The Annual Lectures on
Language
& Human Rights
at
University of Essex
The Eleventh Annual Lecture on
Language and Human Rights
by Prof. Stephen May
“Language Rights as Human Rights”
Weds 13 March 2013, 5:00pm
Senate Room (4.722),
University of Essex
Contact: Prof. Peter L Patrick
Sponsored by the Dept. of Language and Linguistics
Abstract of Lecture
|
In the
last 60 years, we have seen the growing development and articulation of human
rights, particularly within international law and within and across
supranational organizations. However, in that period, the right to maintain
one’s language(s), without discrimination, remains peculiarly
under-represented and/or problematized as a key human right. This is
primarily because the recognition of language rights presupposes recognizing
the importance of wider group memberships and social contexts – conceptions
that ostensibly militate against the primacy of individual rights in the
post-Second World War era. Drawing
on theoretical debates in political theory and international law, as well as
the substantive empirical examples of Québec, Catalonia and Wales, this
lecture argues that language rights can and should be recognized as important
human rights. |
About
the Speaker
|
Stephen May is Professor,
Te Puna Wananga, School of Māori Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand. From
2001-2009, he was Foundation
Professor and Chair of Language and Literacy Education in the School of Education,
University of Waikato. He has taught and
researched in Arizona, New York City, Toronto, and remains an Honorary
Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, UK, where he taught from
1993-2001 in the Dept. of Sociology. Stephen’s earlier
career was as a secondary teacher of English and ESL in New Zealand in the
1980s. His areas of expertise are language rights, bilingualism and bilingual
education, indigenous education, and multicultural education. He recently co-edited
a volume of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education
with
Nancy Hornberger (vol. 1: Language Policy and Political Issues in Education). His book Language and
Minority Rights: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics
of Language (2011, 2nd ed., Routledge) was awarded the American Library
Association (ALA) Outstanding Academic Title. He has been a Professional
Member of the New Zealand Royal Society (MRSNZ) since 2002. |
About
this
Lecture Series
|
In June 2003 this series of annual
public seminars began to bring to the public, in an accessible manner, the
views of the world’s leading scholars in this growing and critical area, and
to further develop consciousness of the importance of linguistic rights in
the daily life of millions of people around the world. |
|
All talks are open to the
public, announced via media, and on the |
|
Members of the public, and of the
University community – from a wide range of disciplines, including Human
Rights, Linguistics, Modern Languages, Law, Government, Philosophy,
Sociology, the International Academy, the US Studies Program, and International
Relations – attend actively. We
are grateful to the Department of Language and Linguistics and the Human
Rights Centre, University of Essex, and other sponsors for their assistance, and especially to the
speakers themselves. |
|
For more
information on the topic of language and human rights, please see this
related webpage: Linguistic Human
Rights: A Sociolinguistic Introduction (PL Patrick) |
Previous
Lectures
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Rhodri Williams |
Cardiff |
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Prof. John Edwards |
Nova Scotia |
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Prof. François Grin |
Geneva |
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Prof. Miklós Kontra |
Szeged |
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Prof. Fernand de Varennes |
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Dr. |
Armidale,
NSW |
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Profs. and Robert Phillipson |
Copenhagen |
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2004-5 |
Prof. José Antonio Flores Farfán |
www |
Mexico City |
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2003-4 |
Prof. Peter K. Austin |
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2002-3 |
Prof. Jan Blommaert |
Gent |
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Several of our speakers have
also been honoured with the prestigious international Linguapax award. |
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The primary sponsor of the lecture series at the University of
Essex since its inception has been the Department of Language and
Linguistics, through its seminar
series. Since 2007, the Human Rights Centre has served as full
co-sponsor of the now established series. The commitment and assistance of
Prof. John Packer, and his successors as heads of the |
|
Other co-sponsors in various years have included the International
Academy, the Centre for
Theoretical Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Jean Monnet European Centre of
Excellence and the Department of Law.
|
|
Additional thanks go to Dr Doug Arnold, Prof Martin Atkinson, Lynn
Baird, Prof Simon Critchley, Prof Paul Hunt, Prof
Sheldon Leader, Dr Aletta Norval, Prof John Packer, and Prof Jane Wright, for
their assistance. |
Linguistic Human
Rights homepage
Dept. of
Language & Linguistics
Last revised 30 January
2013