Perspectives

Responses to Perspectives article: "Toward Racial Justice in Linguistics"

(New Deadline: January 31, 2020)

The Perspectives section of Language publishes invited target articles on topics of general interest to linguistics. Target articles typically have the character of an "opinion piece", and are intended to generate discussion. Shorter written responses to a target article will be published in Language in conjunction with the target article. (See lower down for instructions about how to prepare and submit a response.) Our next target article is by Anne Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz, and we are currently accepting responses to this article.

Toward Racial Justice in Linguistics: Interdisciplinary Insights into Theorizing Race in the Discipline and Diversifying the Profession [Download here]

Anne H. Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz

This article builds on the Linguistic Society of America’s Statement on Race to argue that linguistics urgently needs an interdisciplinarily-informed theoretical engagement with race and racism. To be adequate, a linguistic theory of race must incorporate the perspectives of linguistic researchers of different methodological approaches and racial backgrounds and must also draw on theories of race in neighboring fields, including anthropology, sociology, and psychology, as well as speech and hearing sciences, composition and literacy studies, education, and critical interdisciplinary race studies. The lack of comprehensive and up-to-date theoretical, analytical, and political understandings of race within linguistics not only weakens research by erasing, marginalizing, and misrepresenting racially minoritized groups, but it also diminishes the impact of the entire field by devaluing and excluding the intellectual contributions of researchers of color, whose work on this topic is rarely welcome within linguistics departments. The article therefore argues for a rethinking of both linguistic scholarship and linguistics as a discipline in more racially inclusive and socially just terms. 

Instructions for submission of responses
We are inviting commentaries up to 6,000 words in length (including references) in response to this target article. Commentaries should represent thoughtful perspectives that engage an issue raised by the article. Broadly negative responses are not encouraged. A discussion deepening our understanding of an issue should dominate the presentation. Commentaries are selected on the basis of whether they collectively represent an informative diversity of perspectives. Final selection of commentaries to be published with the article is at the discretion of the Editor.

Commentaries should be submitted through Language's online portal at this link. Please select "Perspectives (online only)" as the section of your submission, and mark the submission clearly as a response to the Charity Hudley, Mallinson & Bucholtz target article in the "Comments for the Editor" box available in the submission portal. The deadline for submission of responses is December 31, 2019. You can direct any questions you have about this to the Editor.