Syllabus for SLAV/PWAD 467: Language and Political Identity

Welcome to Language and Political Identity. This course will examine the roles of language policy and linguistic controversies in determining national identity and fueling political polarization. It will focus primarily on Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.

Logistics

Time & Place: TR 12:30-1:45 in Dey 402

Instructor: Laura A. Janda (janda@unc.edu; 962-7549; Slavic Dept CB # 3165; office in 312A Dey Hall; mailbox in 425 Dey Hall)

Office Hours: R 3:30-5:00 and by appt

Textbooks

The following textbooks will be used in this course:

Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity ed. by Joshua Fishman Oxford UP 1999

Language, Ethnicity and the State. Volume 1: Minority Languages in the European Union ed. by Camille O'Reilly Palgrave 2001

Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croat and Its Disintegration by Robert D. Greenberg Oxford UP 2004

Language Policy in the Soviet Union by Lenore Grenoble Kluwer 2003 (This book is available for FREE for UNC users through this link)

PLEASE NOTE: These textbooks are very expensive! I recommend that you team up and share them. The books by O'Reilly and Greenberg have also been placed on reserve at the library.

• Other materials will be available on our Ereserve site or on the Blackboard site for this course
• If you do not already own a USB data storage device, you are required to purchase one. Your papers and your final presentation must be stored on this device.

What we will accomplish this semester

Yes, we are going to read the assigned books and listen to lectures, but, more important, I expect you to be active participants and to create some products of lasting value. Here are some of the things that we will discuss:

• The dynamic interplay of language and identity politics, with a strong focus on Eastern Europe and the countries of Central Asia, and with comparisons to Western Europe
• How language and identity have proven powerful motivators in the conflicts in the Balkans
• The dynamics of language in the most linguistically diverse region on the planet: the Caucasus
• The efforts to re-instate local national languages previously supplanted by Russian in the successor states after the breakup of the Soviet Union
• The effects of anti-Russian policies in successor states, particularly the Baltics
• The effects of language on politics and trade between Eastern and Western Europe
• The effects of language policy on admission to the EU for Eastern European countries

Here are some of the things that we will do in this course:

• Create a map that integrates the following pieces of information: 1) a boundary between Western and Eastern Europe, 2) indications of what countries are and are not members of the EU, and 3) indications of which majority languages belong to what families (Germanic, Romance, Slavic, non-Indoeuropean, etc.)
• Write two five-page papers, which will be revised and resubmitted. One paper will focus on Western Europe and the other will focus on Eastern Europe. For your two papers, you can either a) select two nations (one W and one E) and examine the linguistic challenges they face and how they have dealt with them, or select two ethnolinguistic minority groups (one W and one E) and examine the challenges to their political identity and what strategies they have used. Information from your papers can be integrated into your final presentation. Each paper will be graded according to the following criteria: Topic relevance, Use of detail, Argumentation, Style, and Bibliography. NOTE: If your first draft earns a full 10 points, you will also be credited the additional 10 points for the final version, which you will not have to submit, so it pays to do your best job on the first draft!
• We will also watch some films in this course. You will earn 1 point extra credit for each film you attend. See our film series.
• Prepare a Final Project as a Powerpoint presentation, to be delivered orally in class. You will work in groups to receive feedback on a preliminary version of your final project, and then will present the project to the whole class. You are very welcome to collaborate with one or more of your classmates in the preparation of a final project. Your final project will be a thematically-based comparison of how an issue has been handled in a Western European and an Eastern European setting. For example, one could compare how an economic factor has affected two minority language communities, one in W Europe and one in E Europe, or one could compare how discrimination has been handled by two communities. Your final project must include a bibliography of at least 7 items, at least 5 of which must come from books or scholarly journals, and the bibliography should appear as the last slide in your powerpoint. Your powerpoint should not contain any embedded audio or video. Final projects must be emailed as attachments to the instructor (janda@unc.edu) at least 48 hours before the class in which they are to be presented, and you should also have a backup copy on your USB device the day you present. For inspiration, see the Language and Political Identity Archive.
• Learn from your classmates! Your final exam will inlcude an essay describing what you have learned from the final projects presented by others in the class.

