Call for Papers: Transformation and Multilingualism: German Speakers and Writers in Contact Zones. 

February 14th – 15th, 2025 

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Julia Ruck, Department of German Studies, Emory University  

The Germanic Graduate Student Association (GGSA) at The Ohio State University invites submissions for its upcoming 17th annual graduate student conference exploring the process of transformation, identity formation, and linguistic practices within and across German-speaking contexts. This year’s theme centers on how language use in social and cultural contact zones shapes, transforms, and redefines the concept of “German” identity, belonging, and communication. We welcome submissions from both linguistic and cultural/literary studies perspectives and encourage diverse methodologies to approach these themes. In this context, we place “German” as a conceptual anchor at the intersection of cultures and languages, emphasizing it as a space where identities and meanings are constructed and contested.  

The conference encourages contributions that explore how language is used to shape, challenge, and resist cultural boundaries and power dynamics within contact zones. Borrowing from Mary Louise Pratt (1991), who describes the contact zone as a social space of linguistic and cultural conflict and power negotiation, and Jeroen Dewulf’s (2014) concept of ‘contact literature’—as literature written in one specific language which is still deeply influenced by the other languages and cultural elements within the contact zone—we build on the work of Will Baker and Tomokazu Ishikawa (2021) to define transcultural dynamics and language use at contact zones as communication where cultural and linguistic transformations take center stage. These ‘contact zones’ take various forms, from physical spaces such as border regions and migration sites to virtual platforms and sociocultural third spaces, such as language classrooms and academic discourse. Proposals might examine how cross-cultural encounters inspire linguistic innovation and variation, creating new forms of expression that both mirror and reshape ideas of identity and belonging. Cultural studies projects might analyze representations of hybrid identities, the mediation of cultural memory and heritage, or how literature, film, and other media portray cross-cultural interactions. We encourage submissions that address linguistic practices, cultural phenomena, and/or literary texts that traverse and impact cultural boundaries. 

• Language contact and fusion: How do languages interact and influence each other at cultural crossroads? How do these interactions shape aspects of interlanguaging and language varieties? (O'Grady et al., 2001; Tarone, 2018) 
• Translation and interpretation: How do the acts of translation and/or interpretation shape intercultural communication? (Kelly & Bruen, 2014; Borge Janetti, 2019) 
• Multilingualism and identity: How do individuals navigate multiple languages and cultural identities at cultural crossroads? (Baker, 2001; The Douglas Fir Group, 2016) 
• Language policy and power dynamics: How are language policies used to transfer power and control in cultural contact zones? What are the consequences of language policy in a variety of contexts? (Bruhlmann, 2012) 
• Language and migration: How does migration impact literary and linguistic expression? How does it influence language use as a means of adapting, resisting, or redefining belonging in contact zones? (Anya, 2017; Kreitinger, 2017) 
• Language and diaspora: How do diasporic communities maintain and adapt their language in new cultural contexts? (Craith, 2015) 
• Language and media in a globalized world: How do digital media and online platforms create new cultural contact zones? How does language function within these spaces? (Ivkovic & Lotherington, 2009) 
• Language and social movements: How is language used to establish or challenge power and claim agency in social movements in cultural contact zones? (Davis, 2012)  
• Language use in the classroom: How can language classrooms be spaces for exploring and understanding intercultural communication? What pedagogical practices can foster cultural awareness and critical reflection on language use? Why can specific language choices either facilitate or hinder effective communication in intercultural encounters? (Back & Wagner, 2019) 

Submission Guidelines 

Abstracts should be submitted by December 15th, 2024, to contact.ggsa.osu@gmail.com. We welcome both presentations with single and multiple authorships. Abstracts can be submitted in either English or German. Abstracts should not be longer than 300 words, nor should they include the name(s) of the author(s). Your name, pronouns, email address, paper title, university and department affiliations, and a short biography should be submitted as a separate attachment along with your abstract. Please see our website at http://org.osu.edu/ggsa/ for further information. 

Suggested readings include: 

