Event flyer with abstract orange and blue painted background. The text Center for Writing Studies Fall Symposium appears up top along with the name of the symposium below "Race, Translanguaging, and Language Ideologies Across the Lifespan" in bold orange text in the middle of the flyer. The names of the presenters, Laura Gonzales and Ramón Antonio Martínez, appear below the main title along with logistical details at the bottom of the flyer.

Race, Translanguaging, and Language Ideologies Across the Lifespan

Laura Gonzales and Ramón Antonio Martínez

September 27, 2019

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Methodological Workshops: 10.00a-12.00p, Levis Faculty Center 424

During these workshop sessions, which are open to the public, Dr. Gonzales and Dr. Martínez will lead discussion with graduate student participants looking to unpack a slice of their data-in-progress. Participants will spend five minutes contextualizing their data excerpt, and then our guests will facilitate conversation for the next 15 minutes in a generative, methodological dialogue.

Public Talks: 1.30p-3.30p, Levis Faculty Center 422

Below are talk abstracts and bios for Dr. Gonzales and Dr. Martínez's talks. 

Technological Innovation through Language and Community Engagement (Laura Gonzales, The University of Florida)

Abstract: In this presentation, Gonzales argues that multilingual communities of color have historically adapted technologies to communicate beyond linguistic boundaries. Drawing on data from community partnerships with youth, students, and community activists in Mexico and the US, this presentation illustrates the rhetorical work that linguistically and ethnically diverse communities enact as they make information accessible in diverse rhetorical contexts. Through examples of how participants combine rhetorical, technological, and linguistic expertise to navigate their everyday lives, this presentation situates translation as a site of innovation that can be further supported in classrooms, universities, and professional spaces.

Bio: Laura Gonzales is Assistant Professor of Digital Writing and Cultural Rhetorics in the Department of English at The University of Florida. She is the author of Sites of Translation: What Multilinguals Can Teach Us About Digital Writing and Rhetoric, which was awarded the Sweetland/University of Michigan Press Book Prize in 2016.

Dr. Gonzales's talk can be viewed on our CWS Mediaspace channel here (UIUC sign-in required; please contact us for access if you don't have a UIUC Net ID).

Recognizing (and Not Recognizing) the Richness of Children's Translingual Repertoires: A Raciolinguistic Perspective on Translanguaging and Racialized Students (Ramón Antonio Martínez, Stanford University)

Abstract: In this talk, I draw on a raciolinguistic perspective (Rosa & Flores, 2017) to explore how language and race get perceived, constructed, and invoked in diverse urban schools. Drawing on ethnographic and interactional data from my research in elementary and middle school classrooms in Los Angeles, I illustrate how particular language ideologies mediate perceptions of translanguaging and race among diverse groups of racialized children and their teachers. I contrast the dynamic translingual practices (Canagarajah, 2014; García & Wei, 2014) of these children with the static notions of both language and race that predominate in the discourse around educational diversity. By foregrounding the relationship between language and racialization (Alim & Reyes, 2011; Chun & Lo, 2016), I highlight the processes by which these children’s forms of semiosis are variously displayed, ignored, (mis)construed, and recruited in the construction of particular racialized identities. I conclude with a consideration of practical implications for teaching, learning, and pre-service teacher preparation in urban schools.

Bio: Ramón Antonio Martínez is assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. His research explores the intersections of language, race, and ideology in the public schooling experiences of students of color, with a particular focus on bi/multilingual Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x children and youth. He has published articles in journals such as Linguistics and Education, Research in the Teaching of English, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, and Review of Research in Education.  Before entering academia, Dr. Martínez was an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Dr. Martínez's talk can be viewed on our CWS Mediaspace channel here (UIUC sign-in required; please contact us for access if you don't have a UIUC Net ID).

Conversation Hour: 3.30p-5.00p, Levis Faculty Center 424 / 422

Stick around for informal conversation and chat following our public talks. Open to all!