Locating Translingualism

Description

Encounters involving different cultures and languages are increasingly the norm in the era of globalization. While considerable attention has been paid to how languages and cultures transform in the era of globalization, their characteristic features prior to transformation are frequently taken for granted. This pioneering book argues that globalization offers an unprecedented opportunity to revisit fundamental assumptions about what distinguishes languages and cultures from each other in the first place. It takes the case of global Korea, showing how the notion of 'culture' is both represented but also reinvented in public space, with examples from numerous sites across Korea and Koreatowns around the world. It is not merely about locating spaces where translingualism happens but also about exploring the various ways in which linguistic and cultural difference come to be located via translingualism. It will appeal to anyone interested in the globalization of language and culture.

Jerry Won Lee is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine. He is author of The Politics of Translingualism (Routledge, 2018), co-editor of Translinguistics (Routledge, 2019), and editor of The Sociolinguistics of Global Asias (Routledge, 2022).

'Locating Translingualism is a long-awaited work from a venerable thinker, teacher, and critic. From the book's very first paragraph - about a so-called 'bird's eye view' upon global language(s) - Jerry Lee pushes us beyond received notions and easy resolutions, and his topic demands no less. With deft intellectual agility and a defiant critical energy, Lee expands on his previous monographs, striding fearlessly through an arena of linguistic practice that most applied linguists and linguistic anthropologists would have difficulty exploring without his careful, evidence-driven guidance. Read it slowly, cover to cover, ready to take notes and change your mind on hundreds of topics, large and small.' David Gramling, Professor of German Studies, University of British Columbia 'What happens when we study culture from a transnational perspective? How will it shape our understanding of language? Through fascinating analyses of how 'Koreanness' is constructed across time and space, Jerry Won Lee's new book snatches us away from familiar places where culture supposedly resides, and takes us on a mind-expanding journey where we discover that meaning in language is resignified and recalibrated anew in every circuit of encounter.' Joseph Sung-Yul Park, National University of Singapore