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ERIC Number: EJ1305857
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1747-7506
EISSN: N/A
A Tale of Two Cafés: Spatial Production as "De Facto" Language Policy
Cook, William Robert Amilan
Current Issues in Language Planning, v22 n5 p535-552 2021
This paper investigates the production of space and language policy in Ras Al Khaimah, a city in the United Arab Emirates. The paper builds on recent work in socio- and applied linguistics that has made use of sociospatial concepts from human geography. It argues that researchers should not only investigate space as a factor structuring language practices, but should also explore how space is produced and how this production generates de facto language policy (Shohamy, E. G. (2006). "Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches." Routledge). The paper draws on Lefebvre's [1991. "The production of space" (D. Nicholson-Smith, trans.). Basil Blackwell Ltd. (Original work published 1974)] spatial triad ("spatial practice," "representations of space," and "representational spaces") and utilizes ethnographic data to unpack the material, conceptual and symbolic production and maintenance of two Ras Al Khaimah cafés: a small café situated in a working-class South Asian part of the city and an upmarket café embedded in a semi-gated community for Western residents. It investigates how divergent "de facto" language policies emerge in each space from mechanisms of spatial production and explores how those mechanisms (and therefore the emergent language policies) are entangled with racism and socioeconomic inequality.
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 - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Arab Emirates
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A