Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, MIME will generate an organised body of policy-relevant propositions addressing the full range of questions raised in the call. Our aim is to identify the language policies and strategies that best combine “mobility” and “inclusion”.
MIME emphasises complementarity between disciplines, and brings together researchers from sociolinguistics, political science, sociology, history, geography, economics, education, translation studies, psychology, and law, who all have longstanding experience in the application of their discipline to language issues. The diverse concepts and methods are combined in an analytical framework designed to ensure their practice-oriented integration. MIME identifies, assesses and recommends measures for the management of trade-offs between the potentially conflicting goals of mobility and inclusion in a multilingual Europe. Rather than taking existing trade-offs as a given, we think that they can be modified, both in symbolic and in material/financial terms, and we argue that this objective can best be achieved through carefully designed public policies and the intelligent use of dynamics in civil society.
Several partners have been involved in successful FP6 research, and key advances achieved there will guide the MIME project: languages are viewed as fluid realities in a context of high mobility of people, goods, services, and knowledge, influencing the way in which skills and identities are used and constantly re-shaped. The project integrates these micro-level insights into a macro-level approach to multilingual Europe.
MIME results will be made widely available through a creative approach to dissemination, including training modules and the MIME Stakeholder Forum, allowing for sustained dialogue between academics, professional associations and local/regional authorities. The project culminates in a consensus conference where recommendations based on the project findings are adopted.