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News and Events

New Languages at War Network

The Languages at War (LAW) Network aims at developing a network of researchers and practitioners who are interested in the role of languages in war, conflict and peace building. The Network has sprung from an international conference held at the Imperial War Museum, London, under the auspices of the AHRC sponsored Languages at War project.

The LAW Network welcomes scholars from any discipline, engaging in work on the place of languages in war, conflict and peace building, as well as interpreters, translators, journalists, and NGO and Military personnel who have an interest in languages in these situations.

The Network has been set up using the social media site 'Facebook', on the site you will find details of some of the projects across the world which are investigating the role of languages in war, and information about activities and forthcoming events. You can become a member of this growing Network, by following this link; Languages at War Network

International Conference

The 'Languages at War' Research team is happy to announce the project's international conference:

Languages at War: policies and practices of language contacts in conflict

7th - 9th April 2011

Imperial War Museum

Lambeth Road

London, SE1 6HZ

For more information, please go to Conference 2011.

For public output of the 'Languages at War' project, please go to Publications and/or Workshops.

Below in this page you will be able to find a list of conferences, workshops and seminars where we presented or are planning to present our papers.

Second World War Case Study

Prof. Hilary Footitt

17th-18th June 2009, Culture in conflict symposium, Defence Academy, Cranfield University, Shrivenham - The role of foreign languages in conflict situations: some lessons from history?

14th September 2009, Leeds University FRAME conference: 'The Liberal Way of War? French representations of the Allies, 1944-2009'.

21st October 2009, Glasgow University School of Modern Languages and Cultures Research Seminar: 'Languages in the context of war'.

27th November 2009, Reading University Cold War Workshop: 'Frameworks of

Second Workshop Poster

perception:meeting Americans in France'

.

8th December 2009, University of Southampton History research seminar: 'Languages at war: language policies and experiences in the liberation/occupation of Western Europe, 1944-47'.

1st March 2010, University of Manchester Translation Research Seminar: 'Fraternizing or not fraternizing with the enemy?'.

17th March 2010, Aston University School of Languages and Social Sciences research seminar:
'Languages at War: fraternization/non-fraternization'.

13th-16th April 2010, ESSHC conference Ghent: Panel on 'Conflict, time and language in oral histories from Western Europe and Bosnia-Herzegovina'.

8th May 2010, French Institute anniversary conference: 'France at war: interpreting France to the British, 1940-44'.

1st - 4th September 2010, Sociolinguistic Symposium, University of Southampton - Negotiating transnational space and multilingual encounters, Panel: Languages at War. Languages policies and practices in conflict situations.

March 2011, 'Travelling Languages' Workshop, University of Liverpool.

29th April-2nd May 2011, Research Models in Translation Studies II Conference, University of Manchester, Challenging the History: interpreters and translators in the archives and museums of war.

Dr. Simona Tobia

29th May 2009, Imperial War Museum, London, Project Workshop - Languages at war: policies and practice of language contacts in conflicts - The role of interpreters, translators and linguists in conflict, two case studies: 'Interpreting judgment: linguists in British war crimes trials in Germany'.

17th-18th June 2009, Culture in conflict symposium, Defence Academy, Cranfield University, Shrivenham - The role of foreign languages in conflict situations: some lessons from history?

7th-10th July 2009, Monash University, Melbourne, IATIS Conference - Translation and Conflict Dissolution> Unmasking Complexities, Voicing Perplexities: 'Questioning the enemy: interpreters/interrogators in British war crimes investigations and trials, 1945-1946'.

18th November 2009, University of Salford, Translation and Interpreting Studies Seminar: 'Jewish refugees as linguists? British war crimes investigations and trials in Germany, 1945-1948'.

27th November 2009, University of Reading, Cold War Workshop: 'Advertising America: VOA in Italy'.

8th December 2009, University of Southampton History research seminar: 'Languages at war: language policies and experiences in the liberation/occupation of Western Europe, 1944-47'.

31st March 2010, Imperial War Museum London History Group Seminars, 'Interpreters/translators between war and occupation, 1944-1947'.

