Theme

Bounded languages … Unbounded
Περιορισμένες γλώσσες, Απεριόριστες
Politics of identity are central to language change. Here, linguistic boundaries rise and fall, motivating the ephemeral characteristics of language communities. The Mediterranean and European regions are replete with histories, with power struggles, uniquely demarcating nation, ethnicity, and community. For this, cultural and political identities, language ideologies, as well as the languages themselves, have sought boundedness, dynamics of which have indeed sought change over eons, through demographic movements, through geopolitics, through technological innovation. In a current era of technological advancement, transnational fluidity, intellectual power, capitalism, and new sexualities, then, we question, once again, the boundedness of language and identity, and ways in which to unbound languages and ideologies. More than before, we now increasingly pursue anthropological toil, so to innovate ways to locate these ideologies and their fluid boundaries, actively. We now need to increasingly unbind these languages, and their ideologies, so to arrive at progressive realizations, and to rectify, or at least see and move past, the segregations of old.
The COMELA 2020 theme,
Bounded languages … Unbounded
Περιορισμένες γλώσσες, Απεριόριστες
encapsulates the ongoing struggle throughout Mediterranean and European regions. As the continuous tension between demarcation, and the concurrent legitimization, of languages, language ideologies, and language identities, enters an era where new modes of interactivity require language communities to take on roles super-ordinate to the past, flexible citizenship now operates within, and not only across, language communities, to unbind languages, and to create new boundaries, unlike those ever seen throughout history.
The GLOCAL COMELA 2021 invites work which addresses the shifting boundedness of Language Communities of the Mediterranean and Europe. Papers and posters should acknowledge and describe processes of language shape, change, and ideology, pertinent to social, cultural, political histories, and futures of Mediterranean and European regions, and by those working in Mediterranean and European regions.

Speakers

Jan Blommaert (Memorial)
Department of Culture Studies
Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Dimitris Dalakoglou
Social Anthropology Department
Vrije University
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Citation and Publications

Citations
All proceedings will be channeled through SCOPUS/ISI citation indexing. Here, papers submitted to the GLOCAL COMELA 2021 proceedings will be channeled for SCOPUS/ISI ranking and citation.
Publications
All papers submitted to the GLOCAL COMELA 2021 will be considered for review for publication in Top Tier journals and monographs.

Location

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Panepistimiou 30
106 79 Athens
Greece

Chronology

COMELA 2021 First Abstract and poster proposal submission
Opens: October 25, 2020
Closes: March 10, 2021
Notification of acceptance
No later than March 15, 2021
Registration
Presenters will need to have registered for The GLOCAL COMELA by no later than August 1, 2021, to guarantee a place in the program. Registration will remain open after this date, but the conference organizers can not guarantee placement in the conference.
Dates
Day 1: Wednesday July 21, 2021
Day 2: Thursday July 22, 2021
Day 3: Friday July 23, 2021
Day 4: Saturday July 24, 2021 – Full day of optional cultural tour (separate cost)

Strands

Abstract and poster proposals should address one or more of the key strands pertinent to Mediterranean and European regions:
  • Anthropological Linguistics
  • Applied Sociolinguistics
  • Buddhist Studies and Discourses
  • Cognitive Anthropology and Language
  • Critical Linguistic Anthropology
  • Documenting Language
  • Ethnographical Language Work
  • Ethnography of Communication
  • General Sociolinguistics
  • Islamic Studies and Discourses
  • Language, Community, Ethnicity
  • Language Contact and Change
  • Language, Dialect, Sociolect, Genre
  • Language Documentation
  • Language, Gender, Sexuality
  • Language Ideologies
  • Language Minorities and Majorities
  • Language Revitalization
  • Language in Real and Virtual Spaces
  • Language Socialization
  • Language and Spatiotemporal Frames
  • Multifunctionality
  • Narrative and Metanarrative
  • Nonverbal Semiotics
  • Poetics and Performativity
  • Post-Structuralism and Language
  • Semiotics and Semiology
  • Social Psychology of Language
  • Text, Context, Entextualization

Submissions

Presentation lengths
Submitters must plan around the following:

  • Colloquia – 1.5 hours with 3-5 contributors
  • General paper sessions – Approx. 20-25 minutes each, which includes 5 minutes for questions/responses
  • Posters – to be displayed at designated times throughout the COMELA
Abstract Submission Guidelines
Submissions (proposals for papers, posters, colloquia) via website or email:

