Language, Identity, Politics-the Myth of Two Ukraines. Bertelsmann Policy Brief, April 2014

The narrative of two Ukraines – the existence of two separate cultural-political communities within one Ukrainian state – has accompanied the relatively short history of inde-pendent Ukraine from the very be-ginning. Articulated by Mykola Ryabchuk more than twenty years ago1 and seemingly logical and reasonable, it has become the fa-vourite narrative of many Ukrainian and international commentators and analysts. One of these Ukraines is pro-European, shares liberal democracy values, wants to join the European Union, “return to Europe” and, what is very im-portant, speaks Ukrainian. The symbolic centre of this Ukraine is Lviv. The other is nostalgic about the Soviet Union, has close rela-tions with contemporary Russia, is hostile towards the West and does not share “western” values. The language of this other Ukraine is Russian and its “capital” is Do-netsk. Taking on board this narra-tive simply means equating one’s region of residence, political views, and preferred language.

The many voices of Piedmont: language, identity and alterity in the works of modern and contemporary Piedmontese writers

The aim of this project is to carry out a linguistic analysis of a group of modern and contemporary narratives written by authors from the same Italian region: Piedmont. The novels and short stories examined stand out for the intriguing ways in which they move between a variety of idioms – Italian, Piedmontese dialects, English and pastiches, with some rare excursions into French. A sociolinguistic study and an overview of political changes that Piedmont underwent from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries are provided, with the purpose of outlining the region’s sociogeographical and historical background which can be seen to have fostered multilingualism in a group of writers. With the support of linguistic studies and philosophical theories on the relation between identity, alterity and language (such as Edwards’s Language and Identity and Bakhtin’s reflections on language), I then elucidate the presence of diverse linguistic varieties in selected narratives by Cesare Pavese, Beppe Fenoglio, Primo Levi, Nanni Balestrini, Fruttero & Lucentini, Benito Mazzi and Younis Tawfik. In other words, my purpose is to explain the reasons for multilingualism in each writer, as well as to underscore the ideological positions which lie behind the linguistic strategies of the authors. With this study I attempt to fill a gap and cast new light on Piedmontese literature. Although some critical studies on the use of dialect or English exist on individual authors and works (e.g. Meddemmem on Fenoglio’s use of English and Beccaria on Pavese’s inclusion of Piedmontese dialect), and some important contributions to the history of Piedmontese literature have appeared in print, to date no current, systematic study that compares different Piedmontese writers under the language/identity theme has been published. The study concludes with a summary of the evolution of plurilingualism in Piedmont and highlights the common trends in the use of multiple linguistic varieties as tools for both social demarcation and an opening up to alternative, marginalised andforeign cultures.

Heritage language learning for Chinese Australians : the role of habitus

The relationship between Heritage Language and ethnic identity has gained significant research ground in social psychological and poststructural scholarship, with empirical evidence largely emerging from the North American settings. There is little pertinent sociological work conducted outside North America. To fill this gap, this sociological study sets its scene in an Australian context. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, the study examines the contribution of Chinese Australians’ Chineseness to their Chinese Heritage Language proficiency. Two hundred and thirty young Chinese Australians completed the online survey. Results from multiple regression indicate that habitus of Chineseness is one of the significant predictors for the Chinese Heritage Language proficiency of these young people. The study makes a theoretical contribution to investigate ethnic identity – Heritage Language link through the notion of habitus and makes a methodological contribution to quantify this habitus.

Alternative Identities and Foreign Language Learning

My D-essay has the working title “Alternative Identities and Foreign Language Learning”. I have chosen this area because I have noticed a certain reluctance among Swedish students to use the foreign language English in English classes. They often seem embarrassed to express themselves in a language which is not their mother tongue, but they seem less embarrassed when they are allowed to act somebody else. These two observations converge into a focus of discussion on the matter, which will be supported by a minor study of my own, by extracts from other people’s essays on the matter, and by an overview of current litterature on language, identity and drama.The aim of my essay is to compare Swedish students’ willingness to use the foreign language English when acting minor plays in school, as themselves and as a chosen character, and to investigate the possibility of improving students’ willingness to use a foreign language, when given the opportunity to do so through acting somebody else.

