Multilingualism and Politics: Revisiting Multilingual Citizenship

by Katerina Strani

Overview

This edited book makes a significant contribution to the relatively under-explored field of multilingualism and politics, approaching the topic from two key perspectives: multilingualism in politics, and the politics of multilingualism. Through the lens of case studies from around the world, the authors in this volume combine theoretical and empirical insights to examine the inter-relation between multilingualism and politics in different spheres and contexts, including minority language policy, national identity, the translation of political debates and discourse, and the use of multiple, often competing languages in educational settings. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of politics, sociology, sociolinguistics, language policy, and translation and interpreting studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030407001
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	08/08/2020
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	365
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Katerina Strani is Associate Professor and Head of Cultural Studies in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University, UK. With a background in languages and politics, she is interested in how multilingualism and multiculturalism shape contemporary society, politics and communities.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction (Katerina Strani).- Chapter 2: Multilingualism in/ and Politics Revisited: the State of the Art (Katerina Strani).- Chapter 3: Diverting Linguistic Diversity: the Politics of Multilingualism in the European Parliament (Martijn Mos).- Chapter 4: The Grilling: An Ethnographic Language Policy Analysis of EU Multilingualism Performed in the European Parliament (Péter Károly Szabó).- Chapter 5: Flagging the Homeland: Interpreting Brexit à la UKIP in the European Union (Morven Beaton-Thorne).- Chapter 6: Multilingualism and the Brexit Referendum (Roland Kappe).- Chapter 7: Civic Citizenship as Multilingual Citizenship? Somali People's Experiences of the Limits of Language and Belonging in Scotland (Emma Hill).- Chapter 8: Managing Institutional Spaces: Negotiating Linguistic Inequality in Repatriation Programmes (Katy Brickley).- Chapter 9: Monolingualism and National Identity: Lessons from Europe (Simona Guglielmi).- Chapter 10: Galician-Portuguese and the Politics of Language in Contemporary Galicia (Alejandro Dayán-Fernández and Bernadette O'Rourke).- Chapter 11: China's Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunities and Linguistic Challenges for Hong Kong (Tae-Hee Choi and Bob Adamson).- Chapter 12: For Whom the School Bell Tolls: Minority Language Politics in the Croatian Educational System (Kristian Lewis, Anita Skelin Horvat, Filip Škilijan).- Chapter 13: Multilingualism from a Monolingual Habitus: the View from Scotland (Argyro Kanaki).- Chapter 14: Linguistic Jacobinism on French Caribbean Soil: Teachers as Public Policy Engineers in Guadeloupe (Sally Stainier).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book offers an invaluable interdisciplinary perspective on multilingualism in contemporary societies. With particular but not exclusive focus on Europe, the author approaches the subject from multiple points of view: political discourse, language policy, translation and citizenship. She also discusses how the issues surrounding multilingualism are framed- migration, language varieties and minority languages, how these issues underpin policy and issues of national and individual identity. This book should be read by both academics and language activists." — Antonella Sorace, Bilingualism Matters, University of Edinburgh, UK

"This timely new book on multilingual politics addresses students of politics, sociology, sociolinguistics, culture, language policy, interpreting, translation, and postcolonial studies. This unique contribution traces multilingual situations at the European level, in relation to Brexit, and highlights the critical position of professionals and language educators as well as translators, interpreters and mediators, including in the Global South." — Nicole Doerr, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Editorial Reviews

This volume is a rich source of fresh material analysing the politics of multilingualism and the discourse of language within the public sphere. … it is a useful corrective to the overly systematic interpretation of language/linguistics offered in so many sociopolitical interpretations. … the many fresh interpretations and insights offered here make the book worth reading in its entirety: profitable, prescient and persuasive.” (Colin H. Williams, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, October 28, 2021)

“The volume points toward an urgent field in language policy, namely a closer connection and cooperation between the disciplines of political science, applied linguistics and sociolinguistics in order to tackle the challenges of an ever-growing globalising world in the twenty-first century in which multilingualism is the new linguistic dispensation … .” (Oliver Delto, International Journal of Multilingualism, April 23, 2021)

From the Publisher