Decolonial Linguistics: The Epistemological and Pragmatic Challenges of a Paradigm Shift

2 days in autumn 2026 (exact dates to be confirmed)

Dr. Laura Delaloye Saillen, Université de Lausanne - Centre de Linguistique et des Sciences du Langage (CLSL)

Prof. Erez Levon, Universität Bern - Center for the Study of Language and Society (CSLS)

Prof. Ana Deumert, University of Cape Town

Prof. Virginia Zavala, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Prof. Cécile Canut, Université Paris Cité

Dr. Djouroukoro Diallo, Universität Bern

Decolonial linguistics aims to understand how coloniality has shaped practices and concepts in linguistic research and to question the epistemic hierarchies that shape Western ways of knowing. In particular, it highlights the need for critical reflection on the way in which knowledge is produced, disseminated and integrated into linguistic studies, particularly in relation to the global South. In calling for a paradigm shift in the way linguistics is viewed as a field, it draws a distinction between the field, in the sense of ethnographic terrain, and the field, in the sense of an institutionalized academic discipline generating historicized knowledge (Deumert & Storch 2020). 

First, in its field-based approach, decolonial linguistics points out that the process of documenting 'native' languages is part of an artefactual ideology, analysed in particular by Bloommaert (2008) when he relates the methodological apparatus deployed to describe 'a language' to the production of a discourse 'on language'. Second, in its disciplinary approach, decolonial linguistics calls for a rethinking of what is considered to be knowledge and scholarly texts, thereby challenging the logocentrism of academic research and its links with the neoliberal conception of knowledge as a marketable commodity (Deumert & Makoni 2023).

These two fields will be the focus of presentations by guest researchers and doctoral students in linguistics and anthropology. Participants who have an interest in the epistemological foundations of decolonial linguistics, or who are grappling with epistemic and practical challenges in their future field but are unfamiliar with the concepts and theories mobilized, will be able to read the preparatory texts to prepare themselves to step outside their disciplinary framework in order to gain a better understanding of the diversity of situated knowledge.

This two-day extra-muros doctoral school offers a unique opportunity for Swiss-based PhD students to participate in a vital international discussion on decolonization in academia, with a particular focus on linguistics.

References 

Blommaert, Jan (2008). Artefactual ideologies and the textual production of African Languages, Language & Communication 28, 291-307. 

Connell, Raewyn (2007). Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in the Social Sciences. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Deumert, Ana & Sinfree Makoni (2023). From Southern Theory to Decolonizing Sociolinguistics: Voices, Questions and Alternatives. Multilingual Matters & Channel View Publications.

Deumert Ana & Anne Storch (2020). Introduction: Colonial linguistics-then and now. In: Ana Deumert, Anne Storch, and Nick Shepherd (eds.), Colonial and Decolonial Linguistics: Knowledges and Epistemes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gracía, Ofelia & Jorge Alvis (2019). The coloniality of language and translanguaging: Latinx knowledge-production. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics 1: 26-40.

Hudley, Anne H. Charity, Christine Mallinson, Mary Bucholtz (eds.) (2024). Decolonizing Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Irvine, Judith T (2008). Subjected words: African linguistics and the colonial encounter. Language & Communication 28, 323-343.

Irvine, Judith. T. & Susan Gal (2019). Library to field: ideologies in nineteenth-century linguistic research. In Signs of Difference: language and ideology in social life (pp. 245-269). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kim, Ruth H. (2013). "Never knew literacy could get at my soul": on how words matter for youth, or notes toward decolonizing literacy. The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies 35: 392-407.

Makoni, S. & Pennycook, A. (eds.) (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Mufwene, Salikoko S. (2020). Decolonial linguistics as paradigm shift: A commentary. In: Ana Deumert, Anne Storch, and Nick Shepherd (eds.), Colonial and Decolonial Linguistics: Knowledges and Epistemes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ndholvu Finex & Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (eds) (2025). Language and Decolonisation, An Interdisciplinary Approach. New-York: Routledge.

Ndimande, B. (2018). Unravelling the neo-colonial epistemologies: Decolonizing research toward transformative literacy. Journal of Literacy Research 50(3) 383-390.

Phyak, Prem (2022). Decolonizing translanguaging research methodologies: A commentary and self-reflection. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 1, 3.

Rambukwella, Harshana & Virginia Zavala (2025). Decoloniality and language scholarship – a critical intervention. International Journal of the Sociology of Language.

Location to be determined (either La Chaux-de-Fonds in collaboration with Club 44, or Murten)

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