Languages in the margins
Much recent sociolinguistic research informed by theories of globalization, superdiversity, and polylanguaging, have a clear bias toward the study of metropolitan, ethnically diverse areas. Areas considered peripheral or marginal vis-à vis centers of political and economic dominance have, until now, received relatively little attention (notable recent exceptions are the contributions to Pietikäinen & Kelly-Holmes, eds. 2013).
Of course, people living in the ‘margins’ are not immune to the effects of globalization and rapid technological change. More than ever before, people, material objects, as well as images, sounds, and other immaterial cultural objects are constantly on the move. As they move and mix through time and space, they constantly form new ensembles and are invested with novel, instable, often ambiguous meanings.
This workshop wants to clarify how under such conditions of globalization and superdiversity processes of identity formation in the ‘margins’ are driven by power asymmetries between people living in the center and the periphery.