Sociolinguistics Analysis Clinic
This workshop focuses on “problems” encountered in the research process in the field of sociolinguistics and how to overcome them. This includes all aspects of research, from conceptualizing a research project, to data collection, to interpretation and analysis. Based on concrete problems brought by the participants as well as by the invited lecturers, the workshop aims to provide participants with analytical tools for understanding, managing and/or overcoming research problems. Through small group consultations with our two seasoned lecturers as well as exchanges with peers, the workshop also aims to develop an understanding of “problems” as an inherent component of the research process, and of “troubleshooting” (in a metaphorical sense) as a valuable and productive tool for knowledge production.
Date & Location
11. - 12. September 2023
Muntelier / Morat
Application
Participating students are requested to remain in residence throughout the 2-day workshop, if feasible. To apply to participate, please provide a brief description of your current research (max. 1 page). Note that space is limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
For UNIFR participants: Please send the document to Philippe Humbert (philippe.humbert@unifr.ch) by July 10, 2023.
For UNIBE participants: Please send the document to Eva Kuske (eva.kuske@unibe.ch) by July 10, 2023.
Practicalities
The workshop will take place at the Hotel Bad Muntelier am See, located in Muntelier close to Murten-Morat on the shores of the picturesque Lake Morat. You can reach Muntelier or Murten-Morat very frequently throughout the day by regional train from Bern and Fribourg.
Fees
The workshop is free of charge for PhD students from the universities of Bern and Fribourg and includes accommodation in single rooms and full board.
Lecturers
Beatriz Lorente joined the Department of English at the University of Bern in August 2017. She has a PhD in Language Studies (English) from the National University of Singapore, an MA in Applied Linguistics from Ohio University and an MA in English (Literary and Cultural Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. She was awarded the Fullbright Fellowship for the years 1998-2000 among other awards and achievements.
Prior to joining the department, Beatriz Lorente was a lecturer at the Department of English of the University of Basel. She has also taught at universities in the Philippines, the United States and Singapore.
Beatriz Lorente works as a post-doctoral researcher in the project along with Prof. Dr. Alexandre Duchêne, the principal investigator and Sebastian Muth, post-doctoral researcher on the SNF funded project “A web of care: the management of linguistic resources in the Swiss healthcare industry” which ran from October 2015 – October 2018. The project was based at the Institute of Multilingualism of the University of Fribourg.
Beatriz Lorente is the author of, among several publications, books Scripts of Servitude: Language, Labor Migration and Transnational Domestic Work and Figures of Interpretation and has made noteworthy contribution to the field of migration and language.
At the university in Bern has taught or is currently teaching a number of postgraduate courses, including Language Policies in Education; Multilingualism in the Service Economy; Health Practitioners and Language Work and courses on academic writing in English.
Sari Pietikäinen is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. Her diverse research interests include critical discourse research, power, identity, mobility, multilingualism, minority languages, Sámi-speaking communities, hockey, media studies, and ethnography.
Sari Pietikäinen is associated with a number of research projects like Peripheral Multilingualism which ran through 2011-2015 and was funded by the Finnish Academy and Power Play. Discourses of language, identity and mobility in a transatlantic hockey market. A more recent project that she has been working on is the Cold Rush: Dynamics of language and identity in expanding Arctic economic hotspots which ran through the years 2016 to 2020 and was also funded by Finnish Academy.
She is the author of several books and journal articles and has made notable contribution while studying marginalised languages and conducting multilingualism research. Some of her most recent works include Critical sociolinguistic research methods: studying language issues that matter published in 2018 co-authored with Monica Heller and Joan Pujolar, and Sociolinguistics from the Periphery: Small Languages in New Circumstances published in 2016 and co-authored with Alexandra Jaffe, Helen Kelly-Holmes, Nikolas Coupland. Sari Pietikäinen is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sociolinguistics.
At the University of Jyväskylä, Sari Pietikäinen teaches an MA seminar in discourse studies and is a multidisciplinary language expert for a specialisation track offered for language students.
