Multilingualism, Identity and Cultural Encounters in Social Contexts

The course is centered on relations between migration processes, cultural encounters and identity processes, from a multilingual perspective. The course examines migration processes and theoretical perspectives on these with focus on social, linguistic and cultural factors at the levels of group, family and individual. Theoretical perspectives on the relation between migration, multilingualism, culture and identity are examined, and discussed in terms of the central concepts such as transnational migration, diaspora, transnational networks, cultural encounters and identity processes. The student conducts an independent analysis on some of these theoretical perspectives. Also examined are language socialization and identity creation at the levels of group, family and individual in relation to transnational migration and diaspora. The student chooses to specialize in a specific area of research into language socialization, cultural encounters, diaspora and transnational migration.