13th-16th April 2010, ESSHC conference Ghent: Panel on 'Conflict, time and language in oral histories from Western Europe and Bosnia-Herzegovina'.

27th April 2010, Institute of Historical Research London, History Seminar: 'Advertising America: the United States Information Service in Italy, 1945-1956'.

28th June -1st July 2010, University of Sussex, IABA Conference - Life Writing and Intimate Publics: 'Interrogations: intimate intercultural encounters in and after the war, 1944-1947'.

7th - 11th July 2010 XVI International Oral History Conference, Between past and future: oral history, memory and meaning. Panel: Two case studies of languages at (and after) war: the Second World War and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1st - 4th September 2010, Sociolinguistic Symposium, University of Southampton - Negotiating transnational space and multilingual encounters, Panel: Languages at War. Languages policies and practices in conflict situations.

29th April-2nd May 2011, Research Models in Translation Studies II Conference, University of Manchester, Resurfacing Languages in War: archives, testimony and oral history.

Mr. Greg Tinker

13th-16th April 2010, ESSHC conference Ghent: Commemoration of the Normandy landings, politics, pilgrimage and 'progress'.

Bosnia Case Study

Prof. Mike Kelly

1st - 4th September 2010, Sociolinguistic Symposium, University of Southampton - Negotiating transnational space and multilingual encounters, Panel: Languages at War. Languages policies and practices in conflict situations.

Dr. Catherine Baker

20-22 January 2011, Remaking Borders: First EastBordNet Conference, Catania, Sympathy without policy: power, informality and language in the multi-national force in Bosnia Herzegovina.

29th May 2009, Imperial War Museum, London, Project Workshop - Languages at war: policies and practice of language contacts in conflicts - The role of interpreters, translators and linguists in conflict, two case studies: The care and feeding of linguists: the working environment of interpreters, translators and linguists during peacekeeping in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

24 June 2009, Imperial War Museum History Group seminar - The care and feeding of linguists: the working environment of interpreters, translators and linguists during peacekeeping in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

4th September 2009, Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, University of Porthsmouth: 'Second among equals?: the status of French during peacekeeping operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1995-2000)'.

21st October 2009, Centre for Transnational Studies seminar, University of Southampton, 'Languages at war in Bosnia-Herzegovina: interpretation and translation for the UN and NATO multinational forces 1992-2000'.

7th November 2009, 9th Portsmouth Translation Conference - The Translator as Writer, University of Portsmouth, Panel on Languages at War: 'We don't understand this letter': 'multilingual' document production and the international military force in Bosnia-Herzegovina'.

10th November 2009, Centre for Life History and Life Writing seminar, University of Sussex, 'The inter-cultural encounters of peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina'.

27th November, Centre for South East European Studies seminar, UCL SSEES, 'Oral histories of the multinational force and its interpreters in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina'.

19th-20th February 2010, SOAS, Plurilingual and Pluricultural Education: Focus on 'Languages of the Wider World': 'Turbo Serbo': plurilingualism and military language instruction for peacekeeping missions to Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

13th-16th April 2010, ESSHC conference Ghent: Panel on 'Conflict, time and language in oral histories from Western Europe and Bosnia-Herzegovina', Peacekeepers' narratives of language encounters in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

28th June-1st July 2010, University of Sussex, IABA Conference - Life Writing and Intimate Publics: 'Don't worry about your shoes, this isn't Bosnia': remembering and reproducing intimacy in narratives of international peacekeeping.

7th - 11th July 2010 XVI International Oral History Conference, Between past and future: oral history, memory and meaning. Panel: Two case studies of languages at (and after) war: the Second World War and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1st - 4th September 2010, Sociolinguistic Symposium, University of Southampton - Negotiating transnational space and multilingual encounters, Panel: Languages at War. Languages policies and practices in conflict situations.

29th April-2nd May 2011, Research Models in Translation Studies II Conference, University of Manchester, Interviewing the protagonists: new evidence from oral history interviews with interpreters and their users.

Mrs. Louise Askew

27-30 June 2010, Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies conference, "Ethno-Politics in a Globalised World": Three official languages in post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina: international language policy in the peace-building process.