Intersectionality in the Language and Writing Classroom

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Knowledge unlatched : A global library consortium model for funding Open Access scholarly books

Specialist scholarly books, including monographs, allow researchers to present their work, pose questions and to test and extend areas of theory through long-form writing. In spite of the fact that research communities all over the world value monographs and depend heavily on them as a requirement of tenure and promotion in many disciplines, sales of this kind of book are in free fall, with some estimates suggesting declines of as much as 90% over twenty years (Willinsky 2006). Cashstrapped monograph publishers have found themselves caught in a negative cycle of increasing prices and falling sales, with few resources left to support experimentation, business model innovation or engagement with digital technology and Open Access (OA). This chapter considers an important attempt to tackle failing markets for scholarly monographs, and to enable the wider adoption of OA licenses for book-length works: the 2012 – 2014 Knowledge Unlatched pilot. Knowledge Unlatched is a bold attempt to reconfigure the market for specialist scholarly books: moving it beyond the sale of ‘content’ towards a model that supports the services valued by scholarly and wider communities in the context of digital possibility. Its success has powerful implications for the way we understand copyright’s role in the creative industries, and the potential for established institutions and infrastructure to support the open and networked dynamics of a digital age.

Knowledge Sharing in Multinational Corporations - A Social Captal Perspective (summary section only)

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are commonly perceived as networks of differentiated units, dependent for their competitive edge on the sharing of different kinds of internal resources. This ‘differentiated network’ view of the MNC strongly emphasizes the crucial role of interunit knowledge sharing, the topic of this thesis. The five essays presented here contribute to the research on interunit knowledge sharing in MNCs by focusing on the roles played by language, identity, and feedback seeking in the knowledge sharing process. While these factors have occasionally been brought up in previous research as potentially relevant for interunit knowledge sharing, they have so far been subject to limited empirical examination – an important omission which this thesis is an effort to redress. Furthermore, the treatment of the topic is anchored in a theoretical framework based on social capital. This perspective contributes to MNC research by providing a comprehensive framework for examining the significance of social relationships in interunit interaction. The findings can be summarized in two main points. Firstly, language skills and shared identity appear to promote the accumulation of interunit social capital. Secondly, high levels of interunit social capital seem to promote interunit knowledge sharing and feedback seeking. These observations raise a number of both theoretical and practical issues of considerable relevance for MNC management.

Produção literária: tecer o imaginário, espaço preenchido da margem

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar como a prática da produção literária interfere, positivamente, na trajetória de indivíduos que se encontram em situação de vulnerabilidade social. A investigação deu-se no Centro Cultural Cartola, situado na comunidade da Mangueira na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, espaço que favorece a experiência individual e social de crianças e jovens por meio de ferramentas pedagógico-culturais: dança, orquestra de violinos, música, capoeira, judô, balé, oficinas literárias de leituras e de composições de texto, que possibilitam a criação de valores culturais da comunidade e dos indivíduos pelo processo de identificação. A oficina Produção Literária: Tecer o Imaginário teve início em maio de 2011, com propostas de estímulo à criação e à leitura de textos ficcionais, possibilitando que a narrativa como um vetor de (re)construção do sujeito e do coletivo, sob o ponto de vista ético e estético. A fase investigativa constou de oficinas de literatura apresentadas de duas formas: Leitura e escrita em grupos pequenos - ou individuais. O trabalho de campo da nossa pesquisa qualitativo-participativa requereu que fizéssemos um recorte espacial de nossa experiência, para que à partir dai pudéssemos inserir o recorte teórico que fosse factível ao nosso objeto de investigação. Importava a dinâmica da ação dos atores sociais. A pesquisa, estruturada sobre a ação, revelou-se detentora de inúmeras possibilidades onde o imaginário se apresenta. A interação por meio de falas que estimulam a imaginação e a reflexão exerce influência no grupo e no indivíduo na construção de si e de seu mundo. Como o objetivo da pesquisa não se adequava somente à prática oral, de contar e ouvir estórias, mas de estimular os atores à inventar e escrevê-las percebemos que este modo prevaleceu. Por exigência de que a criança dominasse de alguma forma essa modalidade, sobretudo porque o ato de escrever validava as histórias inventadas por elas e as dispostas por outras pessoas nos livros. Visto que oralidade pode dispersar a entrada da criança em seu mundo imaginário, tendo importância maior para crianças muito pequenas que não entraram ainda no mundo da linguagem. A maneira que conduzíamos a pesquisa era sempre no sentido de estimular o imaginário, capturando-o, e a partir disso inseri-lo no mundo da linguagem, da simbolização. Para Minayo (1992), O método é o próprio processo do desenvolvimento das coisas.... Nesse sentido, surgia, daquela prática, um texto/sujeito, cujas palavras eram um tronco donde se espalhavam uma infinidade de ideias criativas. O resultado da investigação constatou que a criação ficcional, estimula e desenvolve o imaginário e as representações simbólicas empobrecidas. Evidenciando o quanto é gratificante e prazeroso para crianças e jovens suas participações em atividade que fazem do campo educativo e terapêutico um campo de aventura. Observar o efeito reparador da literatura no individuo, e de consolo nos momentos de lutos e de crises de toda ordem foi evidente em situação fronteiriça, pelo uso do mundo interno dessa potente ferramenta psicopedagogica como fortalecimento psicoemocional

