Call for Papers: Integrationism and language ideologies, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 1–2 September 2020

1–2 September 2020
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

There are issues of pride, passion and politics involved, not to mention intelligence and imagination, and ultimately – perhaps initially and primarily — moral responsibility as well. And they are involved not merely as contributory causes or consequences but as substantive questions concerning how – if at all – A communicates with B.
(Roy Harris, Signs, Language and Communication, 1996, p. 2)

The annual Conference of the International Association for the Integrational Study of Language and Communication (IAISLC) will be held at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, 1–2 September 2020, and will be hosted primarily by the Post-Graduate Program of Linguistics at the Federal University of Santa Catarina.

Rationale and aims

This landmark event in the history of the IAISLC will critically explore the potential contribution that integrationism may make in the wider spheres of political practice, ethics, and social responsibility. To this end, the conference will encourage and facilitate productive encounters between integrationism and other perspectives on language and communication with a view to clarifiying and sharpening the critical tools necessary to the understanding and furthering of the interests of people in the Global South.

For integrationism, communication, as a fundamental dimension of human social existence, cannot be reduced to a system of signs that can be mechanically and/or pragmatically decoded and categorized: communication is nothing less than human beings’ necessary involvement with and response to others throughout the life course. Language, an integrated dimension within the whole continuum of signifying practice, therefore presupposes and helps to create a communitarian way of being in the world. The immediate implication of such a perspective is that politics and ethics are indissolubly bound to the communicational organization of everyday social life. We are consequently keen to explore how language studies in general may benefit from the broader concept of public sphere which integrationism offers in which both action and discourse are seen from the perspective of plurality and co-existence.

Objectives of IAISLC 2020

The main objective of the conference is to contribute to the further development of the integrationist perspective through critical dialogue with other approaches to language and communication. A secondary objective is to explore the interdisciplinary applications and implications of integrationism for diverse regions of the world, with or without a history of colonialism. The conference will therefore invite discussion and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the contribution of integrationist scholarship in relation to other frameworks, including sociocultural theory, critical discourse analysis, ethnomethodology and language ideology. By subjecting integrationism itself to critical analysis and evaluation, we hope to address the main question of IAISLC 2019: How far can integrationism help us in the task of “academically decolonizing traditional sociolinguistics?”

A third objective is to explore the extent to which integrationism can capture the multifaceted and contradictory linguistic experiences of people on the margins of society whose communicational practices have not so far been a focus for integrationistic thinking. In doing so, we wish to discuss how to best create a partnership with the Global South and with communities that were previously marginalized in the collaborative work of building and extending the relevance and reach of integrationism as a radically critical communicational philosophy.

Call for papers for IAISLC 2020

We would like to invite:

1. papers that explore the intersection or conflict between integrationism and other contemporary approaches to language and communication, including posthumanism, ethnomethodology, decolonisation, language rights and animal rights. Such papers should provide an exploration of the dynamic and constantly developing field of integrationist philosophy and analysis;
2. papers that explore the significance and implications of integrationism for an understanding of conflictual social practice and political mobilisation, with particular reference to the Global South and to marginalized and migrant communities.

Format of the conference:

Conference contributions will be invited according to the following formats:

• individual papers of 40 to 45 minutes each, with 15 minutes for discussion;
• symposia, consisting of a 2-4 papers on a particular topic with Introduction from the symposium Coordinator;
• theme-related round-table discussions, to be proposed and coordinated by the Conference organizers.

Abstracts of a maximum of 300 words must be submitted by individual presenters or Symposium Coordinators to Cristine Severo (crisgorski@gmail.com) by 29 February 2020. Decisions regarding the status of submission will be made by 31 May 2020.

Conference conveners:

Cristine Severo
Sinfree Makoni
Ashraf Abdelhay
Daniel Silva