Biography
Born and raised in New Jersey, USA with my mother's side of the family
hailing from Berlin, Germany, I taught at the Université du Luxembourg/
Centre Universitaire de Luxembourg from 1998-2006 before joining the
Department
in 2007.
Teaching
In addition to coordinating* and teaching on the above modules in Leeds,
I lectured on language policy in Luxembourg at the postgraduate First
Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics, Greece in August 2007.
In May 2009, I was a guest lecturer on the Discourse, Identity and
Policy unit of the MA
in Learning and Development in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts at
the Université du Luxembourg.
I welcome expressions of interest from individuals wishing to pursue
an MAR (Masters by Research) or PhD in the following areas:
- Politics of language
- Language ideologies and attitudes
- Language and identity (especially ethnic and national identities)
- Migration, multilingualism and social change
(especially in Luxembourg)
- Linguistic landscapes and discourses in place
Research Interests
My research focuses on the interrelationship between language, identity
and power and the construction of linguistic and social boundaries. I
have written on language and national identity, linguistic purism, and
language-in-education ideologies in Luxembourg; these publications are
based in part on my PhD manuscript Negotiating
the Language-Identity Link: Media Discourse and Nation-Building in Luxembourg.
In the post PhD phase, I concentrated on debates about the 2001 amendments
to the loi sur la nationalité luxembourgeoise, in particular
the introduction of language requirements, and I am now exploring language
testing procedures linked to the ratification of the 2008 law that
allows for dual nationalité .
Central to the politics
of language are the ways in which language issues are debated and represented
in multiple sites and genres,
including the media.
Because debates about language are bound up with social-political
processes, I embrace interdisciplinary and poststructuralist
approaches to language
policy and I draw on related research on metalanguage and language
ideologies. On a broader level, tensions between nationalisms
and the accelerated
processes of globalization are a central thread in my on-going
research, including the ways in which these dynamics are impacting
on senses
of ethnic and national place. In 2006, I launched a project on
Luxembourgish ethnic identity in the upper-midwestern region
of the United States
and
was a visiting scholar at the Max
Kade Institute (University
of Wisconsin-Madison) to conduct archival research and fieldwork,
primarily in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin.
Further collaboration with colleagues at Worldwide Universities Network
partner institutions and additional universities in Europe and North
America will be fostered by the project I am leading on Representing
and Experiencing Transnationalism: Germanic Languages and Cultures in
Global Perspective.
Publications
Monographs
- In preparation. Renegotiating Language, Nationhood and Citizenship in Late Modernity (working title). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter (Language, Power and Social Process).
Edited volumes
Journal articles
- Under review. ‘Orwellian doublethink: keywords in Luxembourgish
and European language-in-education policy discourses.’ (with
Jean-Jacques Weber).
- In press. ‘Analyzing the discourse of integration: the
centre-periphery, mathematical game and statistical correlations models.’ (with
Jean-Jacques Weber). Journal of Language and Politics.
- In press. ‘Small languages, education and citizenship:
the paradoxical case of Luxembourgish.’ (with Jean-Jacques Weber)
International Journal of the Sociology of Language (Small
Languages and Language Communities).
- 2009. 'Language
policy mechanisms and social practices in multilingual Luxembourg.' Luxembourg:
Special issue of Language
Problems and Language Planning 33/2: 101-111.
- 2008. 'The
language situation in Luxembourg.' (with Jean Jacques Weber) Current
Issues in Language Planning. 9/1: 69-128.
Book chapters
- Under review. ‘Remembering World War II and legitimating Luxembourgish
as the national language: consensus or conflict?’ (with Melanie
Wagner) In: Langer, Nils, Steffan Davies and Wim Vandenbussche (eds).
Language and History, Linguistics and Historiography (working title).
- 2009a. 'Language, citizenship and Europeanization: unpacking
the discourse of integration.' Discourses
on Language and Integration: Critical Perspectives on Language Testing
Regimes in Europe,
edited by Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, Clare Mar-Molinero and Patrick Stevenson.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins (Discourse Approaches to Politics,
Society and Culture 33). 109-128.
