War-Torn Landscapes: Contested Memories and Utopian Futures in Ukraine
The 14th Linguistic Landscape Conference in Madrid featured a particularly timely panel dedicated to the theme of "War-Torn Landscapes: Contested Memories and Utopian Futures in Ukraine." This panel specifically focused on the dystopia of lost voices and the utopia of imagined futures during this ongoing war.
– It has been my great honor to collaborate with Corinne Seals on the organization of this panel and to meet Sveta L'nyavskiy, Kornélia Hires-László, István Csernicskó, and Máté Réka, says Natalia Volvach.
The papers explored regions spanning Southern, Western, and Central Ukraine, including notable sites like Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), the small town of Aqmecit in the Crimean Peninsula, Dnipro in the East, Odesa in the South, Lviv in the West, and the small Hungarian-Ukrainian town of Berehove/Beregszász on the Western border of Ukraine.
– As we look to the future, we remain hopeful, Natalia says. – We hope to continue our meetings and expand our research on the linguistic landscapes in Ukraine.
– Moreover, we hope that more colleagues from Ukraine will be able to join us next time, and contribute even more to the understanding and preservation of the linguistic and cultural diversity in this remarkable country, Natalia sums it up.
Natalia Volvach got her doctorate in Bilingualism last spring at the Centre for Research on Bilingualism at Stockholm University. She will return to the Centre in the spring of 2024.
Last updated: October 9, 2023
Source: Centre for Research on Bilingualism