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Human and language rights

November 2024: Language as a Matter of Life and Death

This month’s Spotlight was contributed by Gerald Roche. He is a political anthropologist based at La Trobe University, Australia, and his work focuses on the intersections of language and power. He previously edited the Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization, and he has recently published articles in Language in Society, State Crime Journal, and Emancipations: A…
October 2024: A Global Platform for Promoting African Languages: the AFLC Story

This month’s commentary is contributed by Avishta Seeras. The African Languages Conference (AFLC) was born out of a shared passion for the promotion and preservation of Africa’s rich linguistic heritage. In a world where languages are increasingly endangered, AFLC emerged as a beacon of hope for the continent’s languages. Founded by myself and Ady Namaran…
August 2024: The Bridge as a Cultural Confluence: Interpreting Language and Justice in Kakuma Refugee Camp

This month’s Spotlight was prepared by Ifigeneia Gianne, an undergraduate student at Bard College who is majoring in Anthropology and Theater. As an international student from Greece, Ifigeneia is no stranger to issues of language and culture. As part of her studies, she has had the opportunity to closely analyze a recent film that introduces…
Paul J. Meighan

Critical Sociolinguist Chair (2024-2025), TESOL International Bilingual-Multilingual Interest Section Member, Belonging, Identity, Language, and Diversity (BILD) Research Group, McGill University [email protected] I am a Scottish Gaelic critical sociolinguist. As a first-generation scholar and speaker of English, French, Italian, Spanish, and the endangered Indigenous language Scottish Gaelic, I advocate for more inclusive and equitable multilingual education,…
April 2024: Announcing the Language Rights Defenders Award

This month’s Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice is contributed by Dr. Gerald Roche, Anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, Media, and Philosophy at La Trobe University. Gerald is a founding co-chair of the Global Coalition on Language Rights and has established the Coalition’s new Language Rights Defenders Award. Nominations for this…
Edith Muleiro

University of Texas Austin, Texas, USA [email protected] Read Edith’s April 2021 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a dual B.A. in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, Plan II Honors and a minor in Arabic. I have been working with migrant communities from the Middle East…
Zubair Torwali

Researcher, Writer and Minority Language Activist Executive Director, Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi Swat, Pakistan [email protected] Hailing from Bahrain, Swat — the Switzerland of Pakistan — I am a researcher, author, protector of minority languages; social, cultural, civil society and human-rights activist; writer, columnist, blogger, journalist, voice of the unheard; and a powerful voice for the rights…
Laura Smith-Khan

Senior Lecturer School of Law University of New England Armidale, Australia Affiliated Member, the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR), Ghent University, Belgium [email protected] Read Laura’s December 2021 and May 2020 Spotlights on Language, Culture and Justice. I am a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of New England, Australia. From 2019 to…
Laurence Simon

Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts, USA [email protected] I am a cultural geographer at the Heller School at Brandeis where I serve as the Professor of International Development and Director of the Center for Global Development and Sustainability. I’ve worked in many settings around the world including Central America, Southern…
Toni Shapiro-Phim

Associate Professor, Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts [email protected] Read Toni’s April 2020 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I’m a cultural anthropologist and dance ethnologist whose work has focused on the relationship between the arts and migration, violence (including war and genocide) and other oppressions. I have spent time with artists…
Rajesh Sampath

Associate Professor, Philosophy of Justice, Rights and Social Change Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts [email protected] Read Raj’s March 2020 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I am currently the lead investigator of the Program on Social Exclusion at Brandeis University’s Heller School Center for Global Development and Sustainability. In April…
Álvaro Paúl

Professor of Law Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile [email protected] I obtained my PhD at Trinity College Dublin (2013), my master’s degree (Magister Juris) at the University of Oxford (2009), and my law degree (Licenciado) at the Universidad de los Andes (Chile, 2003). I am also the director of the law journal Revista Chilena…
Brianne McGonigle Leyh

Associate Professor of Human Rights and Social Justice Ultrecht University The Netherlands [email protected] Read Brianne’s November 2020 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I am an associate professor of law, specializing in human rights and global justice issues, with a focus on victims’ rights, transitional justice, social justice and the documentation of serious crimes. My PhD…
Laura Kunreuther

Associate Professor and Director of Anthropology Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, New York [email protected] Read Laura’s September 2021 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. My research and teaching center on themes such as sound, voice, translation/interpretation, technology and media, social suffering, affect, cultural memory, and urban public culture. My first book, “Voicing Subjects: Public Intimacy and Mediation in…
Devina Krishna

Academic and linguist India [email protected] I work as an assistant professor at the Department of English, Patna Women’s College, India. I earned a PhD in Linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, specializing in Phonetics and Phonology. My main research interests revolve around phonetics, phonology, and language documentation. I presented my research on Lexical…
Jonneke Koomen

