Timorese talking back

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-51
Author(s):  
Kerry Taylor-Leech
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Maritime Boundary ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
Virtual Resources

Abstract Taking the dispute between East Timor and Australia over their maritime boundary as an illustrative context, this article discusses the role of semiotic resources in constructing chronotopes of protest. Reflecting first on language choice in urban protests during East Timor’s struggle for independence, the paper goes on to analyse the deployment of material and virtual resources in East Timorese-led demonstrations against the Australian government’s stance in the dispute. Using ‘entanglement’ as a structuring metaphor, and looking at language choice, social and grammatical indexicality, imagery, embodied cultural capital, and the choreography of assembly, the paper explores how protesters constructed a set of chronotopes that drew on the injuries of the colonial past, and re-emplaced and re-framed them in the post-colonial present. The paper looks at the linguistic landscape of protest as a semiotic aggregate in which the periphery claims a voice and ‘talks back’ to the centre.

Sign-genres, authentication, and emplacement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannis Androutsopoulos ◽  
Akra Chowchong
Keyword(s):  
Language Choice ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Multimodal Analysis ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
The City ◽  
Secondary Signs

Abstract This paper asks how language and other semiotic resources are deployed in the semiotic landscape of Thai restaurants in the city of Hamburg, Germany. Based on detailed multimodal analysis of signage in twelve restaurants, this study draws on both established and underexplored topics in Linguistic Landscape scholarship, including the analysis of sign-genres, the distinction between communicative and symbolic functions of signs, the role of language choice in authenticating place, and the emplacement of signs in the semiotic landscape. A scheme for the classification of restaurant signs by discourse function and emplacement is proposed. The findings suggest that the analytical distinctions between inside and outside space as well as primary and secondary signs are useful for the study of restaurants and other commercial semiotic spaces.

Representing Timor: Histories, geo-bodies, and belonging, 1860s–2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-386
Author(s):  
Kisho Tsuchiya
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
East Timor ◽  
The Political ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Colonial Representations

This article provides an outline of the historical construction of Timorese (East Timorese and Indonesian West Timorese) geo-bodies and communal identities from the mid-nineteenth century to the present time, thereby reconstructing the origins of many national imaginings amongst the Timorese people. Since the controversial annexation of Portuguese Timor by Indonesia in 1976, (East) Timor has been constructed as a place of two territorial identities: Timor as a part of Indonesia and East Timor as a homogeneous nation distinct from Indonesia. However, representations of Timor had been much more fluid and inconsistent in preceding ages. This article studies various communities’ representations of Timor to reveal dialectic relations between diverse colonial and post-colonial representations of the Timorese spaces and their senses of belonging. Thereby, it problematises the political role of global and regional place-making in a contested Southeast Asian locale.

Determinants of English as language choice among Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMC) in Makassar, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Andi Samsu Rijal ◽  
Andi Mega Januarti Putri
Keyword(s):  
Language Choice ◽  
Migrant Children ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
International Language ◽  
Language User ◽  
Public Area ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Language Mastery

The essence of language is human activity. Communication with language is carried out through two basic human activities; speaking and listening during the interaction in a group of people. Immigrants in Makassar city communicate with immigrant communities and Makassar people. They used English and Indonesia to communicate with others. The aims of this article were to find out determinant factors of English as language choice among Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMC) in Makassar and why they used English as their language choice to communicate with other people out of them. The data were taken from UMC in the shelter under the auspices of Makassar’s Social Office and in the public area of Makassar. This research was a qualitative approach; it was from a sociolinguistic perspective and focuses its analysis with the language choice among UMC. This research showed that most immigrants chose English as their language choice since they were in Makassar because they have acquired better than other international language and it has been mastered naturally by doing social interaction among themselves and people outside their community. UMC had more difficulties to socialize with Indonesian than the adult of Immigrants. Other than their lack of language mastery, they also have the anxiety to adapt to other immigrants and Makassar people. English was used by UMC to show their status as a foreigner who lived in a multicultural situation. Language becomes a power for a human being and it becomes a social identity for language user in one community. During the interaction of UMC in Makassar city, the role of English as an International language is shown.