- 2009b. 'Revisiting history: the 2007 European Capital
of Culture and the integration of fractal Europe.' Language,
Discourse and Identity in Central Europe: The German Language in a
Multilingual Space, edited by Jenny Carl
and Patrick Stevenson. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (Language and
Globalisation). 241-260.
- 2009c. 'Regimenting language, mobility and citizenship
in Luxembourg.' In: Language
Testing, Migration and Citizenship: Cross-National Perspectives on
Integration Regimes, edited by
Guus Extra, Massimiliano Spotti and Piet Van Avermaet. London/New York:
Continuum
Press (Advances
in Sociolinguistics). 148-166.
- 2009d. 'Multilingualism in Luxembourg and beyond.' (with
Jean-Jacques Weber) In: Multilingualism,
Education and Change,
Jean-Jacques Weber. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (Sprache, Mehrsprachigkeit
und sozialer Wandel). 37-58.
- 2007a. 'Language and Luxembourgish national identity: ideologies
of hybridity and purity in the past and present.' In: Germanic
Language Histories 'from Below' (1700-2000), edited
by Stephan Elspaß, Nils Langer, Joachim Scharloth and Wim Vandenbussche.
Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter (Studia Linguistica Germanica 86).
363-378.
- 2007b. 'Global challenges to nationalist ideologies: language and
education in the Luxembourg press.' In: Language
in the Media: Representations, Identities, Ideologies, edited by Sally Johnson
and Astrid Ensslin. London/New York: Continuum Press (Advances in Sociolinguistics).
130-146.
- 2005a. 'Reimagining the nation: discourses of language purism in
Luxembourg.' In: Linguistic
Purism in the Germanic Languages,
edited by Nils Langer and Winifred V. Davies. Berlin/New York: Walter
de Gruyter (Studia Linguistica Germanica 75). 166-185.
- 2005b. 'The representation of immigrant students within the classical
humanist ethos of the Luxembourgish school-system: From Pour une école
d’intégration to the PISA debates.' (with Jean Jacques
Weber) In: Life
in Language: Studies in Honour of Wolfgang Kühlwein,
edited by Andreas J. Schuth, Kristine Horner and Jean Jacques Weber.
Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. 241-258.
Reviews/other publications
- Forthcoming. Review of Shohamy, Elana. Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches. 2006. Language Problems and Language Planning
- 2009. Review of Duchêne, Alexandre and Monica Heller. Discourses
of Endangerment: Ideology and Interest in the Defence of Languages.
2007. Language Policy 8/2: 185-187.
- 2002. 'J'accuse! Oder: die Wahrheit über den Sprachunterricht
in Luxemburg.' (with Jean Jacques Weber) In: Praxis des Neusprachlichen
Unterrichts 49: 94-98.
- 2000. 'Are you ready for the new millennium? Quality in English
language teaching.' (with Jean Jacques Weber) In: Praxis
des Neusprachlichen Unterrichts 47: 349-354.
Recent and Planned Presentations
Conference papers
- September 2010. 'Language testing as an act of citizenship in multilingual
Luxembourg.' Contribution to the panel '(Trans)national challenges: Theorizing
language and citizenship in sociolinguistic inquiry.' Sociolinguistics
Symposium 18.. University of Southampton, England.
- September 2010. 'Discourses on language and migration in a changing
Europe: representations vs. experiences.' (with Jean-Jacques Weber) Contribution
to the panel 'Language, migration and belonging: spaces of inclusion
and exclusion in a changing Europe.' Sociolinguistics
Symposium 18.. University
of Southampton, England.
- April 2010. ‘European borderlands as multilingual
spaces: representing “old” and “new” Schengen.’ (with
Jane Wilkinson) New
Challenges for Multilingualism in Europe. Dubrovnik,
Croatia.
- March 2010. ‘Language, citizenship and (trans)nationalism
in multilingual Luxembourg.’ Representing
and Experiencing Transnationalism: Germanic Languages and Cultures
in Global Perspective. University of
Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
- January 2010. ‘Mapping Luxembourgish: negotiating linguistic
boundaries on YouTube.’ (with Cedric Krummes) Forum
for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS 9). Gregynog, Wales.
- September 2009. ‘Orwellian doublethink in
Luxembourgish and European language-in-education policies: top-down
and bottom-up perspectives.’ (with Jean-Jacques Weber) MIDP
Colloquium 2009. University of Antwerp, Belgium.
