ERIC Number: EJ1133134
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1476-7724
EISSN: N/A
Deskilling and Delanguaging African Migrants in Barcelona: Pathways of Labour Market Incorporation and the Value of "Global" English
Garrido, Maria Rosa; Codó, Eva
Globalisation, Societies and Education, v15 n1 p29-49 2017
This article analyses the labour and social trajectories of seven multilingual and well-educated young men from Africa in the Barcelona area (Catalonia, Spain) over a 5-year period. Our data consist of life history interviews combined with ethnographic observations in a settlement non-governmental organisation (NGO). We adopt a critical sociolinguistic perspective on language and mobility which underlines the time-space dimension of migrants' emplacement and understands the value of global languages in relation to socio-economic and linguistic normativity regimes. Our findings suggest that English does not play a role in the local emplacement of these migrants, with the exceptions of the dwindling NGO sector and tourism in Barcelona. However, it indexes their transnational flows, connections and orientations. We argue that the "ideologies of integration" of the NGOs examined background migrants' global language capitals while funnelling them into the non-qualified labour market. These agencies draw on tabula-rasa discourses that delanguage and, more generally, deskill migrants. In the current crisis, they have adopted new discourses of migration as a learning opportunity to gain experience, make contacts and learn skills. In the absence of paid work, voluntary labour is construed as intensive language practice and an opportunity to expand migrants' networks.
Descriptors: Immigrants, Labor Market, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Tourism, Language Role, Language Attitudes, Social Integration, Foreign Countries, Multilingualism, Mobility, Sociolinguistics, Nongovernmental Organizations, Networks, Ethnography
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain (Barcelona); Africa
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A