Spotlight Archive: 2021
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December 2021: “Securing the Borders of English and Whiteness”
Brass ‘White Australia’ protection badge, 1906. Image credit: National Museum of Australia This month’s Spotlight features a recently published commentary from Language on the Move (LOTM), a peer-reviewed sociolinguistics research site devoted to multilingualism, language learning, and intercultural communication in the contexts of globalization and migration. It was prepared by Ingrid Piller, LOTM editor and Distinguished Professor… Read More
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November 2021: “Indigenous Languages, Environmental Knowledge and the Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic”
By Leigh Swigart [Photo credit PNAS] The COVID-19 era has shone a spotlight on the challenges experienced by many multilingual societies in effectively communicating critical health information, particularly to members of vulnerable and minority populations. These difficulties have been well documented, for example, in OneSmallWindow for the UK, and in a variety of settings across the globe… Read More
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September 2021: “Interpreting ‘In the Field’”
This month’s feature comes from Language, Culture and Justice Hub member Laura Kunreuther, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bard College. She has been investigating the world of “field interpreters” for several years and offers her reflections on an intriguing aspect of their critical work. “Interpreting ‘In the Field’” What does it mean, practically and subjectively, to… Read More
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June 2021: “Linguistic Lives as Working Lives: Exploring Communication Labor with Legal Interpreters’ Language Life Histories”
By Sonya Rao, American Bar Association/AccessLex Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow in Legal and Higher Education The life history interview, a type of oral history that covers the events of an individual’s life experiences, is a useful methodological tool for social scientists and historians. In these interviews, researchers can explore the depths of an individual’s historical experience and… Read More
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May 2021: “A Seat at the Table: Islamic Law’s Neglected Potential in Universalising International Humanitarian Law”
By Julie Fraser, Assistant Professor of Law, Utrecht University The large-scale Black Lives Matter protests in the middle of 2020 made it impossible to look away from structural biases and inequalities around the world. As an international lawyer, I reflected further on how the norms and institutions of international law also privilege and silence certain perspectives… Read More
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April 2021: “Lost in Translation: Interpretation as a Barrier to Asylum in Texas Immigration Courts”
By Edith Muleiro, The University of Texas at Austin Language influences our lives in many ways. For some this influence may be subtle, but in a courtroom the ability to understand and be understood becomes the determining factor in one’s future. Imagine standing in a new and unfamiliar country before a judge. A form in… Read More
