Abstract

While top-down policies and declarations have yet to establish equal status and opportunities for speakers of all languages in practice, activists and advocates at local levels are playing an increasingly significant role in the creation of new social imaginaries and practices in multilingual contexts. This presentation examines how social actors across multiple domains contribute to the elusive goal of linguistic equality or justice through their language activism practices in a multilingual context. Through an ethnographic account of Indigenous Isthmus Zapotec language activism in Oaxaca, Mexico, this presentation illuminates the (sometimes conflicting) imaginaries of what positive social change is and how it should be achieved, and the repertoire of strategies through which these imaginaries are being pursued. Ethnographic and action research in the multilingual Isthmus of Tehuantepec brings to light the experiences of teachers, students, writers, scholars and diverse cultural activists whose aspirations and strategies of social change are significant in shaping the future language ecology. Their repertoire of strategies may inform and encourage language activists, scholars, and educators working for change in other contexts of linguistic diversity and inequality.

Bio

Haley De Korne is Professor of Multilingualism at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies and a member of the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo. De Korne conducts research and advocacy at the intersection of Linguistics, Education, and Anthropology to examine and contribute to language learning, literacy practices, language politics and social justice in multilingual education contexts. She has conducted primarily ethnographic and action research, with a focus on Indigenous and minoritized language education.

At the University of Oslo she has worked closely on the development of a new MA program in Multilingualism, and has established an interdisciplinary research group in Language endangerment, documentation and revitalization. Together with Prof. Pia Lane she is currently launching a new research project entitled 'Indigenous language resilience: From learners to speakers' that aims to provide insights which can support minoritized language learners in several contexts.

Prior to finding her niche in Oslo, she completed a doctorate in Educational Linguistics (University of Pennsylvania, 2016), a master’s in Applied Linguistics (University of Victoria, Canada, 2009), and a bachelor’s in Anthropology, Linguistics, and Human Geography (Durham University, UK, 2005). Along the way, De Korne has held positions as Fulbright research fellow at the University of Luxembourg; research fellow with Save the Children in the Philippines; pre-doctoral fellow with the Smithsonian Institute Department of Anthropology in the US; and adjunct lecturer at the Autonomous Beníto Juárez University of Oaxaca, Mexico, among others.

Haley De Korne

About the Higher seminar in Research on Bilingualism