How to succeed in this course

Here are your keys to success in this course:

• Do a small amount of work every day -- don't try to cram several days' worth of assignments into one evening
• Keep up with the readings and other assignments
• Come to class every day
• When you come to class, be sure to bring something that you have prepared for the class: comments on a reading, questions for discussion, etc.
• Work on your Final Project early and often

How grades will be assigned

Grades will be based upon performance on papers (including revisions), oral presentations (including commentary on others' presentations and integration of commentary in final presentation), and tests.

Grades. Here is how grades will be assigned:

Item	Number of Items	Points per Item	Total Points
Map	1	5	5
Papers - Drafts	2	10	20
Papers - Revisions	2	10	20
Project Group Report	1	5	5
Project Presentation	1	20	20
Hour Test	1	10	10
Final Exam	1	20	20
		Total:	100
Extra Credit for Movies	6	1	6

Important note: It is your responsibility to know about the Honor System at UNC. Go to this page and be sure you know how to avoid plagiarism and other forms of academic cheating.

Useful Resources -- This site has links to resources that have proved useful for this course.

Don't forget to have fun! See you at the movies!

Assignment Schedule

The basic structure of the semester will be as follows:

• Two weeks will be devoted to gaining theoretical background and acquiring basic concepts that will be used in the course
• Two weeks will be devoted to an overview of Western European situations
• Two weeks will be devoted to a case study of the Sámi people of Scandinavia
• Two weeks will be devoted to overview study of Russia and the successor states
• Two weeks will be devoted to a case study of the fate of Serbo-Croat and the former Yugoslavia
• Three weeks will be devoted to Final Presentations

NOTE: This assignment schedule will be updated continually during the semester, so please check it regularly and use the "refresh" function to be sure that you are seeing the latest version.

What to prepare for next time:

Read Chapter 2 "Language and Nationalism" (Edwards Ch 2: Language and Nationalism), from Language, Society and Identity; this reading is available through Ereserve.

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 1: Introduction

Aug 23: Language and Nationalism; Language and identity

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 2: Economics
• Ch 5: History
• Ch 6: Nationalism

Aug 28: Economics, History and Nationalism; Language endangerment

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 7: Political Science
• Ch 8: Psychology
• Ch 10: Social Psychology

Aug 30: Political Science, Psychology, and Social Psychology; Power & Empowerment

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 3: Linguistic & Ethnographic Fieldwork
• Ch 4: Education of Minorities
• Ch 11: Sociolinguistics
• Ch 13: Second-Language Learning

Sept 4: Fieldwork, Minorities, Sociolinguistics, 2nd Language Learning

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 19: Germany
• Ch 22: Western Europe

Create a map that integrates the following pieces of information: 1) a boundary between Western and Eastern Europe, 2) indications of what countries are and are not members of the EU, and 3) indications of which majority languages belong to what families (Germanic, Romance, Slavic, non-Indoeuropean, etc.); email your map to the instructor before Sept 6 or bring it to class on that day

Go to see Sudeten Germans & Czechs: A Challenge for Europe (documentary about ethnic cleansing), Documentary on Welsh at our film series today!

Sept 6: Western Europe, Germany, Maps; Adrienne's map

What to prepare for next time:

From O'Reilly's Minority Languages in The European Union

• Ch 1: Introduction: Minority Languages, Ethnicity, and the State in the European Union
• Ch 2: Many Tongues but One Voice: ...Promoting Europe's Regional and Minority Languages

See this interactive list of some of the minority languages of Europe

Sept 11: Minority Languages in W Europe

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 18: The Celtic World

From O'Reilly's Minority Languages in The European Union

• Ch 5: Irish Language, Irish Identity
• Ch 6: Ethnic Identity and Minority Language Survival in Brittany

