MULTILINGUALISM IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE

LINEE (Languages in a Network of European Excellence) is a scientific network aimed at investigating linguistic diversity in Europe in a coherent and interdisciplinary way. Following on a very successful international conference on New Challenges for Multilingualism organized by LINEE in 2010 in Dubrovnik, it has been decided to organise the second international conference in 2012  again in Dubrovnik to continue to critically examine the concept of multilingualism in the context of complex cultural and linguistic diversity characterized by mobility, migration and minorities, and to propose further theoretical and research perspectives.

The objective of this second international conference is to provide a forum for researchers studying multilingualism as social practice in various public spaces to rethink the concept of ‘language’, and its role in fostering social cohesion. The conference will gather researchers who investigate plurilingual communication from a perspective that seeks to critically address power relations and includes different types of public spaces as concrete empirical settings, each with their specific contribution to communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries, such as: public places (shops, markets, tourist sites); field of economy and work-organizations; functional/sectoral public arenas of differentiated service-provision (such as education, health-care, administration etc.) and media.

Date: 04-06/05/2012

Organiser: Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb (INANTRO)

Country: Croatia

Venue:  Intern-University Centre, Don Frana Bulića 4, Dubrovnik

Telephone: (+385) 1 55-351-17

E-mail: josip.lah@inantro.hr; aimartinis@inantro.hr