Conferences and seminars

Launch of major EU Research Project investigating Social Innovation and Young People
CITISPYCE

Thursday 23 May 2013, 12:30 to 13:45 pm

Lakeside Conference Centre

InterLanD, the Aston Centre for Interdisciplinary Research into Language and Diversity, invites you to the launch of CITISPYCE by Professor  Dame Julia King, Vice Chancellor, Aston University, a  major EU research project into the changing terrain of social inequalities, and the existence of social innovation among young people in cities across Europe.

Coordinated by InterLanD for Aston University, CITISPYCE is a 3 year collaborative project funded under the European Commission’s FP7 Social Science and Humanities Research and Development Programme. Aston University is working with Birmingham City Council  and 11 other partners from 10 countries across the EU, in a unique  interdisciplinary collaboration  between academics, policy makers, practitioners and civil society activists.  

CITISPYCE’s objectives include:

• examining the current state of the art concerning social innovation and  young people;

• uncovering innovative strategies for navigating, surviving and overcoming inequalities that have emerged, or are emerging, among young people;

• testing the transferability of local models of innovative practice, through a series of pilot activities helping to develop new policy approaches that encourage social innovation by and for young people at EU, national and local levels;

• contributing new frameworks for understanding social inequalities

This is an invitation only event. Please confirm yours  or a representative’s attendance by replying to Baljeet Jhheent, InterLanD Tel: 0121 204 4693 or Email: b.jhheent@aston.ac.uk

Regional Varieties, Language Shift and Linguistic Identities

12-15 September 2012, Aston University, Birmingham

Plenary speakers:

• Prof. Joan Beal, University of Sheffield (UK)

• Prof. Barbara Johnstone, Carnegie Mellon University (USA)

• Prof. Yaron Matras, University of Manchester (UK)

Regional varieties have become an important contributor to identity construction processes, and an increasingly important issue for the individual and the community in late Modernity: the individual is under constant and increasing pressure to define who s/he is and has to choose from an ever growing pool of possibilities to construct social identity in an increasingly globalized world, which is perceived as incromprehensively complex. By referring to what is seen as traditional regional language, dialect and culture, localizing oneself seems to be a viable way out of this dilemma. This should have stabilizing effects on lesser used varieties, which have been facing a gradual process of language shift and divergence towards dominant contact languages over the hundred years. Unfortunately, at the same time, modern life does not so much require knowledge of regional varieties as of standard languages and a good command of English as the global lingua franca. How can an upwardly mobile individual combine the requirements of modern life with identity construction on a regional scale if they so choose? What are the linguistic consequences for lesser used varieties and their respective contact languages?

Understanding Poverty and Politics in Inner and Outer City Birmingham

Wednesday 11 January 2012

What do Birmingham residents think about their neighbourhoods, their political representatives and poverty in the city? This event drew on research carried out in inner and outer Birmingham with local residents. Read the report

Key questions in the research were:

• How do local people feel about their neighbourhood, the city and changes faced by Birmingham?
• What do people think about poverty in the city and are we missing key issues by using mainstream definitions of deprivation?
• What do people think about politics and their own political representatives?

For more information about the event please email Baljeet Jhheent at: b.jhheent@aston.ac.uk

InterLanD Symposium took place on Tuesday 22 November 2011 to showcase its recent work.

Presentations were made by:

• Delegitimising human rights: some stories about who counts and who doesn't - Prof. Gargi Bhattacharyya, InterLanD
• Connecting Places and Spaces: the Library of Birmingham Project and local communities - Dr John Blewitt, ABS
• Branded Lives: identification, control and employee branding - Dr Cinzia Priola, ABS

A short overview of the presentations were given by the speakers and then discussion.

"Visual multilingualism in Germany"

Professor Evelyn Ziegler (University of Essen / Duisburg) gave a presentation on Visual multilingualism in Germany on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 at Aston University.

The investigation into visual multilingualism in Germany focused on a special area: the Ruhr Area. The Ruhr Area is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany and characterized by a high level of ethnic diversity. Building on the hypothesis that visual multilingualism can be looked upon as a window onto processes of social inclusion and exclusion, a theoretical approach will be introduced that allows a genuinely intersubjective perspective by making use of the concepts of “perception” and “recognition”. A macro- and micro-sociolinguistic analysis of authentic data will illustrate the approach. Finally, the claim will be made that sociolinguistic perception always wavers between "recognition" and "misrecognition" of languages and social groups.

Listen to Professor Ziegler's presentation >

5th BAAL Gender and Language Special Interest Group Event (GaLSig): Gender and Language in the Public Space

Tuesday 20 September 2011 from 10.00am to 4.00pm

• Professor Deborah Cameron, University of Oxford
• Dr Louise Mullany, University of Nottingham
• Dr Lia Litosseliti, City University, London
• Dr Jo Angouri, University of West England
• Dr Sylvia Shaw, Middlesex University
• Dr Judith Baxter, Aston University

The focus of this event is on theoretical and empirical research that examines gender in relation to public and institutional discourse in domains such as Parliament, government, business, leadership, the media, law, education, academia, medicine and religion. During the day, we hope to address some of the following questions:

• What can the discipline of Gender and Language contribute to an understanding of gendered discourses in public settings?
• Are women disadvantaged in certain public settings, or is this now the wrong question to ask?
• To what extent should scholars aim to make their research available to users and practitioners?
• Where scholars have been involved in community engagement, how successful has this been? 
• With Research Councils currently prioritising projects with social and economic impact, what kind of impact can gender and language researchers make? At least one session will be devoted to Research Council funded projects on this topic, and more broadly, to what constitutes a successful grant application in our field.

The day comprised of papers by the above speakers followed by time for a brief discussion.  A plenary session took place to discuss some of the key issues raised.

Conference Abstracts >

InterLanD Symposium

Thursday 7 April 2011 from 2.00 to 5.00 pm in Room MB 737

As part of the Aston Year of Crossing Boundaries: Ethnicity & Culture InterLanD are holding a Symposium to showcase some of its recent work.

Examples of the topics are:

• Gender, Language & Leadership
• West Midlands Speech & Society
• Digital Media & Inter-cultural Industry
• Politics, Community & Poverty

The format of the session will be short overviews and discussion.  We are keen to encourage further cross-university collaboration.

'Not so different?  Diverse societies, common challenges'

International conference examing new questions for diverse socieities.  This will be a one-day international conference to launch InterLanD on Thursday, 18 November 2010 from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm followed by a drinks reception at the Lakeside Conference Centre.

10th International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations

• View the Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations conference website >>

Women in Leadership: A Discourse Perspective

This seminar took place on 2nd June 2010.  Guest speaker was award winning academic and writer Professor Janet Holmes from Victoria University, New Zealand. 

Harnessing Diversity in the workplace - post event write-up

• Read a summary of the event and view the presentations >>