Two conferences in Trinity College, Dublin:
“Relocating Cultures” 13-15 April 2011 & “The collapse of the Soviet Union: 20 years on” 15-17 April 2011
The “Our Languages” research team in Trinity College Dublin is hosting two conferences back-to-back in April 2011. In the first conference, “Relocating Cultures”, the organisers bring together scholars in the fields of language in society, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, language politics, and diaspora and identity studies; the second is the annual conference of the Irish Association for Russian, Central and East European Studies. These two events target different, but overlapping participants and audiences.
The programme of “Relocating Cultures” (13-15 April 2011) is structured to move from the more conceptual and theoretical (without privileging any particular ethnic, social or linguistic group) to a more narrow focus on Russian as a minority language in the modern world (without discounting discussion of other global/world/vehicular/bridge or minority languages in diaspora).
The four panels envisaged are:
1. Multilingualism in the public sphere;
2. Culture over Time;
3. Networking and Identity Performance;
4. Russian as a Local Language.
The second conference, “The collapse of the Soviet Union: 20 years on” (15-17 April 2011) brings together scholars working across various disciplines in Central and East European studies. We are particularly keen to receive proposals for complete panels but we are also happy to receive paper proposals that can be combined for discussion in any of the following panels:
1. Culture /literature /media;
2. Politics /international relations /political economy;
3. History;
4. Sociology /social anthropology/geography/social policy.
Three public lectures by eminent guest speakers will frame the proceedings and broaden the audience yet further. The Wednesday lecture will examine and critique multilingualism and language policy/ policing (Professor Jan Blommaert, Tilberg University); the Thursday lecture will investigate the practices of bi-/pluri-lingual speakers (Professor Li Wei, Birkbeck, University of London); the Friday evening lecture will serve as a bridge between the two conferences and will look at the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on Diaspora communities and cultural repertoires.
These conferences provide a forum in which scholars interact in dialogue with colleagues from different discipline areas, with different methodologies and theoretical frameworks. The panels will be scheduled sequentially (not in parallel sessions). Speakers will thus be addressing specialists and non-specialists in their field.
If you would like to offer a paper, please send an abstract to ssmyth@tcd.ie by 31st October 2010. The organising committee will agree the first draft programme(s) by the end of November. Participants will be asked to submit their papers/powerpoints by the end of February 2011 for circulation to other members of their panel. If you would like to be kept on or added to the circulation list, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Sarah Smyth
PI “Our Languages” Who in Ireland speaks and understands Russian? An investigation into cultural and linguistic diversity
Font: Sarah Smyth. Head of School. School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies. http://www.tcd.ie/langs-lits-cultures/