Sato Distinguished Lecture: Fiona Willans on Bislama in Educational Contexts
April 9, 12:00pm - 1:15pm
Mānoa Campus, St. John 11
In this lecture titled "Hem i Broken English nomo:
Interrupting the same old story about pidgins and creoles in school," Dr. Fiona Willans (University of the South Pacific) will discuss the role of Bislama (an English-based expanded pidgin) in educational contexts of Vanuatu. Pidgins and creoles have a long tradition of stigmatisation within formal education, and very little has changed in this regard, despite several decades of sociolinguistic research demonstrating that there is no linguistic justification for keeping these languages out of the classroom. Dr. Willans's presentation uses recent data about Bislama collected at two schools in Vanuatu to demonstrate that attitudes towards this language remain incredibly negative in the domain of formal education, despite its high status outside school, and despite its prominent place in teachers芒鈧劉 and students芒鈧劉 linguistic repertoires. She will suggest that these negative arguments can be countered in a number of ways, but that it is difficult to open up sufficient space to disrupt the status quo without rethinking some of our fundamental assumptions about the nature of language and languages. The presentation will consider whether it is possible to shift our thinking from deficit to difference to repertoire, as a way of validating Bislama as part of a complex teaching and learning repertoire.
Event Sponsor
Charlene J. Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies, Mānoa Campus
More Information
Christina Higgins, (808) 956-8610, cmhiggin@hawaii.edu
Thursday, April 9
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8:00am |
Philippines and Filipino Studies: 40 Years Hence Mānoa Campus, Imin International Conference Center, East-West Center
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12:00pm |
Sato Distinguished Lecture: Fiona Willans on Bislama in Educational Contexts Mānoa Campus, St. John 11
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12:00pm |
Excessive Loyalty: The Hearings of Civilian Internees in Wartime Hawai芒鈧渋 Mānoa Campus, Henke 325
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1:30pm |
Noa Araki, trumpet Mānoa Campus, Orvis Auditorium
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3:00pm |
Behind the Scenes Waikiki Aquarium
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3:00pm |
Oceanography Seminar - Elisha Wood-Charlson Mānoa Campus, Marine Sciences Building, MSB 100
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4:00pm |
Is a History of North Korea without Kim Il Sung Possible? Mānoa Campus, Center for Korean Studies
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5:00pm |
Taste of Manoa Around the World Mānoa Campus, Campus Center Courtyard
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7:30pm |
Bei Xi, piano Mānoa Campus, Orvis Auditorium
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