This course introduces learners to some contemporary approaches to the study of the interface between language and culture. Bringing together insights from different disciplines, including linguistic anthropology, cultural studies, sociolinguistics, and translation studies; the course highlights the conceptualization of language as cultural and political practices. Throughout the course, learners engage with works that in many ways challenge the view of language as a unified and self-contained structure divorced from social, cultural, and political contexts.

Specifically, in the first part of the course, learners will engage in discussions about how language constitutes our perceptions of the world, shapes communication, defines cultural practices, and delimits what we know.

In the second part, the focus will be on how language participates in the establishment of power relations among cultures.

Readings include both primary and secondary sources.