Disrupting Normal: Becoming Researchers 2023
The student-centered conference Disrupting Normal: Becoming Researchers, organized by the Linguistic Landscape Diaries group (VLLRG), began in 2023 and has since become an annual event of the group. The first edition, entitled “VIA(ME)YOU CONFERENCE 2023”, took place as part of the conclusion of the research project “VIA(me)YOU – Spatial repertoires of linguistic and cultural mediation. It was held on Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 July 2023 at the Saratsis Amphitheatre (Argonafton & Filellinon), under the auspices of the Department of Language and Intercultural Studies of the University of Thessaly.
The conference opened with a talk by Roula Kitsiou, in which she presented the VIA(me)YOU research project and laid the groundwork for the thematic strands that followed:
Politics – Humour – Stereotypes: Discourse-analytic approaches
Intercultural receptions of Japanese culture
Multimodal performances of language
Linguistic and cultural mediation in multilingual environments
Linguistic landscape and spatial repertoires of mediation
Alongside the paper presentations, the programme included experiential workshops (such as the Japanese Calligraphy workshop and the workshop on improvised board games for meta-/multi-/cross-/critical language awareness), presentations by the group itself (Linguistic Landscape Diaries/VLLRG) on topics such as translingual mediation in classes with unaccompanied minors and the experience of education in prisons (the ACTinPRISON project), as well as two round tables: one on the dimensions of linguistic and cultural mediation, and a reflective one at the close of the conference entitled “Becoming Researchers: Reflection & Prospects for Research”, in which students shared their thoughts and feelings about their first research experiences.
On the second day, our group also presented findings from its exploration of the linguistic landscape of Volos through two parallel workshops: a Linguistic Landscape Walk and a Language Café. Overall, this first attempt at organizing a genuinely student-centred conference gave undergraduate students the opportunity to present their research work in a safe setting and to share thoughts, concerns and motivations for engaging with research.
