Language, Identity and Conflict: A Cultural Perspective from Above and from Below

Dear Colleagues,

As William Wilmot and Joyce Hocker (2010:11) put it in their book Interpersonal Conflict, conflict is “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals.” The main objective of this Special Issue is to scrutinize the concepts of conflict, language, and identity, factors of their relationship formation and transformation across different countries and communities in a diverse context. This Special Issue attempts to connect the analysis of top-down discourses with the analysis of bottom-up reactions to them. Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal and address the topic of this Special Issue. Papers might present the analysis and description of a situation at a macro-level (i.e., the analysis of public and political discourses, including discourses of national authorities, mass-media and expert communities) and/or at a micro-level (life stories of members of various linguistic and/or cultural groups, their linguistic biographies and cultural memory, and personal experiences). The goal of this Special Issue is to create a shared inclusive platform that would help to prevent tensions between the countries and communities caused by linguistic and cultural conflicts, and, thus, to foster social cohesion and sustainable development within societies.

Prof. Dr. Anastassia Zabrodskaja 
Guest Editor

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