Associate Professor of Politics and Sociology Co-chair, Women’s and Gender Studies Willamette University Salem, Oregon [email protected] I am associate professor of politics, sociology, and women’s and gender studies. I received a PhD in political science from the University of Minnesota. I trained as a critical international relations scholar, though I draw on a broad range…
Alexander Heinze

Assistant Professor Institute for Criminal Law and Justice Department for Foreign and International Criminal Law Georg-August University Göttingen, German [email protected] I am an assistant professor at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and am doing a “Habilitation” project on the semantic interdependence of criminal law and its interpretation. I hold a doctor’s degree in international criminal…
Rebecca Ruth Gould

Distinguished Professor of Comparative Poetics and Global Politics SOAS University of London United Kingdom [email protected] I am a scholar, writer and translator currently based at SOAS University of London, working on the intersections of literary, legal and political theory. Much of my research focuses on the Middle East and the Muslim regions of the former…
Irene Gotera

Linguistic Justice® Founder Washington, D.C. [email protected] I’m a social entrepreneur passionate about language, justice, and equality. Born in Venezuela, I’m a prospective Asylee in the U.S. and a TPS holder, as well as a former attorney with a master’s degree in Civil Procedural Law. Upon relocating to the U.S., I pursued my linguist training and national…
Julie Fraser

Assistant Professor of Law Netherlands Institute of Human Rights Utrecht University The Netherlands [email protected] Read Julie’s May 2021 and November 2020 Spotlights on Language, Culture and Justice. I am an assistant professor of law based at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at Utrecht University. In 2018 I defended my PhD, titled “Every Organ of Society: Exploring the…
Sara de Jong

Professor in Politics University of York United Kingdom [email protected] Read Sara’s February 2020 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I am a professor in the Department of Politics at the University of York. I have held (visiting) fellowships at the University of Vienna (EU FP7 Marie Curie Fellowship), University of Goettingen, the International Institute of Social…
March 2023: ‘#GLAD23 offers diverse perspectives on the importance of language rights’

This month’s Spotlight provides a brief overview of the recently concluded Global Language Advocacy Day 2023 (#GLAD23), organized by the Global Coalition for Language Rights. This year’s GLAD theme was Language Rights Save Lives. The Coalition works at the intersection of language, digital and human rights. Its aims are: · To support global efforts towards increasing access to critical…
October 2022: “The Global Coalition for Language Rights”

This month’s feature is contributed by the co-chairs of the Global Coalition for Language Rights, Lucio Bagnulo, Veronica Costea, and Gerald Roche. They introduce our readers to an exciting and much needed initiative. The early period of the covid pandemic was a strange time of simultaneous isolation and connectivity, as we all bunkered down at…
May 2022: “Linguistic Refoulement: Exploring the Intersection Between Language and Asylum”

This month’s feature is a blogpost about the work of Language, Culture and Justice Hub member Katie Becker, who volunteers with Respond Crisis Translation. Becker recently graduated with a Master of Arts in Global Security and Borders from Queen’s University Belfast. Her master’s dissertation, (In)credible Fear: Linguistic Refoulement and Indigenous-Language Speakers at the U.S.-Mexico Border, was inspired by her work…
October 2021: ‘Supporting two-way communication with police in Western Australia: new translation app helps to identify need for Aboriginal interpreters’

By Alex Bowen, Linguist and Trainer, Aboriginal Interpreting Western Australia; PhD Student, University of Melbourne Aboriginal Interpreting Western Australia (AIWA) recently worked with the Western Australia Police Force to develop an app which could signal a new direction in communication with Aboriginal people who are arrested. The app, which police have on their phones, delivers…
July 2021: “Language Rights in a Changing China: A National Overview and Zhuang Case Study”

A new book by Language, Culture and Justice Hub member Alexandra Grey has just been published (Contributions to the Sociology of Language #113, De Gruyter Mouton 2021). Language Rights in a Changing China is the culmination of eight years of research, including fieldwork in four provinces across the People’s Republic of China. The book examines the constitutional minority language rights…
November 2020: “Book Unpacks Crucial Ways in Which Law and Culture Are Intertwined”

This month’s Spotlight is contributed by Language, Culture and Justice Hub members Julie Fraser and Brianne McGonigle Leyh of Utrecht University. We are pleased to present our new edited volume Intersections of Law and Culture at the International Criminal Court, published in October by Edward Elgar Press. This book takes as a premise that notions of culture affect the legal foundations,…
March 2020: “Searching for Language to Describe Discrimination on the Basis of Work and Descent”

This commentary was contributed by Hub member Rajesh Sampath, associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights and social change at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis. I am a part of an international group of NGO leaders, activists, scholars, artists and former heads of minority rights divisions of major multilateral institutions.…
October 2019: ‘Exploring Interpretation as a Right in the Context of Migration’

The Trump administration recently decided that providing in-court interpretation during initial-phase immigration proceedings represents an unnecessary expense in an already bogged-down system. Migrants will be shown a film explaining legal procedures in a variety of languages but will not be able to ask questions and receive more information on the spot. According to the San Francisco…