Community, Solidarity and Multilingualism in a Transnational Social Movement

This book presents a critical sociolinguistic ethnography of the Emmaus movement, analyzing linguistic and discursive practices in two local communities to provide insight into solidarity discourses and transnational communication more broadly.

RUNNER UP FOR 2022 BAAL BOOK PRIZE

Community, solidarity and multilingualism in a transnational social movement presents a critical sociolinguistic ethnography of the Emmaus movement that analyses linguistic and discursive practices in two local communities in order to provide insight into solidarity discourses and transnational communication more broadly. Integrating perspectives from a range of disciplines, the monograph seeks to understand the ways in which social movements are maintained across disparate communities grounded in shared cultural referents and communicative practices but not necessarily a shared language. The book focuses on Emmaus, the solidarity movement that emerged in post-war France which brings formerly marginalised people together with others looking for an alternative lifestyle into live-in communities dedicated to recycling work and social projects.

The book first offers a historical overview of the Emmaus movement more generally, moving into an account of its development and spread across national and linguistic borders. The volume draws on data from two Emmaus communities in Barcelona and London to analyse the everyday communicative and discursive practices that appropriate and resignify the shared transnational movement ideas in different socio-political, economic, historical and linguistic contexts.

Community, solidarity and multilingualism in a transnational social movement considers the social implications of local practices on the situated (re)production and evolution of transnational social movements more generally and will be of particular interest to students and researchers in sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

Autorentext

Maria Rosa Garrido Sardà is Lecturer in English Linguistics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Klappentext

RUNNER UP FOR 2022 BAAL BOOK PRIZE Community, solidarity and multilingualism in a transnational social movement presents a critical sociolinguistic ethnography of the Emmaus movement that analyses linguistic and discursive practices in two local communities in order to provide insight into solidarity discourses and transnational communication more broadly. Integrating perspectives from a range of disciplines, the monograph seeks to understand the ways in which social movements are maintained across disparate communities grounded in shared cultural referents and communicative practices but not necessarily a shared language. The book focuses on Emmaus, the solidarity movement that emerged in post-war France which brings formerly marginalised people together with others looking for an alternative lifestyle into live-in communities dedicated to recycling work and social projects. The book first offers a historical overview of the Emmaus movement more generally, moving into an account of its development and spread across national and linguistic borders. The volume draws on data from two Emmaus communities in Barcelona and London to analyse the everyday communicative and discursive practices that appropriate and resignify the shared transnational movement ideas in different socio-political, economic, historical and linguistic contexts. Community, solidarity and multilingualism in a transnational social movement considers the social implications of local practices on the situated (re)production and evolution of transnational social movements more generally and will be of particular interest to students and researchers in sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

Zusammenfassung

RUNNER UP FOR 2022 BAAL BOOK PRIZE

Community, solidarity and multilingualism in a transnational social movement presents a critical sociolinguistic ethnography of the Emmaus movement that analyses linguistic and discursive practices in two local communities in order to provide insight into solidarity discourses and transnational communication more broadly. Integrating perspectives from a range of disciplines, the monograph seeks to understand the ways in which social movements are maintained across disparate communities grounded in shared cultural referents and communicative practices but not necessarily a shared language. The book focuses on Emmaus, the solidarity movement that emerged in post-war France which brings formerly marginalised people together with others looking for an alternative lifestyle into live-in communities dedicated to recycling work and social projects.

The book first offers a historical overview of the Emmaus movement more generally, moving into an account of its development and spread across national and linguistic borders. The volume draws on data from two Emmaus communities in Barcelona and London to analyse the everyday communicative and discursive practices that appropriate and resignify the shared transnational movement ideas in different socio-political, economic, historical and linguistic contexts.

Community, solidarity and multilingualism in a transnational social movement considers the social implications of local practices on the situated (re)production and evolution of transnational social movements more generally and will be of particular interest to students and researchers in sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

Inhalt

Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Language, discourse and transnationalism in a social movement xx

Emmaus as a holistic social movement xx

Investigating sociolinguistic articulation across borders xx

Theoretical approaches xx

Critical ethnographic sociolinguistics xx

Transnational social movements xx

Community as a nexus xx

An ethnographic journey into a transnational field xx

Access, collaboration and positioning xx

An ethnographic toolbox xx

Structure of the book xx

Chapter 2: Historicising the transnational expansion of a social movement through key events and texts xx

Introduction xx

Transnational and multilingual expansion of a French movement xx

Foundation and "Catacombs period" (1949-1954) xx

"Insurrection of Goodness" in France (1954) and early expansion (1955-1969) xx

From the First World Assembly (1969) to the politicisation of the movement (1988) xx

Historicising religion and politics in two different Emmaus communities xx

Faith traditions and socio-political activism xx

Emmaus Barcelona: Progressive Catholicism and post-'68 activism xx

Emmaus London: Charity and social enterprise xx

Concluding remarks: A solidarity mission over time xx

Chapter 3: Transnational articulation and socialisation through the Emmaus founding story xx

Introduction: A social movement tells a "new story" xx

Conceptual framework: Collective identity through narrative chronotopes xx

"A story of us": A chronotopic analysis of the Emmaus origin story xx

An ethnographic analysis of the movement's founding story in situated interactions xx

Socialisation into "stories of us": Oral storytelling and semiotic artefacts xx

"Stories of self": Personal narratives of transformation xx

Concluding remarks: Creating sameness in the Emmaus social movement xx

Chapter 4: Discursive localisations of solidarity in two socio-political contexts xx

Introduction xx

"Towards other reasons to live": Alter-globalisation discourses in Emmaus Barcelona xx

Snapshot: "Stories of now" in socio-political activism xx

Zooming in: A residential project for migrants xx

"Emmaus, the homeless charity that works": Discourses of reciprocity and skilling in the UK xx

Snapshot: "Stories of now" in homeless activation xx

Zooming in: Voluntary work schemes for …