9-10 June: Workshop “The languagecultural conceptualisation of belonging”- FASOS

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/06/15 - 10/06/15
All Day

Location
Grote Gracht 80-82 (Soiron Building). Room: 0001

Categories


WORKSHOP

The languagecultural conceptualisation of ‘belonging

Organizers: Jolien Clijssen, Lotte Thissen, Vincent de Rooij & Leonie Cornips

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

While the concept of ‘belonging’ has been much theorized across other fields, in the field of (socio-) linguistics it seems to have been transplanted as one of the components or, even, substitutes of ‘social identity.’ How can we, based on empirical data, conceptualise and operationalise this notion and see to what extent it has explanatory power in modern-day sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological studies. How can we approach this concept in a rigorous manner without pre-supposing that some linguistic features are inherently linked with belonging (Cornips & Strycharz 2014)? For sociolinguists, one of the challenges is to find out whether and how linguistic features (Jorgensen et al. 2011) we are less aware of take part in the construction of belonging as well.

‘Belonging’ may be related to official, public-oriented ‘formal structure’ of membership (Antonsich 2010) but may also refer to “personal, intimate, feeling of being ‘at home’ in a place” (ibid: 644). Belonging can thus have a political as well as a personal meaning, and can be considered to have an analytical as well as an emic dimension (Cornips & de Rooij, 2015; Thissen 2013).

During this workshop, all speakers will elucidate their own understanding and conceptualisation of ‘belonging’. More specifically, (socio-) linguists will think about what ‘belonging’ could offer in sociolinguistic studies and how it could best be conceptualized (theoretically and methodologically). Those working outside (socio-)linguistics on the topic of  ‘belonging’ will share their expertise and experience with the concept in their disciplines.

There are 8 places available in the workshop room. If you would like to attend this workshop, please send an e-mail to the Secretariat of History, Literature, and Art: secr.hislk@maastrichtuniversity.nl. Do not forget to mention if you want to attend both days or only one of them. They will let you know whether it is possible to join on the basis of first incoming mails.

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