Paper short abstract:

I will discuss the value of a long-term sociolinguistic ethnography in exploring multilingualism and minority language ideologies in a contemporary superdiversity. I will also reflect on the shifting roles - and different scales of insider and outsider positionings - of the ethnographer in the superdiverse context

Paper long abstract:

I will discuss the value and impact of long-term sociolinguistic ethnography in exploring multiligualism and minority language ideologies in contemporary superdiversity (Vertovec 2007). Drawing on rich ethnographic and sociolinguistic material collected in a transnational research project IDII4MES (Investigating Discourses of Inheritance and Identity in four Multilingual European Settings), I will concentrate on the shifting trajectories, repertoires and identity representations of a multicultural and –lingual family of Omar, a key participant in the project. The data reflected in the light of my personal ethnographic path.

Ethnography allows one to tell a story of someone elses experience (Heller 2008). Sociolinguistic ethnography allowed me to access public and private centers of Omar’s trajectories. Doing ethnogragy in superdiversity also challenged my role as an ethnographer: I was constantly on the move between different scales of insider and outsider positionings. “Big things matter if we want to understand the small things of discourse” (Blommaert 2010); large structures of culture, heritage, and history can be identifiable in the fine grain of multilingual language practices (Blackledge 2012). My paper aims to contribute to discourse on the value of long-term sociolinguistic ethnography.

Blackledge, A. 2012. Investigating Discourses of Inheritance and Identities in Four Multilingual European Settings, NALDIC Quarterly 10 (1).

Blommaert, J. 2010. The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Heller, M. 2008. Doing Ethnography. In L. Wei & M. Moyer (eds) The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Vertovec, S 2007. Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 30, 6.