Welsh Language Board

Strategic Plan for Future of Welsh

Euromosaic

Wikipedia entry for Breton

Listen to Kan ha diskan, Breton music, and read about how it is sung

Sep 13: Celtic Minorities in Western Europe

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 20: Scandinavia

From O'Reilly's Minority Languages in The European Union

• Ch 3: State Language Ideology...Minority Language Planning on Corsica
• Ch 4: Catalan is Everyone's Thing

European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

Wikipedia article on Charter

Languages of the European Union

Sept 18: Scandinavia, Language variety in Norway, European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

European minority languages in the news this week: Welsh; Finnish in Sweden

What to prepare for next time:

From O'Reilly's Minority Languages in The European Union

• Ch 7: When Language Does Not Matter...Northern Italy
• Ch 8: Old and New Lesser-Used Languages of Europe

See statistics on multilingualism in the EU

Romany language

Origin of the Romany people

Romany people in Czech Republic

Go to see Pathfinder at our film series today!

Sept 20: Wrap-up on W Europe

News on Wales and Sud Tirol; News on Catalan; Data on language education in Europe; A research tool

What to prepare for next time:

Sápmi: becoming a nation -- Find this reading on the Blackboard course space for this course

"Regional characteristics of Sápmi and the Sámi people"

Prepare draft of paper #1

Sept 25 Sámi People: Heritage & Language , Sámi language law

HAND IN PAPER #1 DRAFT

BBC news item on the Sami in Russia (submitted by Aidan Kostenko)

What to prepare for next time:

Read pp. 9-37 and 42-49 from Lehtola's The Sámi People -- Find this reading on the Blackboard course space for this course

Sami links: Samisk hoegskole, Nordic Sámi Institute, Sametinget in Norway, Baiki, Sámi Center at University of Tromsoe

Sept 27: Sámi People: Current Issues, The use of Sámi today, Sámi language datatbase

What to prepare for next time:

Read pp. 50-93 from Lehtola's The Sámi People -- Find this reading on the Blackboard course space for this course

Read this article about an Inari Sámi rapper and listen to his music

Oct 2: Wrap-up on Sámi People: Sámi is cool!; Check out this map

What to prepare for next time:

Read pp. 70-93 from Lehtola's The Sámi People -- Find this reading on the Blackboard course space for this course

Go to see Sapmi and Even if a Hundred Ogres at our film series today!

See the Hour Test Study Guide and sample items

Prepare final version of paper #1

Oct 4: Preparation for Hour Test

HAND IN FINAL VERSION OF PAPER #1

What to prepare for next time:

Study for the Hour Test

Oct 9: Hour Test

What to prepare for next time:

From Fishman's Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

• Ch 21: The Slavic World

From Grenoble's Language Policy in the Soviet Union

• Ch 1: Introduction
• Ch 2: An Overview of Soviet Language Policy

See Map of Autonomous Areas in Russia

Oct 11: Slavic Identities; The Soviet Union as a Case Study; Marrism

What to prepare for next time:

From Grenoble's Language Policy in the Soviet Union

• Ch 3: The Slavic Republics and Moldova
• Ch 4: The Baltic States

Oct 16: Belarus (link 1: Lukashenko and the Belarusian language, link 2: History in Belarusian); The Slavic Republics and Moldova

What to prepare for next time:

See this site on minority peoples in Russia

From Grenoble's Language Policy in the Soviet Union

• Ch 5: The Caucasus
• Ch 6: Central Asia

Prepare draft of paper #2

Oct 23: The Caucasus and Central Asia

HAND IN PAPER #2 DRAFT

What to prepare for next time:

From Grenoble's Language Policy in the Soviet Union

• Ch 7: The North
• Ch 8: The Impact of Soviet Language Policy

Want to learn more about Tuvans and other Siberian peoples? See David Harrison's website

Go to see Herders of the Mongun Taiga (1 hr doucmentary about the Tuvan people of Siberia)at our film series today!

Oct 25: Siberia and Wrap-up on Soviet Union

What to prepare for next time:

From Greenberg's Language Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croat and its Disintegration

• Ch 1: Introduction
• Ch 2: Serbo-Croatian: United or not we fall

See this full-color map of S-C dialects

Thinking about your final project? See these resources