Online-Plus-Blockseminar des Gastdozenten Tomasz Kamusella im April und Mai in Jena

Language and Power

Online-Plus-Blockseminar des Gastdozenten Tomasz Kamusella im April und Mai in Jena

Language (Sprache), or biological capacity for speech, is an evolutionary phenomenon. Yet, languages (Einzelsprachen), or actualizations of Sprache, are man-made artifacts, produced, maintained, altered and abandoned by humans and their groups. The concept of Einzelsprache is one of numerous ways in which Sprache can be actualized by humans, though nowadays it is posed as ‘universal.’ Likewise, in modern public discourse (especially in the West) languages are erroneously proposed to be products of nature (or a deity), and agents in their own right. This approach masks power (or group) relations of which languages are indexical. Taking cue from linguists, who tend to research languages without (much) referring to extralinguistic (that is, social) reality, historians and social scientists are prone to treat languages as a given that does not require any explanation or analysis. The module aspires to correct this fallacy on the basis of examples drawn mostly from among the Slavic languages and from across Central and Eastern Europe.

Teaching Method: 30-minute introductory remarks (brief lecture) by the tutor for both the morning and afternoon session. However, as a matter of pedagogical principle, the seminars should be student-led. Hence, the students are to discuss a given seminar’s subject matter in pairs and/or as a group (whatever is most appropriate), on the basis of the required readings.

Tutor: Dr. habil Tomasz Kamusella, Reader in Modern History (University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK)

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Termine: Freitag/Samstag, 22./23.4.; 29./30.4.; 6./7.5.; 13./14.5.,
jeweils 11:00-12:30 & 13:30-15:00 Uhr

Anmeldung: Über FriedolinExterner Link