern Epistemologies

Red Multidisciplinar sobre Pueblos Indígenas Ninth Multidisciplinary Conference on Indigenous Peoples entitled “Territories in dispute: epistemologies, resistances, spiritualities and rights”, on 30/31 May and 1 June 2018 at the University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University (Middelburg, the Netherlands). It welcomes papers on a variety of themes, including Southern Epistemologies: territories, political ecology and the Buen …

RE-IMAGINING MULTILINGUALISMS

New postgraduate module – Jointly offered by UWC & Stellenbosch University, April/May 2018

Find out more here: Reimagining Multilingualism Module Blurb_FINAL

SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR

The Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World

Please click here for more information: SalzburgGlobal_Statement_586 – Multilingual World EN

UPCOMING CONFERENCES:

Upcoming Conferences in which southern and or marginal perspectives of linguistic diversity feature:

PAST CONFERENCES:

Past Conferences in which southern and or marginal perspectives of linguistic diversity featured can be found here: Conferences

This is the website of the Southern Multilingualisms and Diversities Consortium