Luisa Martín Rojo

Constructing inequality in multilingual classrooms

In this book, the reader is taken on a fascinating journey through some of Madrids multilingual and multicultural schools, revealing the role of linguistic practices in constructing inequality and educational failure. The exciting discussion of these issues is particularly important in a globalized world where, on a daily basis,children enter multilingual and multicultural schoolsin whichthey face unknown educational practices and languages.

Language, Migration and Citizenship: New Challenges in the Regulation of Bilingualism

At the start of the twenty-first century one in every 35 people is an international migrant.2 The movement of populations across national boundaries is emerging as one of the main challenges for nation-states. Monolingualism as a universal criterion for citizenship in a nation-state cannot be sustained anymore in the face of the language diversity of migrants and national linguistic minorities. In addition, in this era of globalization, migration is no longer understood as a one-time displacement. The connectedness of today’s societies brought about by the development of communication technologies, and by cheaper and easier communications, makes physical mobility and contact with a country of origin easier for migrants. At the same time, liberal democratic states must deal with diversity in language, culture and identity in ways consistent with their political philosophy. These changes are bringing about a shift in ideologies, in particular, in the way bilingualism is understood, constructed and practised. Multilingual practices in monolingual institutional contexts can no longer be considered an exception. The tensions that exist in public institutions as a result of the diversity brought by immigration elicit contradictions between the democratic commitment of modern states to citizenship rights and the restrictive homogeneous views still in place about who counts as a citizen.

The Gender of Power: The Female Style in Labour Organizations

This chapter explores how the way women exercise authority and communicate in labour organizations in Spain is seen and evaluated. Our main objectives are the following. First of all, we wish to show the influence of the work context (organizational culture and structure) on the way women manage and communicate, and on how these capacities are perceived. To this end, we shall try to identify the present model of management in Spanish companies and to examine its relationship with communication style, in particular that of women. Likewise, we shall consider the connections between the gender system and labour-related power, and in doing so examine the importance of social networks for the development of women’s professional careers and for the integration of women in labour organizations. Our second objective is to suggest good practices in work organizations. In these sections we shall encourage, by means of examples, reflection on women’s style of leadership and communication, with the aim of considering new ways of developing our professional careers.

Discourse at Work: When Women Take On the Role of Manager

This chapter is part of an interdisciplinary research project into management models and gender (see Gomez Esteban et al., 2000). The main aim of the study is to explore whether and to what extent new theoretical models of management are encouraging the promotion of women to positions of responsibility in companies and thus leading to a correlative improvement of the image of women managers. There is a lot of literature on these theoretical models, taught in business schools, and influential in organizational practices (management, organizational tasks, selection and promotion), where they regulate the functions of management and the way power is wielded in companies. In fact, we have found that these new models defend a more democratic view of management, and emphasize, for instance, communicative and relational skills (showing empathy and requesting compliance) versus an assertive style. We expected that the inclusion of these features would contribute to breaking the ‘double bind’ women face regarding professionalism and femininity (given the fact, found in previous research, that assertive women in high positions are perceived as less feminine, while non-assertive women in these positions are perceived as less competent).

En #Sol, revolución: paisajes lingüísticos para tomar las plazas

ResumenEn este articulo analizamos como la apropiacion del espacio urbano a traves de las practicas comunicativas, que supuso el movimiento 15M, entrano una transformacion en el modo de entender y de hacer politica, basada en renovados conceptos de participacion y agencia. La apropiacion del espacio de la Puerta del Sol en Madrid tuvo lugar a traves de dos movimientos complementarios y hasta cierto punto inseparables, la desterritorializacion y reterritorializacion del espacio social, que opusieron a las logicas de produccion mercantil del espacio y a las logicas de dominacion estatal, una logica de renovacion ciudadana, a traves de las que se prefiguraron otras ideologias y practicas sociales. En este articulo, reunimos imagenes tomadas durante la ocupacion de la puerta del Sol. El recorrido por estas imagenes muestra como, a traves de practicas comunicativas novedosas, tanto por su contenido, como por como fueron producidas y, desde luego, por su circulacion viral y simultanea a traves de distintos sopo...Resumen En este artículo analizamos cómo la apropiación del espacio urbano a través de las prácticas comunicativas, que supuso el movimiento 15M, entrañó una transformación en el modo de entender y de hacer política, basada en renovados conceptos de participación y agencia. La apropiación del espacio de la Puerta del Sol en Madrid tuvo lugar a través de dos movimientos complementarios y hasta cierto punto inseparables, la desterritorialización y reterritorialización del espacio social, que opusieron a las lógicas de producción mercantil del espacio y a las lógicas de dominación estatal, una lógica de renovación ciudadana, a través de las que se prefiguraron otras ideologías y prácticas sociales. En este artículo, reunimos imágenes tomadas durante la ocupación de la puerta del Sol. El recorrido por estas imágenes muestra cómo, a través de prácticas comunicativas novedosas, tanto por su contenido, como por cómo fueron producidas y, desde luego, por su circulación viral y simultanea a través de distintos soportes, canales y medios, el movimiento 15M transformó el espacio urbano, convirtiendo la Puerta del Sol en ágora revitalizada de la que surgían nuevas venas y arterias comunicativas, que la interconectaban con otras partes de la ciudad y con otras plazas también ocupadas en todo el mundo. Sol, convertido en símbolo de este movimiento y metáfora del despertar ciudadano, no sólo reivindicó, sino que prefiguró con su configuración, organización y a través de las voces de los ocupantes, el modelo de democracia participativa que se proponía y por el cual se lucha en el momento presente.

From Multilingual Practices to Social Processes

Current social transformations, in particular new economies and increasing mobility, are shaping linguistic markets worldwide. Globalisation is increasing the emergence and extension of ‘contact zones’, which Mary Louise Pratt has defined as ‘the space in which transculturation takes place – where two different cultures meet and inform each other, often in highly asymmetrical ways’ (Pratt 1991: 584). She describes contact zones in cultural terms, as spaces where people can interact between cultures and cross-cultural boundaries, and highlights the amazement people feel when their formerly uniform cultural (or, for our purposes, linguistic) environment becomes visibly diverse.