The Pain of Language: Language and Migration
Language, Literacy and Cultural Hybridity Among Somali Teens in Minnesota
Martha Bigelow
Second Languages and Cultures Education Program
University of Minnesota
Comments from Deborah Brandt, Department of English
4:00 pm, Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Abstract
The perspectives of immigrant youth can reveal the powerful role society has in framing and forming the range of possibilities available to them. Immigrant youth often face mismatches between home and school in terms of values and language, but they sometimes encounter intra-cultural struggles as well. This presentation will a) explore immigrant cultural and linguistic adaptation using oral and written texts produced by Somali adolescents; and b) outline some of the cultural and linguistic issues involved in moving from a highly oral society to a hyper-literate one. By exploring Somali youth perspectives, language use, and identities, we can better understand the result of migration at school, at home, and in other public spaces.
Martha Bigelow is an Associate Professor in the Second Languages and Cultures Education Program at the University of Minnesota. Her research, teaching and community engagement activities are focused on the language learning, academic success and cultural adaptation of immigrant and refugee youth. She has conducted a set of quantitative studies focusing on the role of literacy in the acquisition of second language oral language skills and has carried out qualitative, ethnographic work focusing on the development of multilingualism and multiliteracy among Somali adolescents.
This lecture is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Language Institute, with funding from the College of Letters and Science Anonymous Fund.
Contact: Dianna Murphy, (608) 262-1575
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