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Through the Linguist’s Lens: Personal Narratives of Engaging with Research
Status: under contract (Cambridge University Press)
Edited with Luis Javier Pentón Herrera
Description: This volume explores the multifaceted dimensions of scholarship in applied linguistics, focusing on the personal narratives of researchers as they navigate the complexities of their work. It delves into the dynamic interplay between positionality and relationality, offering insights into how researchers’ identities, relationships, and contexts influence their engagement with various aspects of the research process. Contributors share reflections on their motivations for pursuing research, the ways in which language shapes scholarly endeavors, and the challenges and opportunities of accessing communities as insiders or outsiders. The volume also examines the nuanced researcher-participant relationships that emerge, emphasizing the ethical considerations and responsibilities inherent in such interactions. A particular emphasis is placed on collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches, showcasing how applied linguistics research often transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. The book also addresses the processes of transforming research into publication, including the role of mentorship and guidance in fostering academic growth. By highlighting these dimensions, the volume provides a comprehensive and reflective examination of the lived realities of engaging with research in applied linguistics.
Chapter contributions: Introduction (written with Luis Javier Pentón Herrera)
Published
Sociolinguistic Approaches to Arabic and Spanish in Contact (John Benjamins, 2025)
Edited with Carol Ann Ready and Sherez Mohamed
Description: This volume brings together empirical research in sociolinguistics that focuses on Arabic and Spanish contact across different geopolitical, sociocultural, and digital spaces. Bridging historical and modern sociolinguistic perspectives, this volume challenges the marginalization of Arabic-Spanish contact as well as Judeo-Spanish in linguistic research, shedding light on the enduring global relevance of the study of these languages and their contexts.
With contributions employing diverse methodologies – quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches – this collection examines topics such as multilingualism, identity, language variation, and language ideologies and attitudes. The volume also features research regarding the contemporary sociolinguistic dynamics of Arabic and Spanish in education, familial, and religious contexts. This volume is essential for scholars of sociolinguistics, historical and contemporary linguistics, language policy and planning, and language education. Finally, the volume offers novel insights that expand the field and inspire new directions in Spanish and Arabic linguistics.
Available through John Benjamins and other major booksellers.
Chapter contributions:
Religion and Language Maintenance in Arabic-Spanish Bilinguals in Puerto Rico (written with Sherez Mohamed and Carol Ready)
Multilingualism and Moroccan Diaspora in Gibraltar
Policy, Media, and the Shaping of Spain-Morocco Relations: Discursive Representations of Migration to Ceuta and Melilla (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)
Description: Morocco and Spain have a political relationship that spans centuries. Historically, much of the contact between these two nations has been through conquest - first through the Umayyad Caliphate taking control of the Iberian Peninsula (then called Hispania) in the 8th century, and then through Spain’s occupation of northern Morocco in the 20th century. While these historical roots have undoubtedly played a role in shaping present-day Morocco-Spain relations, migration has also become another critical element. While Spain has received immigrants from all over the world, the majority of legally authorized migration comes from Morocco. Additionally, Morocco serves as a sojourn for much of the undocumented migration to the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, both of which are enclaves in Morocco and more advantageous entry points for North African and Sub-Saharan African immigrants. As such, migration to Ceuta and Melilla has also become fuel for anti-immigration attitudes that are frequently perpetuated in political and media discourse. This project thus uses critical discourse analysis to explore how media discourse on undocumented migration informs Morocco-Spain political relations. In this book, I aim to connect media discourse to policy discourse and address how these mediums can (1) co-construct anti-immigration and xenophobic ideologies, and (2) shape and be shaped by the somewhat strained relations between Spain and Morocco.
Available through Springer and other major book sellers.
Related blog post:
Media Discourse and the Making of ‘Us vs. Them’
Reviewed in:
Other manuscripts from this project:
Ali, F. (under review). Ceuta, Melilla, and the Co-Construction of Borders and Migrant Identities: Moroccan and Spanish Media Discourse
Ali, F. (2024). Discursive and Photographic Representations of Migrants in the Media: The Case of Ceuta and Melilla. The Journal of North African Studies.
Multilingualism and Gendered Immigrant Identity: Perspectives from Catalonia (Multilingual Matters, 2022)
Description: This book examines the intersectionality of gendered, religious identity among Muslim women in Catalonia, and illustrates how this identity is brokered through language use in a multilingual and diasporic context. Drawing on a mixed methods study of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant women, this book also examines how acculturation is a transgenerational process reflected in linguistic behavior. Through the use of questionnaire and interview data, the author constructs a story about informants' experiences navigating life vis-à-vis language use; specifically through the use of Spanish, Catalan and native/heritage languages. This book offers a unique lens through which we can further our understanding of the role of language in the acculturation process in Catalonia. It adds to the ongoing discussion about language and migration in Catalonia and provides a valuable contribution to debates about immigrant women's language learning and use.
Available through Multilingual Matters and other major book sellers.
Muslim Women and Multilingualism: When Religion and Gender Converge
Why Intersectionality Matters in the Study of Migration, Language and Identity
Blurbs:
This book is a great and engaging work on Muslim immigrant women living in Catalonia. One of the most interesting aspects is the sources used in this research, since it is based on real data from fieldwork. It will be an important milestone for an under-researched area of sociolinguistic studies on women's linguistic attitudes.
Ángeles Vicente, University of Zaragoza, Spain
With tenacity, rigor, and originality, Dr Farah Ali explores the intersectionally complex lives of Muslim immigrant women in Catalonia – lives that are too often ignored or misrepresented. Empirically rich, the volume illuminates how several generations of these women creatively use their multilingual repertoires to carve out spaces for belonging and to fight their own marginalization.
Inmaculada Ma García-Sánchez, UCLA, USA
Reviewed in:
Treballs de Sociolingüística Catalana - Catalan Review - Sociolinguistic Studies - Linguist List
Other publications from this project:
Ali, F. (2023). Constructing Identity through Code Choice and Code-Switching: Evidence from Multilingual Muslim Women in Barcelona. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada, 36(1), 204-233.
Ali, F. (2021). At the Intersection of Language, Gender, and Religion: Self-Reported Linguistic Ideologies and Practices of Muslim Women in Barcelona. Sociolinguistic Studies, 15(2-4), 223-245.
Ali, F. (2020). Multilingualism and Acculturation in Catalonia: An Analysis of Muslim Immigrant Women. Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica, 36, 181-209.
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