GLOCADEMICS
Glocal Languages and Intercultural Responsibility in a postcolonial global academic world (GLOCADEMICS): Power relations between languages/cultures within and between research groups
Given the association of European languages/cultures with historical colonialism and nowadays with economic and epistemological imperialism, the nature of their reception, use and evolution as well as the role of local native/indigenous languages, in academic contexts deserve scientific attention. Furthermore, internationalization and globalization have been established as governmental priorities and subsequently as main goals for higher education institutions and research programmes. At the same time, English has become a powerful linguistic tool, all over the world, and also among doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, but Spanish and Portuguese are gaining preponderance as global languages, also due to their colonial past and with the raise of Latin American economies, especially Brazil. Together with this criss-crossing of linguistic networks, there are cultural identifications and hybridizations that require researchers, in any field of knowledge, here named as ‘GLOCADEMICS’, to be critically reflexive upon the subtleties of intercultural communication/interaction in democratic, postcolonial and global academic exchanges. They should be able to act within a conceptual framework that is mindful of an ‘ecology of knowledges’ and capable of promoting a dialogue between different epistemologies. This project aims to research on the representation, positioning and workings of European ‘glocal’ languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish) and of indigenous languages as well as on the promotion of ‘intercultural responsibility’, both through the study of language and intercultural policies in the curricular management of a sample of Language/Culture Departments and of intercultural communication/interaction in a sample of research teams, both in the Social Sciences and in the Life Sciences. It aims to carry out document analysis and field research, through observation of meetings and focus group interviews, in Brazil and comparative research while back in Europe.
The outputs of the project include the publication of Scientific articles, newspaper articles, reports and 1 monograph, and, as well, the organization of 1 workshop and 1 Summer School and the release of 3 editions of the project’s newsletter.
Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brasil
Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira, Brasil
Universidade Nove de Julho, Brasil