EDUC Learning

Learning objectives

The public space of metropolises as well as medium and small-sized towns is profoundly marked by the historic and contemporary traces of linguistic practices, such as graffiti, informal messages, public and commercial signs. These signs are produced by different actors and also carry out different functions. Linguistic Landscape (LL) research investigates the distribution of monolingual and multilingual signs in the public sphere, their linguistic and semiotic features, as well as their functions and evolution over time. In doing so, it aims to provide insights into the status of historic and migration-related minority languages in a specific territory.

In this web-based training, students will be introduced to the main theoretical approaches and empirical methods for mapping linguistic diversity in public spaces. Particular attention is dedicated to an overview of the current state of LL research in three EDUC areas, that is, Brandenburg and Berlin, Brno and Czech Republic, Cagliari and Sardinia.

At the end of the web-based training, participants will:
- be able to describe the complex present and past sociolinguistic situations in Berlin and Brandenburg, Brno and Prague, Cagliari and Sardinia.
- become familiar with the current state of research on LLs in these three areas and develop awareness about the distribution of LL signs in their own territory.
- be able to discuss advantages and disadvantages of some theoretical-methodological approaches concerning data collection and analysis in LL.
- be able to analyze monolingual and multilingual LL signs, describe their functions and link their features to the status of different minority languages and the language ideologies toward them in a given territory.
- be able to evaluate and defend responses to a range of linguistic landscape issues.

Details of the learning scenario

Schedule/Timetable of the learning offer

This intensive course delves into the global history of processes of refuge-seeking: it explores the many challenges that refugees and migrants face and the opportunities they create in receiving countries. It engages the manifold ways in which citizens have responded to migrants and refugees over time – from the Huguenots’ arrival in Brandenburg-Prussia in 1685 to the present – and in various places, including France, Australia, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Germany. The course also examines the responses and visions of migrants and refugees themselves.

The course brings together 30 students from five European universities through the European Digital UniverCity alliance (EDUC), for ten weeks of online learning (starting on April 19, 2022) followed by a week together in Potsdam June 20-25, 2022. In Potsdam students will meet with local decision-makers, civil society and church representatives, and migrants and refugees to learn first-hand about practices and issues relating to migration and integration.

To prepare for this, students will be introduced to theories around integration and will then engage with historic and contemporary case studies that highlight particular issues such as culture, religion, racism, education, and labour in relation to assimilationism and multiculturalism.