1. Alfred, P., and C. Warner. “Literary Pragmatics and Intercultural Dialogue in the Beginning Language Class.” Teaching and Learning Second Language Pragmatics for Intercultural Understanding, 2021, pp. 83–104. 
2. Anya, U. Translanguaging Identities. Racialized Identities in Second Language Learning: Speaking Blackness in Brazil, Routledge, 2017, pp. 24–40. 
3. Back, M., and M. Wagner. “Languages for All: World Languages for Meaning-Making and Intercultural Citizenship.” AAUSC 2019 Volume—Issues in Language Program Direction: Pathways to Paradigm Change: Critical Examinations of Prevailing Discourses and Ideologies in Second Language Education, edited by K. Michelson and B. Dupuy, Cengage Learning, 2019, pp. 176–198. 
4. Baker, Colin. “Bilingualism: Definitions and Distinctions.” Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3rd ed., Multilingual Matters Limited, 2001, pp. 2–16. 
5. Baker, Will, and Tomokazu Ishikawa. Transcultural Communication Through Global Englishes. Routledge, 2021. 
6. Borge Janetti, Gabriela. “Intercultural Translation in Classroom-Based Multilingual Educational Research.” Critical Multilingualism Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2019, pp. 64–84. 
7. Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2004. 
8. Bruhlmann, Angela. “Does the L1 Have a Role in the Foreign Language Classroom? A Review of the Literature.” Studies in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, vol. 12, no. 2, 2012, pp. 55–80. 
9. Byram, Katra, and Claire Kramsch. “Why Is It so Difficult to Teach Language as Culture?” The German Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 1, 2008, pp. 20–34. 
10. Craith, Máiréad Nic. “‘Migrant’ Writing and the Re-Imagined Community: Discourses of Inclusion/Exclusion.” German Politics & Society, vol. 33, no. 1/2, 2015, pp. 84–99. 
11. Criser, R., and S. M. Knott. “Decolonizing the Curriculum.” Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, vol. 52, no. 2, 2019, pp. 151–160. 
12. Davis, Joseph E. “Narrative and Social Movements: The Power of Stories.” Stories of Change, State University of New York Press, 2002, pp. 11–36. 
13. Denham, Scott, et al. “‘The State We're In’: Narratives of Migration and Translation.” The German Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 2, 2017, pp. 227–234. 
14. The Douglas Fir Group. “A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World.” The Modern Language Journal, vol. 100, no. S1, 2016, pp. 19–47. 
15. García, Ofelia. “Bilingualism and Translanguaging.” Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective, 1st ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2009, pp. 42–71. 
16. Göttsche, Dirk, et al. “Diaspora.” Handbuch Postkolonialismus und Literatur, 1st ed., J.B. Metzler, 2017, pp. 134–38. 
17. ---. “Hybridität/Hybridisierung.” Handbuch Postkolonialismus und Literatur, 1st ed., J.B. Metzler, 2017, pp. 156–59. 
18. ---. “Third Space.” Handbuch Postkolonialismus und Literatur, 1st ed., J.B. Metzler, 2017, pp. 226–28. 
19. Gramling, David. Invention of Multilingualism. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 
20. Ivkovic, Dejan, and Heather Lotherington. “Multilingualism in Cyberspace: Conceptualising the Virtual Linguistic Landscape.” International Journal of Multilingualism, vol. 6, no. 1, 2009, pp. 17–36. 
21. Kelly, N., and J. Bruen. “Translation as a Pedagogical Tool in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Qualitative Study of Attitudes and Behaviours.” Language Teaching Research, vol. 19, no. 2, 2014, pp. 150–168. 
22. Kreitinger, Brooke. “Migration and German Studies: Rethinking and Redefining Boundaries.” The German Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 2, 2017, pp. 214–217. 
23. Kramsch, Claire. The Multilingual Subject. Oxford UP, 2010. 
24. Mani, B. Venkat. “Migrants, Refugees, Exiles: ‘Cosmopolitical Claims beyond Willkommenskultur.’” The German Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 2, 2017, pp. 219–222. 
25. Maniotes, Leslie Kuhltha. “The Transformative Power of Literary Third Space.” 2005. 
26. Meecham, Marjorie, and Janie Rees-Miller. “Language in Social Contexts.” Contemporary Linguistics, edited by W. O’Grady, J. Archibald, M. Aronoff, and J. Rees-Miller, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001, pp. 537-590. 
27. Odlin, Terence. “Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI).” The Routledge Encyclopedia of Second Language Acquisition, edited by P. Robinson, Routledge, 2012, pp. 151–153. 
28. Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Profession, 1991, pp. 33-40. 
29. Tarone, Elaine. “Interlanguage.” The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2018, pp. 1–7. 
30. Vlasta, Sandra. “The Motif of Language in Migration Literature.” Contemporary Migration Literature in German and English, Brill, 2015, pp. 59–103. 
31. Warner, Chantelle, and Beatrice Dupuy. “Moving toward Multiliteracies in Foreign Language Teaching: Past and Present Perspectives . . . and Beyond.” Foreign Language Annals, vol. 51, no. 1, 2018, pp. 116–128. 

Contact Information

The Ohio State University German Graduate Student Association 

Contact Email

contact.ggsa.osu@gmail.com

URL

http://org.osu.edu/ggsa/

Attachments

cfpggsa25.pdf