Literature and Language Difference Conference

The question of language difference and multilingualism is one of social justice. It is one of reflecting on and representing our lived language realities, the way individuals exist and communicate within and across languages. Despite the mire of efforts, rooted in a history of colonialism, to establish homogenous, standardised languages, including theories of ‘separate bilingualism’ which ‘exclude “illegitimate” language mixing’ (Baynham and Lee 2019), a number of approaches to comprehending and theorising plural language have emerged. Many theories of this kind are found in (post-)colonial studies, including Khatibi’s bi-langue and Bhabha’s hybridity. But multilingualism as we seek to understand it goes beyond the modern and early modern contexts of empire, spatially and temporally. The ‘English’ of Britain, for example, is one such setting for languaging (Becker 1991) that is porous, dynamic, palimpsestic. Theory and practice that conceive languages as standardised, fixed entities, commit to the reification of linguistic borders—borders of nation, of race, of class.

The intention of this year’s conference is to explore the existing and emerging approaches to language difference, with the wider, long-term purpose of disrupting the aforementioned borders. Discussions may seek to assess the hidden multilingualism or language difference in contemporary contexts, or identify methods of opening multilingual spaces that undermine language difference as a crossing of borders, instead promoting language as fluid and porous. We invite 20-minute presentations that propose theoretical approaches to language difference. We welcome (but do not require) joint proposals and innovative styles of presentation. These may address, but are not limited to, the following questions and topics:

• What is the role of literature, art, music, etc. in promoting or undermining language difference?
• What literary and translational ‘reactions’ (Sakai 2012) create or reinforce borders?
• How can translation work towards language difference, as opposed to language separation?
• How is language difference understood or affected in various disciplines (e.g., translation studies, literature, language learning, queer studies)?
• Multimodal, creative approaches;
• Multilingualism in the education sector and/or multilingual pedagogy;
• Doing or performing language and/or languaging.

Following  this conference, we aim to collate and publish the proceedings for the OCCT Review’s first special issue.

This event requires registration. Please register via GoogleForms here.