  • 18-word maximum presentation title
  • 400-word maximum abstract, including references
  • Colloquia: Upload the abstract for the colloquium, in the submissions box. The abstract must contain both the main description of the colloquium, as well as a summarized description of each individual paper to be presented within the colloquium. This information must include the names and affiliations of each author and presenter, the title of each respective session/presentation, as well as any other information believed relevant.
  • For individual papers submitted for review and acceptance into the general sessions, the first author will be the nominated ‘Corresponding Author’, but can also be a ‘Presenting author’ when completing the profile.
  • Each author must also confirm their role: Presenting author, non-presenting author, chair, or discussant.
Evaluation of Proposals
Proposals for individual papers, posters, and colloquia will be evaluated by the COMELA Review Committee, with criteria as follows:

  • Appropriateness and significance of the topic to COMELA themes
  • Originality/significance/impact of the research
  • Clarity/coherence of research concerns, theoretical and analytical framework(s), description of research, data collection, findings/conclusions, rhetoric, and exegesis as a whole
  • For colloquia, importance/significance of the overarching topic and/or framework(s) addressed, and its coherence of and with individual presentations.
  • All abstracts for presentations within the colloquia will not be peer reviewed by the COMELA review committee, but are expected to be at a standard commensurate to the parent colloquium abstract, which will be peer reviewed by the COMELA review committee. Thus, the acceptance of the colloquium, and hence all presentations and discussions within that colloquium, becomes predicated on the success of the review of the main proposal for that colloquium, submitted by the main organizers of the respective colloquium.
  • All abstracts for general sessions, which are selected and placed by the COMELA selection committee, will be double blind reviewed.
Conditions of Submissions
  • A participant may be first author/presenter in a maximum of two presentations, be it individual papers, posters, or papers within colloquia.
  • In addition, a participant may act as chair, discussant, or co-author in one further presentation.
  • Alternatively, participants may act as first author/presenter in one presentation, and chair, discussant, or co-author in a maximum of two other
  • All proposals must present or interpret original work otherwise yet unavailable.
  • The language of the COMELA is English. However, abstracts may be submitted in any language, but together with an English translation.
  • Presenters can present in any language, but must prepare an English translation for the presentation.
  • The COMELA Committee will assign all relevant schedules to accepted individuals and groups.
  • Presenters must register and pay prior to April 1, 2021, to confirm their place at the GLOCAL COMELA 2021, and hence for their presentations to be confirmed in the program.
  • Presenters are required to organize their own travel and accommodation arrangements. The COMELA Organizers have secured accommodation at various locations around the city (see link for accommodation), details of which will be available for booking when registering for the COMELA.

Presentaions

Colloquia
1.5 hours with 3-5 contributors

  • Colloquia provide an opportunity for several presenters within the boundaries of a theme or topic to present together in a supportive environment. Colloquium organizers can tailor time lengths to each presentation, but must allow time to include opening and closing remarks, presentations, and audience interaction.
  • The colloquium chair is responsible for organizing the group and for submitting the colloquium in the Call for Papers platform on behalf of all their contributors.
  • All colloquium submissions must be uploaded to the submission site using the Colloquium Submission Form Template provided.
  • Panel organizers here will be responsible for panel chairs. Time keepers will be provided by the COMELA.
General and non-colloquia session papers
  • Paper presentations will be allocated 25 minutes including 5 minutes for questions and answers.
  • Time keepers will be provided by the COMELA.
Posters
  • Posters will be displayed at designated times throughout the COMELA.
  • Posters are for one-on-one discussion of a symposium-related theme or topic.
  • A block of time will be allocated for presenters to discuss their posters.
  • Posters will be displayed in the designated areas (main halls).
  • Presenters will be assigned a space to display their poster.
  • Posters should be sized A0: 841 x 1189 mm width x height/ 33.1 x 46.8 inches width x height (landscape or portrait).
  • Submissions should contain a summary of key elements for the presentation.
  • Posters can include any relevant visuals or academically descriptive objects, where color is visually optimal.
  • Posters must be clear, concise, and simple, with large fonts, with the title of the project, and author information (name and affiliation).

Fees

Students/Affiliates:
Early Bird: USD 170
Regular Bird: USD 220
Late Bird/On-site: USD 270
Others:
Early Bird: USD 220
Regular Bird: USD 270
Late Bird/On-site: USD 320
Excursion: USD 110
The conference fee includes daily buffet lunch, morning and afternoon break refreshments, and one buffet dinner. The 10th March optional anthropological program is priced separately.