Learning and Using Languages in Ethnographic Research

Robert Gibb is Lecturer in Sociology, University of Glasgow, UK. His research interests include asylum procedures, the state, borders and translation.Annabel Tremlett is Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Her research investigates the differences between public and self-representations of minority or marginalized groups.  She is particularly dedicated to understanding the everyday experiences of people from these groups and challenging misleading representations.Julien Danero Iglesias is Principal Policy and Projects Officer at Camden Council (Housing) and an Affiliate Researcher at the University of Glasgow, UK. His research interests include nationalism, discourse, borders and minorities.

• Chapter 1. Robert Gibb, Annabel Tremlett and Julien Danero Iglesias: IntroductionChapter 2. Lydia Medland: Language Learning as Research Rehearsal: Preparation for Multi-linguistic Field Research in MoroccoChapter 3. Susan Frohlick and Carolina Meneses: Emergent Collaborations: Field Assistants, Voice, and MultilingualismChapter 4. Laela Adamson: Learning Language to Research Language in Two Tanzanian Secondary SchoolsChapter 5. Robert Gibb: ‘Demystifying’ Multilingual Fieldwork: On the Importance of Documenting and Reflecting on Language Learning in Ethnographic ResearchChapter 6. Dominic Esler: Dealing with Diglossia: Language Learning as EthnographyChapter 7. Teresa Piacentini: Language Learning and Unlearning in Ethnographic Fieldwork: ‘Speaking Asylum’ and ‘Doing Small Talk’Chapter 8. Lara Momesso: One Language, Two Systems: On Conducting Ethnographic Research Across the Taiwan StraitChapter 9. Annabel Tremlett: Breakdowns for Breakthroughs: Using Anxiety and Embarrassment as Insightful Points for Understanding FieldworkChapter 10. Daniella Jofré: Andean Ethnography and Language Learning: Reflecting on Identity Politics and Resistance Strategies of the Chilean AymaraChapter 11. Julien Danero Iglesias: How I Tried to Speak a Language Like a ‘Native’ and how this Influenced my ResearchChapter 12. Iolanda Vasile: ‘The Language is Mine. The Accent is Yours’: Doing Fieldwork in AngolaChapter 13. Matthew Blackburn: Being ‘Proficient’ and ‘Competent’: On ‘Languaging’, Field Identity and Power/Privilege Dynamics in Ethnographic ResearchChapter 14. Charo Reyes: Plurilingual Focus, Multilingual Space, Bilingual Set-up: Conducting Ethnographic Research in Two Catalonian SchoolsChapter 15. Wine Tesseur:  Listening, Languages and the Nature of Knowledge and Evidence: What We Can Learn from Investigating ‘Listening’ in NGOsChapter 16. Sarah Burton: Becoming a Multilingual Researcher in Contemporary Academic Culture: Experiential Stories of (Not) Learning and Using LanguagesChapter 17. Robert Gibb, Annabel Tremlett and Julien Danero Iglesias: Conclusion

Power, privilege, hierarchy, and dependence shape and often complicate ethnographers’ forays into unfamiliar languages. These thoughtful, reflexive essays, addressing an impressive range of field experiences, incisively reveal and explore the shifting ground of the authors’ linguistic interactions in relation to dynamics that are often invisible, usually risky, and always unpredictable.