Call for Papers: Language on the Border

[Francis M. Hult]

Border Talk:
Language Issues along the U.S.-Mexico Border
A Special Issue of
Río Bravo: A Journal of Borderlands

Current border theory challenges both the traditional notion of borders as
culturally diluted zones and the more recent conceptions of the border as an
?open wound?. This research has shown that the powerful metaphor of
crossing borders must be counterpoised by the equally powerful metaphor of
reinforcing borders. Border identities and subjectivities are fashioned within
what Vila calls a ?complex common sense?; this complex common sense is
constructed and sustained in very direct and fundamental ways by language use
and ideology. Despite the heavy reliance on sociolinguistic perspectives in
contemporary work on the U.S.-Mexico border, however, border theory has been
slow to incorporate the insights gleaned from novel approaches in the language
sciences. Fundamental questions about how the social construction of the border
affects language use and about how language use affects the social construction
of the border have yet to fully grasp the attention of border theorists. In
order to fill this gap, the editors of Río Bravo are proposing a special issue
to elucidate the role of language use and ideology in the construction of
identities and subjectivities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rio Bravo, the premier binational, peer-reviewed journal on borderland studies,
invites contributions for a special issue dedicated to language in the
U.S.-Mexico borderlands. As an interdisciplinary journal, submissions are
welcome from all fields in the humanities and social sciences, including but
not limited to anthropology, linguistics, education, communications, and
sociology. Submissions may be written in either English or Spanish.
Contributions will be accepted until March 1, 2004. The special issue will be
due for publication in the spring of 2005. Please e-mail your submission to
glenmtz at email.arizona.edu in MSWord or RTF format. Articles submitted to Río
Bravo must conform to MLA style.


Glenn Martínez, Guest Editor
Río Bravo: A Journal of Borderlands
520-626-0784
glenmtz at email.arizona.edu


Río Bravo is published twice a year by the Center for International Studies at
The University of Texas ? Pan American and by la Universidad de Monterrey
through the Journals Division of the University of Texas ? Pan American
Press.