The fifth Kari Sajavaara memorial lecture – Professor David Block

Professor David Block (University of Lleida, Spain) will give the fifth Kari Sajavaara memorial lecture on

Class in and for itself in neoliberal times: Advancing and developing a research agenda for sociolinguistics

The lecture will take place on Friday, January 16, 2015 at 12 PM at the University of Jyväskylä, Hall S212 in the Seminarium building.

David Block is ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats) Research Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Lleida (Spain). He is Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK) and holds two honorary posts:  Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck College, University of London and Visiting Professor, Institute of Education, University College London. Over the past 25 years, he has published articles and chapters on a variety of topics, including globalization, migration, multiculturalism, multilingualism, identity, narrative research and second language teaching and learning. He is currently interested in the impact of political, economic, sociological, anthropological and geographical phenomena on multimodal practices of all kinds (including social movements, multiculturalism, bi/multilingualism and the acquisition and use of languages). In his most recent work he has focussed specifically on neoliberalism as the dominant ideology in contemporary societies and social class as a key dimension of identity. See a detailed list of his latest publications here.

The abstract of Professor Block’s lecture will be available on the Kieliverkosto site.

In the occasion, the Professor Kari Sajavaara Fund will give away an award for a scientifically meritorious and socially significant doctoral thesis and an award for work done in the field.

Professor Kari Sajavaara (1938‒2006) was a versatile and active researcher and actor in applied language studies and language education policies. After a long career at the Department of English, University of Jyväskylä, he became professor and director at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, from where he retired in 2003. In addition to an internationally and nationally renowned research career, Sajavaara was also an active international networker and the co-founder of the European Language Council. Kari Sajavaara was Vice-Rector of the University of Jyväskylä in 1982‒1991 and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities in 1996‒2002.

The lecture is organized by the Finnish Network for Language Education Policies and the Centre for Applied Language Studies.

Coffee/tea will be served. Welcome!

For the coffee service, please notify us of your attendance by 11.1.2015 by email to kieliverkosto@jyu.fi.

Further information:

Teija Kangasvieri
Research coordinator
Network for Language Education Policies
teija.kangasvieri@jyu.fi
+358 40 8053 017