LINGUIST List 13.2402

Sat Sep 21 2002

Confs: English & Ethnicity - University of Alabama

Editor for this issue: Renee Galvis <reneelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Catherine Evans Davies, Symposium on "English and Ethnicity" at the University of Alabama

We would like to draw the attention of the LINGUIST-List to the 26th
Alabama Symposium of the Department of English, The University of
Alabama, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2002:


 ENGLISH and Ethnicity

	Organizers: Catherine Evans Davies, Janina Brutt-Griffler, 
				Lucy Pickering


Website http://www.as.ua.edu/English
For inquiries: cdaviesbama.ua.edu


Our focus in this symposium will be the use of English as a resource
for the representation of ethnicity as an aspect of sociocultural
identity. Our theoretical position is that ethnicity is potentially
an aspect of the identity of every person, and that English can be
used to signal a wide range of ethnicities in a wide range of
contexts. Such a position problematizes certain key notions: the
notion of identity must be conceptualized as complex, multifaceted,
and socially constructed through a process of situated interpretation;
the notion of ethnicity must be conceptualized as both subsuming and
transcending earlier notions of "race" as well as including a wide
range of perceptions of relevant cultural background; English itself
must be conceptualized not as a monolithic linguistic entity with one
"standard" form, but as a highly complex linguistic construct with
spoken and written forms, and a wide range of dialectal variation that
can be conveyed through shifts at all levels of linguistic
organization (prosodic, phonological, lexical, morpho/syntactic,
pragmatic, discoursal). The symposium includes papers which address
regional, national, and international contexts in the exploration of
the relationship between English and ethnicity. We would like to
attract a diverse audience, including linguists, literary scholars,
creative writers, students, educators, psychologists, journalists and
local community leaders.

 Overview of the Symposium

Thursday Evening Program: October 31, 7:00 p.m., 
	Morgan Hall Auditorium

"English in the Black Experience: A Sociolinguistics of
	Double-Consciousness"
Dr. Alamin Mazrui, Dept. of African-American & African Studies, 
	Ohio State University



Friday Sessions: November 1: Ferguson Center Theater (9:00 a.m. - 4:00
p.m.) - registration at 8

Session 1: 9-12 Frameworks:

"The Discursive Framing of Phonological Acts of Identity: Welshness
	through English"
Dr. Nikolas Coupland, Cardiff Centre for Language and Communication
	Research, University of Cardiff, Wales, UK

"In Black and White: Racial Prejudices and Linguistic Practices among
	Dominicans"
Dr. A. Jacqueline Toribio, Dept. of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese,
	Penn State University

"The Chinese Experience of Basic English"
Dr. Yunte Huang, Dept. of English and American Literature and
	Language, Harvard University

Session 2: 2-4 Representations:

"Representing Jewish Identity through English"
Dr. Cynthia Goldin Bernstein, Dept. of English, the University of
	Memphis

"Signalling Gay Identity and Ethnicity---Changing Linguistic and
	Semiotic Representations" 
Dr. Ronald R. Butters, Linguistics Program, Duke University

Bankhead Writers Series: 4:30, Ferguson Forum: Simon J. Ortiz and
	Yunte Huang



Saturday Sessions: November 2: Ferguson Center Ballroom (9:00 a.m. -
	-5:00 p.m.) - registration at 8

Session 3: 9-12 Contexts:

"Speaking for Ourselves: Maintaining Native Cultural Integrity Despite
	Speaking English"
Professor Simon Ortiz, Dept. of English, the University of Toronto,
	Canada

"English and the Construction of Aboriginal Identities in the Eastern
	Canadian Arctic"
Dr. Donna Patrick, Dept. of Applied Language Studies, Brock
	University, Canada

"Constructing a Diaspora Identity in English: The Case of Sri Lankan
	Tamils"
Dr. A. Suresh Canagarajah, Dept. of English, Baruch College, City
	University of New York

Session 4: 2-5 Connections:

"Teaching English among Linguistically Diverse Students"
Dr. John Baugh, School of Education, Stanford University

"Language and Race in Transnational Space: Rethinking Mestizaje"
Dr. Marcia Farr, Dept. of English and Linguistics, University of
	Illinois at Chicago

"African American Language and Culture: African and Creole Roots"
Dr. John R. Rickford, Dept. of Linguistics, Director of African &
	Afro-American Studies, Stanford University

8:00 p.m.: The Alabama Blues Project: Willie King and the Liberators
 http://www.alabamablues.org/state.htm

This symposium is supported by * The College of Arts & Sciences * The
Provost * The Dean of Arts and Sciences * The Arts & Sciences
Diversity Committee * The College of Education * The Department of
American Studies and the African-American Studies Program * Capstone
International Programs * The Department of Religious Studies and the
Aaron Aronov Endowment for Judaic Studies * The Creative Writing
Program * The History Department * The Psychology Department * The
Modern Languages and Classics Department * The Anthropology Department
* The English Language Institute * Stillman College *The Alabama
Humanities Foundation, the state affiliate of the National Endowment
for the Humanities*