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Root number
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489690 |
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Semester
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HS2024 |
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Type of course
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Seminar |
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Allocation to subject
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English Languages and Literatures |
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Type of exam
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not defined |
| Title |
Language and Waste (BA FS Seminar Linguistics) |
| Description |
For some time, scholars in the humanities and social sciences have been addressing waste – as stuff, as value system, as political economy, and as ecological problem. It is only recently, however, that sociocultural linguists have also begun exploring ways to contribute to the interdisciplinary field of discard studies.
In the spirit of deepening and expanding this emerging “sociolinguistics of waste,” this seminar examines how language shapes or even makes waste and, as such, how language helps structure the wider political-cum-symbolic economies of consumerism and environmental collapse. The kinds of empirical questions we will be asking together include the following: What does “waste” mean to people? How is waste defined and represented in everyday and/or official talk and texts? How is waste mediatized (e.g., in newspapers, advertisements, etc.)? How are children socialized into the meanings of waste?
The seminar is designed as a “laboratory course” which means it is hinges on student-driven, project-based learning experiences where you will be actively engaged in producing new knowledge for the field. In this regard, the seminar will orient concretely to the ongoing SNSF-funded project Articulating Rubbish: https://www.crispinthurlow.net/articulating-rubbish/. The seminar will be organized around five biweekly modules: discard studies, consumption, politics, value, and space; in each module, one week will be theory-driven, the second will be dedicated to case-studies and student-driven data collection.
Note: On Saturday 09 November there will be an excursion from 10:00 to 12:30 where we will do fieldwork in Bern with Rosie Oliver, founder of Dotmaker Tours in London. This excursion is mandatory and there is no make-up available. If you cannot be certain of your participation in this excursion, please do not register for the seminar.
Required Readings:
The following short articles must be read before the first session; your knowledge of both will be assessed:
Cavanaugh, Jillian R. (2022). Trash talk: Language as waste practice. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 26(3), 404–410.
Reno, Joshua. (2022). Does waste make language? Journal of Sociolinguistics, 26(3), 418–425.
These two articles are posted on ILIAS together with all other required reading (see weekly schedule). For the most part, this material takes the form of articles or chapters from a range of different disciplinary perspectives; this is how you will begin to appreciate the inherently interdisciplinary nature of discard studies and, in doing so, better understand the contribution sociocultural linguists might make. |
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ILIAS-Link (Learning resource for course)
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Registrations are transmitted from CTS to (no admission in ILIAS possible).
ILIAS
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Link to another web site
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| Lecturers |
Laura Valérie Wohlgemuth, Institute of English Languages and Literatures, Language and Communication ✉
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Charmaine Kong, Institute of English Languages and Literatures, Language and Communication ✉
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Alessandro Pellanda, Institute of English Languages and Literatures, Language and Communication ✉
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ECTS
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4 |
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Recognition as optional course possible
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No |
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Grading
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passed/failed |
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| Dates |
Monday 10:15-12:00 Weekly
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| Rooms |
Seminarraum F 007, Hörraumgebäude Unitobler
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| Students please consult the detailed view for complete information on dates, rooms and planned podcasts. |
User:
Öffentlicher Bereich
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