SLA Seminar 2/21: (via Zoom) Jennifer Leeman, Beyond standard language and Latinidad: New approaches to ideologies and identities in Spanish heritage language education

Hello all-

In the SLA seminar on Tuesday, 2/21, we will welcome Jennifer Leeman from George Mason University via Zoom for a talk titled "Beyond standard language and Latinidad: New approaches to ideologies and identities in Spanish heritage language education." (Please see below for the abstract)

You will need to register to get the Zoom link, which you can do here.

For students: The talk will last approximately 1 hour, including Q&A, and afterwards Dr. Leeman has agreed to stay on Zoom for an informal chat with graduate students. Please plan to stay for that. We may still end around 4:50 as usual, or it may go a bit later if needed.

Looking forward to seeing you soon and thanks,

Katie

Abstract:

Early research on language ideologies within the context of Spanish heritage language education focused primarily on the standard language ideology, while investigations of identity centered on the role of Spanish in construction of Latinx/a/o authenticity. Such scholarship, like the ideologies and discourses that it examined, continues to be highly significant.  However, numerous, and even contradictory, language ideologies circulate within any given context. So too, identities are inherently multiple and multiscalar. In this talk, I draw from research in linguistic anthropology, Latinx studies and raciolinguistics as I argue for an examination of both a greater variety of language ideologies and identity categories, and I discuss recent research that has begun to expand the research agenda in productive ways. Together with attention to the intersectional and situated nature of identities, a broader and more nuanced exploration of identities and ideologies allows us a deeper understanding of the sociopolitics of SHL education.

 

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Katharine E. Burns, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Hispanic Studies

Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University

Faculty Profile

Website

My preferred pronouns are she/her/hers