Experiences of Simultaneity in Complex Linguistic Ecologies: Implications for Theory, Method, and Practice

Transnationalism, Multilingualism, and Identity

“…This mobility can lead to identities that might range from very fragmented to very fluid, temporal, and situated. The notions of polycentrism (e.g., multiple concurrent linguistic norms within a community), scales (Blommaert, 2010; Canagarajah, 2013; Lam & Warriner, 2012; Lemke, 2000), and simultaneity (i.e., “living lives that incorporate daily activities, routines, and institutions located both in a destination country and transnationally,” according to Levitt & Glick Schiller, 2004, p. 1003; see also Warriner & Wyman, 2013) are relevant here for understanding not only the horizontal temporal, spatial, and social scales or relationships navigated by contemporary multilinguals but also the hierarchical ones related to power and status. Although this flexibility and ability to negotiate varying scales and centers may be a sign of the times, this fluidity may not be well understood or appreciated by host communities accustomed to more enduring forms of engagement, investment, and presence in new immigrant communities.…”

“…Studies of transnational literacy or multiliteracies have received considerable attention over the past decade as several recent review articles and special issues of journals attest (e.g., Lam & Warriner, 2012; Leander & de Haan, 2014; Warriner, 2007b; Warriner & Wyman, 2013). Drawing on the New Literacies movement in the United Kingdom, as well as Bourdieu (1977, 1991) and other theoretical approaches, much of this work examines the social practices and identities associated with everyday literacies, particularly among migrants in the United States (e.g., Duran, 2012).…”

Contesting Metronormativity: Exploring Indigenous Language Dynamism Across the Urban-Rural Divide

“…Suffice it to say here that it understates, even ignores, the complex dynamism that is (still) clearly evident in many Indigenous language contexts. This dynamism is illustrated by a number of key dialectics, including the interaction of local and global language ecologies (Canagarajah, 2005), elsewhere explored as translocal language and literacy practices (Brandt & Clinton, 2002); the overlaps and fissures among different generations of speakers (McCarty, Romero, & Zepeda, 2006a, 2006b; and the simultaneity of transmigration and rootedness (Levitt & Glick-Schiller, 2008;Warriner & Wyman, 2013). These dialectics, in turn, are situated within, and expand upon, a long history of colonization for many Indigenous peoples that has included regular displacement and/or forced migration and significant social, cultural, economic, and linguistic inequalities alongside complex and evolving multilingual interactions with their colonizers over time (Canagarajah & Liyanage, 2012).…”

Negotiating the Multilingual Turn in SLA

“…This privileging of urban contexts as sites of multilingualism—what Green () terms more broadly as “metronormativity”—ignores the longstanding, dynamic, and complex multilingualism of indigenous communities, for example. This dynamism is illustrated by a number of key dialectics in contemporary indigenous language contexts, including the interaction of local and global language ecologies (Canagarajah, ), elsewhere explored as “translocal” language and literacy practices (Brandt & Clinton, ), the overlaps and fissures among different generations of speakers (McCarty, ), and the simultaneity of transmigration and rootedness (Levitt & Glick Schiller, ; Warriner & Wyman, ). These dialectics, in turn, are situated within, and expand upon, a long history of colonization for many indigenous peoples that has included regular displacement and/or forced migration; significant social, cultural, economic, and linguistic inequalities; alongside complex and evolving multilingual interactions with their colonizers over time.…”