32 research outputs found
Navigating Immigration Law in a âHostile Environmentâ: Implications for Adult Migrant Language Education
In this article the author analyses the communicative demands placed on migrants navigating immigration law in a fastâmoving policy environment and implications for adult migrant language education. Data are from an ethnographic study of a lawyer, Lucy, and her clients at a legal advice service in Leeds, England, and include interviews and recordings of lawyerâclient interactions. The analytical focus is on Lucyâs stance (Jaffe, 2009b), on how she presents herself as an ally of her multilingual clients, and on the stanceâmarking strategies she and her clients use as they strive to make meaning. The study took place in 2016, a time of volatility for the policies that impinge on immigration law and on legal interaction for migrants: the upsurge of rightâwing populist movements in Europe, erratic positions on migration in the United States, and the referendum that decided the United Kingdom would leave the European Union. The author maintains that the link is rarely drawn between interaction in legal and other institutional settings and the content of language classes designed to aid adult migrant settlement, and argues for an approach to adult migrant language education that critically addresses this point
Contesting language policy for asylum seekers in the Northern periphery: The story of Tailor F
This article is about navigating asylum, employment and language policy in a new country as an asylum seeker. Through the story of one individual, we show that profound inequalities are exacerbated when forced migrants are limited in their choice of language they might study or use. The individual is Tailor F, an Iraqi man seeking asylum, and the country is Finland, officially bilingual, with a majority language (Finnish) and a minority language (Swedish). Finlandâs official bilingualism does not extend evenly to language education provided for asylum seekers, who are taught Finnish regardless of the region where they are placed. Upon arrival, Tailor F was housed in a reception centre for asylum seekers located in a Swedish-dominant rural area of the country. Through our linguistic ethnography we examine how he navigates multilingually in his early settlement, his current work and his online life. We relate his story to explicit and implicit official bilingualism in Finland and discuss his lived experiences in relation to the contexts of asylum policy and employment. Tailor Fâs story shows how, through his practices, he has contested implicit language policy for asylum seekers in order to gain membership of the local Swedish-dominant community, achieve a sense of belonging, and potentially realise his aspirations for the future
The rationale of opportunistic bilateral salpingectomies (OBS) during benign gynaecological and obstetric surgery : a consensus text of the Flemish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (VVOG)
Ovarian cancer (OC), is a disease difficult to diagnose in an early stage implicating a poor prognosis. The 5-year
overall survival in Belgium has not changed in the last 18 years and remains 44 %. There is no effective screening
method (secondary prevention) to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. Primary prevention of ovarian cancer
came in the picture through the paradigm shift that the fallopian tube is often the origin of ovarian cancer and
not the ovary itself. Opportunistic bilateral salpingectomy (OBS) during benign gynaecological and obstetric
surgery might have the potential to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by as much as 65 %. Bilateral risk-reducing
salpingectomy during a benign procedure is feasible, safe, appears to have no impact on the ovarian function and
seems to be cost effective. The key question is whether we should wait for a RCT or implement OBS directly in our
daily practice. Guidelines regarding OBS within our societies are therefore urgently needed. Our recommendation
is to inform all women without a child wish, undergoing a benign gynaecological or obstetrical surgical procedure
about the proâs and the conâs of OBS and advise a bilateral salpingectomy. Furthermore, there is an urgent need
for a prospective registry of OBS. The present article is the consensus text of the Flemish Society of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology (VVOG) regarding OBS
Taking the âJust' Decision: Caseworkers and Their Communities of Interpretation in the Swiss Asylum Office
Decision-making in street-level bureaucracies has often been portrayed as being riddled with a practical dilemma: that of having to juggle between compassion and rigid rule-following. However, drawing on three ethnographic studies of Swiss asylum administration, we argue that often what are from the âoutsideâ perceived as conflicting rationales of decision-making, are not experienced as such by the caseworkers themselves. Rather these different rationales are made to fit. We argue that decision-makersâ âvolitional allegianceâ with the office plays a crucial role thereby.
For the caseworkers we encountered, decision-making is about taking âjust decisionsâ, i.e. decisions that they consider âcorrectâ and âfairâ. We suggest that these notions of correctness and fairness are crucially influenced by their affiliations and allegiances with different âcommunities of interpretationâ within the office
Introduction
Drawing on new research material from ten European countries, Asylum Determination in Europe: Ethnographic Perspectives brings together a range of detailed accounts of the legal and bureaucratic processes by which asylum claims are decided.The book includes a legal overview of European asylum determination procedures, followed by sections on the diverse actors involved, the means by which they communicate, and the ways in which they make life and death decisions on a daily basis. It offers a contextually rich account that moves beyond doctrinal law to uncover the gaps and variances between formal policy and legislation, and law as actually practiced.
The contributors employ a variety of disciplinary perspectives â sociological, anthropological, geographical and linguistic â but are united in their use of an ethnographic methodological approach. Through this lens, the book captures the confusion, improvisation, inconsistency, complexity and emotional turmoil inherent to the process of claiming asylum in Europe
Teaching the sociolinguistics of heteroglossia
OBRA RESSENYADA: Florian COULMAS, An Introduction to Multilingualism: Language in a Changing World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018 -- Marilyn MARTIN-JONES and Deirdre MARTIN, Researching Multilingualism: Critical and Ethnographic Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2017