11th November, 2010, 13:00-17:00

Superdiversity has changed the demography and the social stratification of migration. It has lead to the formation of small groups of people from more countries, migrating to more countries – as opposed to many people from a few countries migrating to a few countries, as in the pre-1991 migration patterns. This means that (a) we are meeting more forms of diversity now, and are effectively facing a fragmented population; (b) which in turn means that we can not presuppose much about the backgrounds of these people, nor about their life trajectories and their migration trajectories, motives and histories; (c) that, consequently, the idea of stability in social formations can no longer be presupposed either.

Ultimately, we encounter difficulties with some of social science’s key concepts, all of which presume stability in social formations. In fact, the notion of ‘community’ and all its derivatives (e.g. ‘speech community’) is open for critical re-examination now. The same goes for notions that suggest large and stable collectives, such as ‘culture’ and ‘language’. A fundamental recasting of central social-scientific concepts is in order, because the question is not just one of method (how to best describe these new phenomena), but also one of deep theoretical apparatus – of paradigms.

Given the unpredictability and complexity of social phenomena in a context of superdiversity, the description of such objects is in itself a major challenge. Linguistic ethnography offers a way to tackle this challenge through . Yet again, linguistic ethnography ought to be supported and corroborated by an analysis of macro-structures in societies. In fact, the features and changes that we observe in the reification of superdiverse sociolinguistic phenomena are not one-off events. Rather, they are historical and layered. The concrete objects of its study (e.g. education, social media, asylum applications) have clearly intertwined aspects of instability (each case is unique) and stability (each case develops in a uniform, high modernist, institutional frame).

This half- day seminar aims to bring together researchers working in the field of linguistic ethnography with an interest in superdiverse sociolinguistic realities.

The seminar addresses the actual workings of superdiverse/hybrid sociolinguistic realities in a variety of settings, including social media, tourism, and education.It examines the gap between the cultural ecology of these realities and their institutional regimentation authored by the institutions that regulate them.

The seminar will address the following questions:

• How can linguistic ethnography shed light on the gap between superdiverse sociolinguistic phenomena on the one hand, and the institutional regimentation on the other?

• How can linguistic ethnography (which has to date tended to focus on spoken interaction) deal with superdiversity spread across different settings?

• How do body, time and space feature in the analysis of superdiverse sociolinguistic phenomena?

Organisers

The event will be structured around individual presentations and discussions, both face to face and (if needed) via video conferencing with the aim of ensuring maximum opportunities for seminar participants. The precise format will be decided once expressions of interest have been received.