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Transidioma and Asylum: G umperz's Legacy in Intercultural Institutional Talk
Author(s) -
Jacquemet Marco
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of linguistic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.463
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1548-1395
pISSN - 1055-1360
DOI - 10.1111/jola.12027
Subject(s) - refugee , adjudication , ethnography , intercultural communication , political science , sociology , criminology , law , communication , anthropology
Using ethnographic evidence from asylum hearings in various E uropean countries, this article discusses J ohn G umperz's legacy in the study of late‐modern communication. Asylum hearings to determine refugee status are one of the most complex adjudication procedures currently performed by W estern nation‐states. Every year thousands of displaced people seek the protection of various E uropean states by filing asylum claims, which are examined by national commissions. This article explores how G umperz's focus on code‐switching and crosstalk in multilingual communities has prepared the ground for the study of the transidioma, that is, the ensemble of asymmetrical technopolitical discourse strategies deployed over a multilingual, mixed‐media interactional field—such as is found in asylum hearings.