In her recent book Language, Immigration and Labor: Negotiating Work in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Elise DuBord, Dept. of Languages and Literatures, explores dominant ideologies about citizenship, nation and language that frame the everyday lives of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Focusing her ethnographic research on Arizona, a state that intensely regulates transnational migrants and Spanish speakers through its immigration and language policies, DuBord examines the realities of learning English and intercultural communication among undocumented day laborers. She will discuss the socioeconomic value recent immigrants associate with learning English, the obstacles adult learners confront when learning English and the impact of speaking (or not speaking) English when seeking work in the informal economy.
The research reveals the ways that dominant discourses reverberate down to localized social and language practices and how immigrants respond by legitimating their participation in society and constructing identities as language learners and productive workers.
Bring your lunch; cookies will be provided.
