Conference Agenda

In Iran, ethnic and linguistic minoritized communities are systematically denied education in their mother tongues, while their efforts to empower their marginalized languages and advocate for multilingual-based education face suppression and persecution by the government. Turkish community educators in Iran, belonging to the largest linguistic minoritized group in the country, have engaged in activism, using informal spaces like homes to teach their excluded language and culture. Due to their activities, many of these people faced persecutions, which forced them to leave the country and seek refuge in countries like Canada, where they continue their struggle through organizations like the Azerbaijani Civic Nation. This case study explores how subaltern educators, such as those in this exile organization, contribute to the language education and struggle of their communities. By applying a subaltern theoretical perspective, the case study examines the influence of power relations and contextual factors on the approach and experiences of these educators. It also examines the perceptions of these educators regarding their activities, struggles, and impact on empowering their language and its learners. The study further explores the resources, strategies, networks, and spaces utilized by subaltern educators, particularly those within the Azerbaijani Civic Nation, to effect change. In-depth interviews with the co-founders of the Azerbaijani Civic Nation will provide insights regarding their perceptions and experiences. Data collected from various sources, including teaching materials, publications, journals, articles, interviews, social media posts, and events, will provide a socio-historical and contextual framework on power relations, while also offering insights into the resources, strategies, and spaces utilized by subaltern educators. By filling the gap in academic research, this study aims to contribute to the existing literature on subaltern educators, informal education, critical sociolinguistics, and the experiences of the Turkish minoritized linguistic community in Iran, which has been overlooked and neglected in academic research.

This presentation discusses the status of Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs) in the U.S. By using intersectionality as the theoretical framework, the presentation calls for a new categorization within LCTLs: Stateless LCTLs vs State LCTLs. By taking Kurdish as a case study, and a comprehensive survey of all K-20 academic programs in the U.S., and institutions such as ACTFL and NCOLCTL, the presentation shows the Stateless LCTLs’ intersection and multiple axes of marginalization, statelessness, suppression, discrimination, and soft and hard linguicide. To counter the lack of direct support from states, and indifference of the institutions of higher education towards Stateless LCTLs, the presentation recommends individual and community-based activism as an alternative for invigorating and enhancing the status of Stateless LCTLs. Recommendations and suggestions from my activism in designing and developing the first Kurdish curriculum for K-12 and North American universities will be discussed at length. These recommendations can be implemented by advocates of other Stateless LCTLs across the globe.

Keywords: Intersectionality, language policy, double minority languages, activism.

Uganda is a multilingual nation like many African countries but the language in education policies in many of these countries are formulated in terms of a monoglot notion. However, trying to manage such a multilingual situation through a monoglot Language in Education Policy (LiEP) is fraught with problems of disagreements, attitudes and misunderstandings which eventually affect policy implementation. In Uganda, for example, the discussions of the past were dominated by viewing many languages as a problem despite the fact that Uganda is a multilingual country with about 65 indigenous languages (Uganda Government, 1995; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2002; Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, 2006). Currently, many languages, especially foreign languages, are being taught in secondary schools and institutions of higher learning. Foreign languages include Kiswahili which was adopted in the East African Community Treaty (2022) as a compulsory language in schools at all levels. By use of discourse analysis and archival methods of research, this presentation analyses the current debates on LiEP in Africa and common strategies which can solve this shared problem are eventually be suggested.

Contested languages (Nic Craith, 2006) are commonly compared to—and perceived as lesser than—a major national language to which they are linguistically similar. They are often described as “dialects” of the major language and suffer from a lack of prestige. When contested languages are minoritized, their contested status can make revitalization even more difficult to achieve. Revitalization efforts, such as the standardization of orthographies and educational resources, must consider existing attitudes toward the language. While government entities and policymakers are typically associated with decisions surrounding standardization and other language policies, recent work in LPP has called for more research on the role of individual social actors in LPP processes (Liddicoat & Taylor-Leech, 2020), especially standardization processes (Darquennes & Vandenbussche, 2015), which can attribute a sense of legitimacy to minoritized languages (Costa et al, 2017).

Given this, the present study investigates the role of community members in the standardization of Picard, a contested language in northern France. Picard has long been stigmatized in French society (Hornsby, 2019) and has been described as a “collateral” language due to its linguistic proximity to French (Eloy, 2004). Despite this, it finally entered regional public schools as an optional subject in the 2022-23 school year. To investigate this developing situation, this study uses data from interviews and surveys with Picard instructors, language planners, cultural performers, and other community members to uncover the role of individuals in the standardization of Picard, an act historically resisted by speakers (Martin et al., 2020). Although revitalization efforts in Picard are still in beginning stages, the results of this study reveal that reactions to standardization are mixed: while some community members recognize the value of standardization as a tool for legitimizing their contested language, many others favor a multi-norm approach in the hope of preserving diatopic diversity.