Anna De Fina

Gerardo Mazzaferro

The impact of mobility and superdiversity in recent sociolinguistic research is well-established, yet very few studies deal with issues related to immobility. The chapters in this book focus on the sociolinguistic investigation of the dynamics between mobility and immobility as experienced by migrants, asylum seekers and members of minority or exploited groups. Central to the book is an exploration of how mobilities are affected by and in turn affect power relations and of the kinds of resources used by people to deal with (im)mobility processes. The book brings to light a new critical sociolinguistic imagination that is responsive to 21st century processes of (im)mobilities as socially, discursively and emotionally constructed and negotiated.

Language Practices, Discourses and Imaginaries

Exploring (Im)mobilities

This volume offers empirically grounded perspectives on translanguaging as a locally situated, interactional accomplishment of practical action, and its significance within different domains of social life-school, education, diasporic families and communities, workplaces, urban linguistic landscapes, advertising practices and mental health centres – focusing on case studies from different countries and continents. The 14 chapters contribute to the understanding of translanguaging as a communicative and discursive practice, which is relationally constructed and strategically deployed by individuals during everyday encounters with language and cultural diversity. The contributions testify to translanguaging as an interdisciplinary and critical research paradigm by assembling scholars working on translanguaging from different perspectives, and a wide range of social, cultural, and geographical contexts. This volume contributes to the further development of new theoretical and analytical tools for the investigation of translanguaging as everyday practice, and how and why language practices are constructed, negotiated, opposed or subverted by social actors.

Gerardo Mazzaferro

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