Language, Identity, Politics

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course examines the complex and multifaceted interplay between language, identity, and the political sphere. Students will review the literature on language and identity, examining various linguistic and non-linguistic approaches (e.g. pragmatics, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography, Critical Discourse Analysis, and multimodal analysis) and will analyze an array of data types, from everyday casual conversation to political speeches and mediated discourse. We will explore the construction of a number of aspects of identity, including race, gender, religion, and ethnicity, regional and national origin, and political persuasion. Students will also examine the construction of both personal and community identity and explore how these intersect as well as how they are affected by the passage of time. We will further consider the discursive construction and negotiation of various policy issues (e.g., education, health, immigration), focusing on how these issues are framed by different political parties and stakeholders with divergent interests and ideologies. We will also take on the notion of language as a political issue itself, examining topics such as standard and official language movements, the role of language in the construction of national identity, and the status of language planning initiatives in addressing the shifting linguistic ecology of a globalizing world. Readings, discussions, and writing assignments will highlight a number of important themes, among them access, agency, authenticity, borders, community, ideology, indexicality, and style. Together these themes will provide students with a framework for conducting an original research project on the construction of identity and its implications in the political sphere.