- May 2009. 'Renegotiating transatlantic ties: Luxembourgish language
and heritage as commodities or markers of authenticity?’ Forum
for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS8) - Society for Germanic Linguistics
(GLAC15) - Studies in the History of the English Language (SHEL6). Banff,
Alberta, Canada.
- April 2009. ‘Remembering World War II and legitimating Luxembourgish
as the national language: consensus or conflict?’ (with Melanie
Wagner) Language
and History, Linguistics and Historiography. University
of Bristol, England.
- August 2008. 'Media representations of multilingual Luxembourg:
language as a right, problem or resource?' Contribution to the
ReN symposia 'Thematising Multilingualism in the Media: Representations,
Identities and Ideologies.' AILA
2008: The 15th World Congress
of Applied Linguistics. Universität
Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
- April 2008. 'Introduction: Luxembourgish language policy in late
modernity.' Contribution to the workshop 'Renegotiating
linguistic policies and practices: multilingual Luxembourg in late modernity.' Sociolinguistics
Symposium 17. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Invited lectures/workshops
- June 2010. ‘Small languages as minority languages?: paradoxical
language policy in multilingual Luxembourg.’ Clark
University Leir-Luxembourg Symposium on Bilingual
Education Policy and Minority Languages: Issues for Europe and the
United States.
Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg.
- March 2010. ‘Language, citizenship and (trans)nationalism
in multilingual Luxembourg.’ Representing
and Experiencing Transnationalism. University of Ilinois-Urbana
Champaign, USA.
- March 2010. Postgraduate workshop 'From 'minority' to 'transnational'
in Germanic sociolinguistics.' Univeristy of Illinois-Urbana Champaign,
USA.
- March 2010. Postgraduate workshop 'From 'minority' to 'transnational'
in Germanic sociolinguistics.' Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
- March 2010. Undergraduate workshop ‘Renegotiating transatlantic
ties: Luxembourgish language and heritage in Belgium, Wisconsin.’ Seminar
on The German Language in America. University of Wisconsin-Madison,
USA.
- November 2009. ‘Language policy in multilingual Luxembourg.’ Seminar
on Multilingualism. Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
- March 2009. Undergraduate workshop 'Where the global meets
the local: senses of ethnic Luxembourgish place in Belgium, Wisconsin.' Seminar
on Luxembourgish Language and Society. University of Sheffield,
England.
- December 2008. Undergraduate workshop ‘Language policy and
planning in multilingual Luxembourg.’ (with Jean-Jacques Weber) Seminar
on Language Policy and Planning. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
- December 2008. ‘Quo Vadis Lëtzebuergesch?: discourses
of endangerment, integration and citizenship in multilingual Luxembourg.’ Department
of German Research Forum. University of Leeds, England.
- March 2008. Undergraduate workshop on 'Language, identity and migration
in the United States.' (with Mark Louden) American Studies Seminar.
Université du Luxembourg.
- February 2008. 'Language and place in a changing Europe: Luxembourgish
as an "endangered language" or a "language of integration"?' Aberystwyth
Linguistic Forum. University of Aberystwyth, Wales.
- November 2007. 'Language, nationhood and citizenship: the politics
of language in Luxembourg from past to present.' Department
of Germanic Studies Research Seminar and Centre for Luxembourgish
Studies. University of Sheffield, England.
- November 2007. 'Revisiting history: unity in diversity in the 2007
European Capital of Culture.' Centre for Transnational Studies
Research Seminar. University of Southampton, England.
Impact/knowledge transfer
- March 2010. ‘Shifting borders in a changing
Europe.’ (with Jane Wilkinson) Max
Kade Institute, University
of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
- March 2010. Masters Classes on 'Shifting borders in a changing Europe.'
(with Jane Wilkinson) Academic Development Fund. University
of Leeds, England.
- October 2009. ‘From "onst Däitsch" to "eis
Sprooch": The changing role of the Luxembourgish language.’ Wharfedale
German Circle.
Ilkley, England.
- February 2009. Master Classes on ‘Language and national
identity.’ (with
Fiona Douglas) Academic Development Fund. University of Leeds,
England.
Conferences/Panels/Workshops Organised
Professional Associations
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