International Gender & Language Association Group Travel to Japan

Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI

Investigators

Abstract

This grant subsidizes international travel costs for approximately fifteen US scholars to attend the sixth biennial conference of the International Gender and Language Association (IGALA6), September 2010 at the Tsuda College-Kodaira Campus, Tokyo, Japan. These NSF travel grants primarily target US graduate students of historically under-represented groups, but may also include other students, postdoctoral scholars, or untenured faculty. IGALA is the premier international forum for researchers who study gender and language; its goal is to internationalize the scope of language and gender research. This meeting, the first in Asia, addresses a concern that language and gender research draws its generalizations too heavily from white, middle-class American and western European linguistic and social interactions and assumptions. IGALA6 offers the setting of Japan with its particularly rich history of the formal study of "women's language." Highlighted areas include language and gender in the Asia-Pacific, negotiating multicultural/multilingual places/spaces, responding to change(s) in language education, and gender, language and international development. NSF support enables the conference attendance of Americans, particularly from traditionally under-represented groups, who might not otherwise be able to participate. This brings diverse American experience and perspectives to the attention of the international community. It also enriches the outlook of American-based students and scholars who may have had little or no direct contact with language scholars and situations in other parts of the world, thus expanding their insight into the diversity of ways language connects with gender and sexual identity. Past conferences have drawn foremost scholars from around the world to share their data and theories on language's role in revealing and constructing human gendered/sexual identities, ideologies, and interactions across a wide range of cultural settings. Numerous publications from past conferences include widely cited articles in top refereed journals, edited collections, and proceedings volumes.