Beyond Dutch: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Multilingualism in the Neerlandophone World
Het Postgraduate Colloquium 2023 van ALCS is op zoek naar interdisciplinaire bijdragen over geschiedenis, literaturen en ervaringen met betrekking tot meertaligheid in de Neerlandophone wereld. De deadline voor inzendingen is verlengd tot 14 april. Bekijk hier de originele Call for Papers.
Association for Low Countries Studies
Postgraduate Colloquium
London, June 15th -16th 2023
The 2023 ALCS Postgraduate Colloquium welcomes interdisciplinary papers on history, politics, literatures, and lived experiences of multilingualism in the Neerlandophone sphere. The term néerlandophone was coined by literary researchers Sarah de Mul and Elleke Boehmer in 2014 to broaden the scope of what we study when researching the Dutch-speaking world. It has since been adopted by many scholars in a wide variety of fields, particularly in Postcolonial perspective. In continued response to this terminological shift, this conference endeavors to move ‘beyond Dutch’ in the Neerlandophone world by bringing together researchers whose work centers not only Dutch, but also the many languages that interact with Dutch, exist (in tension) alongside Dutch, or are translated into or out of Dutch in interpersonal and institutional spaces.
In a postcolonial context this shift has made space for research within Dutch Studies that explores indigenous languages in former colonies of the Netherlands as well as multiple Dutches and creoles grown in part out of Dutch influence. The way Dutch is used by speakers in the Neerlandophone sphere today is also constantly influenced by regional dialects, languages spoken by migrants, and the overwhelming dominance of English(es). Far from only impacting the private and interpersonal relationships of individuals in the Dutch-speaking world, this multilingualism is relevant in politics, in education policies, in online communities, in the publishing industry, in activism, in popular culture, and in many more spaces of interest to young researchers today.
The Postgraduate Colloquium hosted by the ALCS in London this year welcomes papers on any of these topics, and more:
- The flow of literature into and/or out of Dutch, and the geopolitics of translation
- (Re)translations of literature between any languages active in the Neerlandophone sphere
- Translations of indigenous stories, languages, and narrative forms from formerly colonized spaces into Dutch, and the coloniality thereof
- Creole languages in Neerlandophone literature and popular culture
- Dutch slang and translanguaging in online spaces and in popular culture
- Dutch language and cultural references in intercultural and intertextual contexts found outside of the Neerlandophone sphere
- English(es) and the shifting role of English in the Neerlandophone sphere
- Translation, communication, and rights: access to information in multilingual communities
- Second language learning in the Neerlandophone world, or Dutch as a second language around the world
- The role of translation in the cultural sector, for example in museum guides and wall texts, from a postcolonial or decolonial perspective
- Multilingualism in education in the Neerlandophone sphere
- Multilingualism in local government and/or multilingualism in activism
- Language and gender identity: translations of preferred gender pronouns
- New uses of the Dutch language by people and institutions in response to calls for decolonization
Abstracts will be assessed for quality rather than proximity to this CfP, and many more topics will gladly be considered. Submissions are open to Graduate and Postgraduate Researchers based at any University. Please submit a 200 word abstract by April 1st, 2023 to lucelle.pardoe.18@ucl.ac.uk
And save the date: the conference will be held in London from June 15th -16th, 2023