Looking for the 'Language' of Recognition among Greek Communities of Georgia

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Sideri
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
The Past ◽  
Diaspora Politics

The Caucasus was a zone of encounters for centuries, generating images of regional cosmopolitanism in the past. This vision creates expectations for the present, when it is included in the wider discussion about the meanings of cosmopolitanism today, its relation to modern geopolitics, and issues of social and political co-existence and recognition. This essay focuses on two different photographs that belong to different Greek families in Georgia. These photographs represent two different historical experiences of migration and pinpoint different understandings of cosmopolitanism. However, they both seem to stem from specific discourses about diasporas and their cosmopolitan character. The role of language in the construction of these discourses is fundamental. The essay compares photographic representations of the 'Greek Diaspora' in order to trace the perceptions of cosmopolitanism they generate, the cultural capital they carry, and its outcome in relation to Greek diaspora politics.

scholarly journals Afro-Communitarianism and the Role of Traditional African Healers in the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Cordeiro-Rodrigues ◽  
Thaddeus Metz
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Traditional Healers ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
The Face

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges to healthcare systems worldwide, and in Africa, given the lack of resources, they are likely to be even more acute. The usefulness of Traditional African Healers in helping to mitigate the effects of pandemic has been neglected. We argue from an ethical perspective that these healers can and should have an important role in informing and guiding local communities in Africa on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Particularly, we argue not only that much of the philosophy underlying Traditional African Medicine is adequate and compatible with preventive measures for COVID-19, but also that Traditional African Healers have some unique cultural capital for influencing and enforcing such preventive measures. The paper therefore suggests that not only given the cultural context of Africa where Traditional African Healers have a special role, but also because of the normative strength of the Afro-communitarian philosophy that informs it, there are good ethical reasons to endorse policies that involve Traditional Healers in the fight against COVID-19. We also maintain that concerns about Traditional African Healers objectionably violating patient confidentiality or being paternalistic are much weaker in the face of COVID-19.

How Useful is Bourdieu’s Notion of Cultural Capital for Describing Literary Markets?

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55
Author(s):  
Nicola Glaubitz
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Literary Cultures ◽  
The Status ◽  
Multi Method Approach ◽  
Organisation Structure ◽  
Literary Canons ◽  
Literary Markets

Abstract Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital and field, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, still provide systematic reference points for studies interested in literary cultures under market conditions. These concepts have found resonance in studies observing the changing organisation, structure, and social positions involved in the writing, reading, and circulation of literature. While both the conceptual clarity and the historical results Bourdieu achieved (in particular in his study The Rules of Art, originally published in 1992) have come under attack, both his key concepts and his multi-method approach function as a theoretical toolbox for present studies. The article discusses three studies (Childress 2017; English 2005; Guillory 1993) which make use of Bourdieu’s concept of capital in order to describe contemporary US publishing, the role of literary canons in higher education, and the status of literary awards. I argue that Bourdieu’s framework is productive in these cases when it is used in a heuristic way, when the idea of cultural and social capital is considered as processes and practices of valuation, and when it points to the political aspects of economies.

The role of World War II in the development of Luxembourgish as a national language

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Wagner ◽  
Winifred V. Davies
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
National Language ◽  
World War

This paper explores the link between explicit Luxembourgish language policy and the actual practices as well as expressed attitudes of a group of speakers of Luxembourgish, with the aim of studying the role of World War II in the advancement of Luxembourgish as Luxembourg’s national language. The first two sections introduce the theoretical approach of the paper and provide an overview of the history and present situation of Luxembourg and Luxembourgish. The following two sections present the findings of a sociolinguistic study of language choice, language values and identities, and linguistic (in)security among a group of Luxembourgish letter-writers, as well as recent interview data provided by the sole surviving correspondent. The final section brings together these results and the claims made regarding the role of World War II in the changing status of Luxembourgish and points out the complexity of this discussion.

Language and identity in East Timor

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Taylor-Leech
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Student Focus ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Official Languages

Language choice in the newly independent Republic of East Timor can be usefully examined in the wider context of language policy in multilingual states. The present article reports on ethnographic research investigating official and popular discourses of language and identity in East Timor and the role of past and present language policies and practices in shaping national and social identity. It focuses on the discursive reconstruction of identity through five official instruments of language policy development. Hostile discourses in the Australian and Indonesian press towards the choice of Portuguese (the former colonial language) and Tetum (the endogenous lingua franca) as official languages provided the context for the investigation. A persistent theme in these discourses is that English and/or Indonesian would be preferable choices. The article puts these discourses into perspective by presenting findings from two data sets: (i) the 2004 National Census and (ii) analysis of the discourses of 78 participants in semi-structured interviews and student focus groups. The census shows clear signs of the revival of Portuguese and the reinvigoration of Tetum. It also shows how diverse linguistic identities have become in East Timor. The research findings show that there is less hostility to official language policy than claimed in the Australian and Indonesian press. However, the findings also emphasise the urgent need to reconstruct an inclusive, plurilingual national identity that can encompass diversity.

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