9 research outputs found
Moises Serrano\u27s Forbidden: A North Carolinian DREAMer’s Twist on Chicanx Memoir, Testimonio, and Geography
In These Neoliberal Times: Blackness in the Multicultural Costa Rican Nation
The
socio-‐economic
restructuring
that
occurred
in
Central
America
in
the
aftermath
of
the
civil
wars
led
to
the
rise
of
neoliberal
discourses
and
multicultural
discussions.
This
rhetoric
resulted
in
a
new
“awareness”
of
cultural
diversity
and
ethnic
pluralism,
and
led
to
the
emergence
of
multicultural
initiatives
at
local
and
national
levels.
The
spillover
effect
of
such
projects
on
contemporary
literary
production
in
noteworthy,
particularly
when
it
involves
narratives
that
aim
to
rewrite
History
from
a
black
perspective.
This
essay
focuses
on
two
Costa
Rican
novels
and
the
strategies
they
use
to
take
their
intended
readers
to
“black
times”
and
“black
places”
on
the
Atlantic
Coast,
enveloping
them
in
a
wider
neoliberal
and
multiculturalist
project
that
aims
to
reassess
both
national
and
regional
identities
Novel Reconciliations: The Discourses of Oppression, Feminism, and Nation in Calypso and Limón Blues
Tropical Tongues: Language Ideologies, Endangerment, and Minority Languages in Belize
Tropical Tongues examines the precarious state of minority languages in coastal Belize, as Kriol has risen to the level of a national language in the period following the country’s independence (1981–present). Our fieldwork shows that while the prestige enjoyed by English and Spanish is indisputable, a range of historical and socioeconomic developments have conspired to give Kriol an elevated prestige in the coastal districts at the potential expense of more vulnerable minority languages also spoken there. Our claims are based on ethnographic observations and interviews as well as surveys of language attitudes and use that together show the attenuation of Mopan and Garifuna alongside the stigmatized yet robust Kriol language. Language endangerment studies generally focus on the loss of a minority language to a European language; the present story of language shift and loss examines how large-scale economic restructuring can unsettle existing relationships among minority languages themselves
Straight Outta Livingston: Black Indigeneity, Wordsmithing and Code-Switching in Wingston González’s Poetry
Straight Outta Livingston: Black Indigeneity, Wordsmithing and Code-Switching in Wingston González’s Poetr
Setting and Language Attitudes in a Creole Context
This article reports on a set of language attitude experiments undertaken in Belize in 2013--2014. The experiments tested attitudes toward Belizean Kriol in two different situational settings among 96 Belizean university students, exploring the extent to which experimental \u27setting\u27 had an effect on survey results. We administered verbal guise tests to 48 university students in classroom settings at the University of Belize campuses in Belize City and Punta Gorda. We then administered the same tests to 48 students in non-classroom settings in these same two cities. We found significant differences in both sets of results, with classroom participants registering stronger preferences for Belize City Kriol in status and solidarity traits. Our results add to a small but important body of literature in which setting is shown to influence language attitudes, and they provide support for an understanding of the quantitative survey as a meaning-making activity
Tropical Tongues
Tropical Tongues: Language Ideologies, Endangerment, and Minority Languages in Belize examines the precarious state of languages in coastal Belize. In the period following the country's independence in 1981, Kriol has risen to the level of a national language. While the prestige enjoyed by English and Spanish is indisputable, a range of historical and socio-economic developments has given Kriol an elevated status in the coastal districts at the potential expense of more vulnerable minority languages also spoken there. Using fieldwork, ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys of language attitudes and use, Gómez Menjívar and Salmon show the attenuation of Mopan and Garifuna alongside the stigmatized yet robust Kriol language. Language endangerment studies generally focus on the loss of a minority language to a European language. Tropical Tongues presents a fresh perspective on language shift and loss by examining how large-scale economic restructuring can unsettle relationships among minority languages. An open access edition of Tropical Tongues is available through a partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library