Struggles for Multilingualism and Linguistic Citizenship

Quentin Williams is Director of the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) and an Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Linguistics Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). He was the Ghent Visiting Professor (Leerstoel Houer) at the Centre for Afrikaans and the study of South Africa at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2022. He is Co-Editor of the journal Multilingual Margins: a journal of Multilingualism from the periphery. His most recent books are Global Hiphopography with Jaspal Singh (Palgrave, 2023) and Struggles for Multilingualism and Linguistic Citizenship with Tommaso Milani and Ana Deumert (Multilingual Matters, 2022).

Ana Deumert is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Cape Town. Her research program is located within the broad field of sociolinguistics and has a strong transdisciplinary focus. Her current work explores the use of language and art, especially sound and music, in global political movements as well as the contributions decolonial thought can make to sociolinguistic theory. Recent publications include Colonial and Decolonial Linguistics - Knowledges and Epistemes (2020, with Anne Storch and Nick Shepherd), and From Southern Theory to Decolonizing Sociolinguistics (2023, with Sinfree Makoni). She is a recipient of the Neville Alexander Award for the Promotion of Multilingualism (2014) and the Humboldt Research Award (2016).

Tommaso M. Milani is George C. and Jane G. Greer Professor of Applied Linguistics, Jewish Studies, African Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. His research aims to understand how power (in)balances are reproduced and contested through meaning-making resources. While identifying strongly with critical discourse analysis, he is not committed to a single theoretical paradigm. In his analyses of language and power he has drawn upon different theoretical frameworks, which include but are not limited to, language ideology, intersectionality, queer theory, southern/decolonial perspectives and theories of affect. Together with Susan Ehrlich, he co-edits the journal Language in Society.