Wenn individuelle Zweisprachigkeit kollektive Sprachkonflikte löst Sprachgrenze und Identitätsdiskurse in Fribourg/Freiburg (CH) : die Sicht junger bilingualer Erwachsener

Quand le bilinguisme individuel résout les conflits linguistiques collectifs Frontière linguistique et discours identitaires à Fribourg/Freiburg : la perspective des jeunes adultes bilingues Cette thèse aborde la question linguistique fribourgeoise et l’importance de la langue à Fribourg / Freiburg (Suisse) dans la cohabitation de ses habitants. Elle porte également sur les points de discorde des groupes linguistiques, l’influence de la langue sur la construction des identités (collectives) et son rôle comme marqueur de différenciation entre les Fribourgeois alémaniques et romands. À cette fin, une analyse de discours portant sur un débat mené dans les quotidiens fribourgeois La Liberté et les Freiburger Nachrichten a été réalisée pour établir le contexte du travail. Ce débat, d’une durée de quatre ans, portait sur la nouvelle constitution cantonale. De plus, 17 entrevues furent menées auprès de 18 jeunes adultes bilingues (français et allemand) fribourgeois, afin d’aborder la question linguistique depuis une nouvelle perspective. L’analyse de discours a démontré l’existence de différentes perceptions de l’identité collective fribourgeoise, perceptions souvent liées à l’appartenance à un groupe linguistique : d’une part, la perception d’une ville francophone comptant une minorité germanophone prédomine chez les Fribourgeois romands, alors que, d’autre part, la perception d’une ville traditionnellement bilingue caractérise davantage les Fribourgeois alémaniques, divisant ainsi les Fribourgeois en deux camps. Les uns aspirent à une identité collective (bilingue) qui inclue l’altérité respective, tandis que les autres tentent de renforcer leur propre identité en soulignant l’altérité et en négligeant plutôt les points communs. Les entrevues réalisées ont démontré que la langue est le principal marqueur de différenciation des Fribourgeois alémaniques et romands – bien avant certains paramètres tels que les normes et valeurs, la mentalité, la religion, les habitudes de vie ou la culture. Les informateurs bilingues et la plupart du temps biculturels montrent des attitudes et perceptions particulières : se distinguant de plusieurs argumentaires présents dans l’analyse de discours, ceux-ci s’approprient les deux camps et montrent un sentiment d’appartenance avec le Fribourg romand et alémanique. Ce faisant, ils dénouent la majorité des sources de conflit et des contradictions de la question linguistique fribourgeoise. Leurs attitudes et perceptions spécifiques en font les médiateurs des groupes linguistiques dans le canton-pont et posent des questions potentiellement désagréables aux acteurs sociaux impliqués dans le débat linguistique fribourgeois.

Contested and contesting identities: minority languages vs. the teaching of 'world' languages within the global cultural economy

This paper juxtaposes postmodernist discourses on language, identity and cultural power with historical forms of language inequalities grounded in the nation-state. The discussion is presented in three sections. The first section focuses on the mixed legacies of language-state relations within the pluralist nation-state, colonial and postcolonial language policies. The second section examines the concept of linguistic minority rights beyond the nation-state. This incorporates discussion of transmigration, the breaking up of previous power blocs in Eastern Europe and the role of language in the articulation of emergent 'ethnic' nationalisms. The third section examines the concept of multilingualism within the interactive cultural landscape defined by 'informationalism'. Discussing the collective impact of these variables on the shaping of new cultural, economic and political inequalities, the paper highlights the tensions in which the concept of linguistic minority rights exists in the world today.

