Location: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

We are happy to announce that we will resume in-person meetings, workshops, and tutorials at the 14th Institute. The Institute will allow us to discuss the effects of the last several years on vulnerable minoritized groups around the world. The pandemic and multiple political crises have left indelible marks on the way people communicate across the globe. Two opposing pressures were felt during the pandemic: on the one hand, person-to-person communication, an important factor in the maintenance of minority languages and cultures, was negatively affected, while older people, usually the most vulnerable in minority populations, were often separated from their families. At the same time, several generations in a single family were compelled to be in the same space for a long time, creating new opportunities for communication in home languages. The horrific wars in Ukraine and Armenia have created waves of refugees whose linguistic, educational, and sociocultural needs their host communities are desperately trying to meet. Our Institute discussions will focus on center around new ways to meet such needs.

As in previous Institutes, we will promote dialogue between educators, language scientists, and experts on a variety of languages, with emphasis on languages and communities affected by current world events.

Sponsor(s): Canadian Studies Program, Center for European and Russian Studies, Center for Korean Studies, Center for Near Eastern Studies, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Center for World Languages, UCLA American Indian Studies Center