This month we are publishing the very first book in our brand new series, Translanguaging in Theory and Practice. In this post the editors, Angel Lin, Yuen Yi Lo, Saskia Van Viegen and Li Wei, introduce us to the series.
With the translanguaging movement slowly taking root in academic and education communities in the past two decades, it is timely to build on and extend both the theory and practice in translanguaging, to address and respond to both theoretical and pedagogical challenges. This new book series aims to publish work that highlights the dynamic use of an individual’s linguistic repertoire and challenges the socially and politically defined boundaries of languages and their hierarchy. Connecting with current efforts toward anti-racist, anti-oppressive and decolonizing approaches across disciplines, the series underscores relations among language and sociopolitical, -cultural and -historic conditions to advance critical understandings and the situated nature of knowledge production.
The series came about through an interest in engaging with a translanguaging theory of language, as Angel often says, ‘to not only use or consume the theory but to contribute ongoing theorization and engagement with TL’. Going beyond language to consider trans-semiotizing and the entire assemblage of mean-making and communication, scholars and practitioners alike are pushing conventional boundaries to open new spaces of inquiry in classrooms, communities and other domains. We are excited and enlivened by these possibilities and wanted to contribute to providing access to and engagement with such work.
We invite research from across disciplines by both established and emergent researchers in multifarious settings, including everyday use, educational, digital and workplace contexts. It will also actively welcome and solicit studies on translanguaging in contexts where English is not the mainstream language and where other modalities and semiotic resources take prominence over speech and writing. The series is transdisciplinary and encourages scholars to publish empirical research on translanguaging, especially that which aims to disrupt power relations, create new identities and communities, to engage in the discussion of translanguaging theories and pedagogies, and/or to help the field of translanguaging consolidate its scholarship.
If you would like to submit a book proposal for this series, please email Anna Roderick.
Channel View Publications and Multilingual Matters 