Worldly Words
Language and Identity Construction Among Francophone Immigrant Teachers in British Columbia: How Institutional Discourse on Diversity is Undermined by Practices of Exclusion
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ghizlane Laghzaoui
Since the 90’s, education in French in British Columbia (BC), Canada, has been steadily growing to answer the demand from local communities preoccupied by the preservation of a Canadian francophone heritage in an anglo-dominant environment. Today, the BC francophone school district, Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF), counts 41 schools, with more than 6000 students from 60 different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. In fact, BC has been experiencing a rapid diversification of its Francophone population and now hosts 15.5% of Francophone immigrants outside Quebec. The discourse on Francophone immigrants integration, in recent years, is characterized by a willingness to open up to others and is achieved in practice by offering growing services in social and professional integration. However, the trend of globalizing discourse on diversity within Francophone institutions (Heller and Labrie, 2003) is somewhat offset by implicit discriminatory practices, due mainly to an essentialized vision of identity, towards francophone immigrants (Laghzaoui, 2011, 2014 ). This qualitative research is based on interviews with immigrant teachers and focuses on the various barriers to their professional integration through the study of social representations at play in their discourse on professional practice and interactions with the school administration and colleagues. The discourse analysis shows a gap between the claim of multiculturalism clearly displayed by schools and practices of exclusion and discrimination. It also shows tensions surrounding their identity as legitimate teachers of French and therefore a lack of true sense of belonging to a community.
Finding Unity in Diversity: How Indigenous Languages Foster Quality Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daniel Isaac Hernández Espíndola
This paper analyzes how some countries and regions in Latin America and Europe (Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Catalonia, Luxembourg and Scotland) have set a precedent in valuing linguistic diversity by establishing policies that have allowed indigenous and minority languages to be empowered, protected, and spread over their territories (Weber, 2014; Coronel-Molina & McCarty, 2016). It also examines how governmental programs have been implemented in order to allow speakers of these languages to attend school in the language that best meets their needs. The research provides a critical approach in order to know to what extent the implementation of such policies has been effective (Ricento, Peled & Ives, 2015). On the other hand, it investigates the steps that institutions have taken to give indigenous languages a relative presence in the educational context in Mexico. A core focus of the study is the comparison between foreign language policies in order to understand which of these paradigms may have implementation in Mexico (Lara, 2006). It also collects data in the form of ethnographic research performed in Mexico with policy-makers, scholars, university students, and teachers who are native speakers of indigenous languages and who study/work in higher education (McCarty, 2011; Hult & Cassels, 2015). The study aspires to know not only the opinion of those who are involved in policy making but also of those who comprise the target population.
The Active Role of Citizens in Creating an Environment that Ensures the Success of Migrants: Businesses, Civil Society, and Government Promotion of Pluralism
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jenny Gulamani-Abdulla
In an era where public confidence in migration has been shaken and where threats to national security are continuously being linked to immigrants, there needs to be a deliberate effort made on the part of citizens and countries to receive migrants in a positive and fertile environment where success is within reach. As fear and anxiety continues to spread against certain groups of immigrants and as anti-immigration movements and populist politics intensify, governments, businesses and civil society can implement best practices in migration governance. Together they have the power to bring diverse people together through local, national, and international projects, partnerships and common interests. These individuals are their citizens, permanent and temporary residents from various national and ethnic origins, religious backgrounds, and come from different economic, political and social statuses with direct and indirect immigration experiences. This study explores how collectively they have the capacity to promote pluralism, restore public confidence in migration, and ensure the success of migrants.
White Superiority and Black Helplessness as Stereotypes in International Corporate Communication?: Theoretical Remarks and Results of a Picture-based Content Analysis of Twenty-five Corporate Websites on Five Continents
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marlena Pompino
The purpose of this paper is to analyze if and to what extent ethnicity and race are used as stereotypes in Corporate Communication by leading companies on all continents around. Though there is a lot of research on stereotypes in ethnicity and race on one side and about international Corporate Communication on the other side, these subjects are only rarely put together for a joint, interdisciplinary effort. This paper combines the Stereotype Content Model of Cuddy, Fiske and Glick (2007) together with the approach to international Corporate Communication as proposed some years ago by Sriramesh and Vercic or Sievert. Based on these theoretical foundations, a mainly quantitative content analysis of website imagery of the five revenue strongest companies of one country on each continent (USA, Germany, South Africa, Australia and China) was conducted between May and July 2019. Within the research, the starting page and the first website level were analysed, leading to 564 research units (= images). A key finding, still the overpowering usage ‘white superiority’ was the stereotype of choice for most companies (50%), followed by stereotypes about the black race being ‘poor’ and ‘unintelligent’. However, also many differences between countries could have been made visible. As a practical implication, many useful hints for Corporation on how to avoid stereotypes in their communication can be given. Combining two fields of academic research (stereotype theory and international Corporate Communication) this paper is also contributing another field of innovation by interdisciplinary cooperation to the academic community.
MyHeritage Genetic Ancestry Test: Building and Representing Identities Between Race, Ethnicity, and Nation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Giorgia Riconda
In recent years, DNA tests that generate personalized genetic ancestry stories through the use of biogeographical categories have become increasingly popular. Although this genealogical practice is often described as a form of recreational genetics, it is undoubtedly a "deep play"(Geertz, 1973 in Salvucci, 2018). This is because, in the moment in which "the globalised rhetoric of technoscience meets the intimacy of personal genealogies" (Nash, 2004 in Tyler, 2008), who owns the use and control of genetic technology also dominates the definition of identities (Hauskeller, 2013). Employing discourse analysis and netnography, the purpose of this paper is to use the decolonial perspective to study the identity representations developed by MyHeritage. In particular, I analyze the genetic ancestry company's website and blog, and some marketing resources including advertisements and promotional videos. Results show that the company builds a contradictory identity imagery not free of forms of essentialisation and racialization.