"Ungerska för rötternas skull" : Språkval och identitet bland andragenerationens ungrare i Sverige och Finland

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

O jogo das identidades como fator de mobilização político-eleitoral nas campanhas de Dilma Rousseff e Rosalba Ciarlini em 2010

Starting from the premise that we live in the society of spectacle, as proclaimed by Guy Debbord, and, in this context, the media feeds itself off of this spectacularization and constructs a culture of images and production of goods, providing templates from which the subject can identify himself/herself as being male or female, successful or unsuccessful, powerful or powerless. In other words, the culture conveyed by the media produces material for the creation of identities through which individuals insert and recognize themselves in contemporary society. Observing the election campaigns, we can see clearly that this profusion of identities is fairly explored in the advertising propaganda used by the candidates, particularly in the propaganda broadcasted on the Free Electoral Time on TV. Instigated by the explicit relation between the media and politics within the society of the spectacle, this study aims to investigate the main identities that emerge in the discursive practices of the media in the election campaigns of 2010 for president of the Republic and governor of the State of Rio Grande do Norte that had as protagonists the candidates at that moment Dilma Rousseff (PT) for president and Rosalba Ciarline (DEM) for governor. To do so, we based ourselves on the theory of Bakhtin Circle, which considers the statement as a unit of verbal communication and conceives language as a dialogical phenomena and a discursive practice and also in the conceptions of dialogical relationships, social voices and chronotope formulated by the previous mentioned theory. Still in the theoretical field, we have established an interconnection with the theories coming from the Cultural Studies (Hall, Woodward) about the identity, which conceives it as multiple, fragmented, non-fixed, so that, the subject assumes different identities, not always coherent, at different times, depending on the context in which they are approached. The research is situated in the frames of Applied Linguistics, which considers language as the center of its studies and settles on the border of an open number of areas of knowledge expanding its possibilities of investigation by means of the interdisciplinary. Our corpus consists in 20 electoral propaganda videos aired on TV during the Free Election Time in 2010 campaign; among these, 14 videos are Dilma Rousseff s propaganda and 06 videos are Rosalba Ciarline s propaganda. We seek for the purpose of the analysis to identify the identities which emerge from the discourses about the candidates in propaganda videos broadcasted in the referred campaign, as well as realize the dialogical relations established in these discourses and even if the identity construction of these subjects is located in the same axiological axis. The corpus analysis revealed that the multiple cultural identities of the candidates campaigning emerge in the discourses circulating in the electoral propaganda aired on TV such as: the identities of pioneer woman, competent, sensitive, mother, grandmother, religious. And, yet, those are changeable as the electoral demands, in other words, the need to obtain support and votes, outline a fluid identity construction about the candidate to the position in question

Uma escola (in)visível: memórias de professoras negras em Porto Velho no início do século XX

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Il teatro e Derek Walcott. Prospettive postcoloniali e multiculturali

This thesis explores the function of the theatre in Derek Walcott's literary achievements. Focusing on the semiotic theories that characterize the study of drama as a literary text and as a staged text, the initial approach aims at creating a relationship between semiotics and postcolonial theories. In particular Pavis's concept of intercultural semiotics and Peter Brook's innovative visions about the regenerative function of the space of the theatre represent a useful theoretical basis to consider the specificity of postcolonial theatre as an innovative space, where new cultural meanings emerge. Derek Walcott's dramatic production is studied according to this approach, in order to be defined as a new hybrid, syncretic and multicultural space. After considering the development of drama from a postcolonial and Caribbean perspective, this study begins with an insight into Walcott's views on theatre, taking into consideration his linguistic depth, linked to the European tradition, but also his strong concern with the Caribbean public's cultural needs. The double tension characterizing Walcott's cultural identity as well as his art represents an essential element to analyse his dramatic texts. With an ambivalent approach, which takes into consideration language and performance, this thesis offers an insight into Walcott's plays to detect their postcolonial and multicultural elements. The analysis of the different texts are divided into two chapters (third and fourth). The third chapters - mainly focused on postcolonial themes - explores issues such as language, identity and space, whereas the fourth chapter centers on multiculturalism in text and performance. Dealing with interracial interactions, issues like re-writing classical texts and the manipulation of personal and collective memory as a way to re- establish new historical perspectives, the last part of the thesis aims at demonstrating the idea that Walcott has created a new space in the theatre made by the harmonic fusion of different and opposed cultural elements, which are visible in the literary as well as in the staged text. The textual perspective of Walcott's drama fits into Pavis's definition of intercultural semiotics, as the faithful representation of a multicultural creole society: that of the West Indies.