Project description
Listening to migrant voices in Europe
In a continent known for its linguistic diversity, the EU’s embrace of multilingualism stands in stark contrast to the prevailing nationalistic ideologies that often promote language standardisation. Migrants and their descendants who deviate from the linguistic norm frequently face unjust discrimination, with profound social, economic and political consequences. Spain, particularly in monolingual regions like Madrid, exemplifies this struggle towards linguistic normativity. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MigrantVoices project will shed light on instances where migrant voices, typically unheard, have influenced public discourse, challenging linguistic prejudices. By using ethnography and participatory methods, MigrantVoices creates a valuable resource, fostering inclusion and participation in European societies and promoting fairer language practices.
Objective
While linguistic diversity is promoted at the supranational level by the European Union policies, standardization and homogenization still prevail at the national level in most European countries in alignment with the one state - one language nationalistic ideology. In this context, any speaker who deviates from the standard norm, in particular, migrants and their descendants are often misrecognized as linguistically deficient. A discriminatory process that entails social, economic, and political consequences. The case of Spain is paradigmatic, given the attested pressure towards normativity in the dominant variety of Castilian Spanish, especially in monolingual regions like Madrid. Drawing on interdisciplinarity, this project, MigrantVoices, aims to address this issue and open paths for social transformation. The project will provide and analyze examples of instances in which migrant voices – usually unheard– have reached domains of public influence in society and have managed to challenge and transform the linguistic prejudices that affect them. These instances of speaking out against linguistic discrimination coming from migrant communities have been deeply analyzed in the US but have not yet been studied in the European context. To analyze these initiatives, this action proposes an innovative change in perspective by focusing on artistic and cultural spaces which influence social practices and beliefs, and which have yet to be explored. Drawing on ethnography and participatory methods, this project will provide an analyzed corpus of successful experiences. This will contribute to generating public knowledge on the possibilities to foster immigrants’ inclusion and participation in European societies, which is one of the EU’s political priorities for 2021-2027. In doing so, MigrantVoices will also raise awareness of the role of language in discriminative processes, and promote fairer individual, social and institutional approaches to language.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
28049 Madrid
Spain