[Edling] Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (1940-2023)

Wed May 31 21:22:25 UTC 2023

Dear Colleagues,

I was so sad to learn about the passing of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas.  What a lovely tribute you gave her Francis and she merited all of those beautiful words.

I had the privilege of meeting her several times.  The first was when I was the President of NABE and she traveled to the US to be a keynote speaker.  I was in charge of picking her up from the hotel and taking her to the conference.  I had read a lot of her work and was absolutely star struck by her and intimidated that I would say something stupid.  She immediately put me at ease, and took a sincere interest in my research interests.  As Francis said, she was a consummate role model and a scholar-advocate extraordinaire.

Her voice will be greatly missed, but I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to know and learn from her.

¡Qué en paz descanse!

Kathy Escamilla

Kathy Escamilla (Ella/she/her)
Professor Emeritus
Equity, Bilingualism, & Biliteracy
BUENO Center for Multicultural Education
Kathy.escamilla at colorado.edu<mailto:Kathy.escamilla at colorado.edu>
303-475-7709
University of Colorado, Boulder

[1480632286580_CU]

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From: Edling <edling-bounces at lists.mail.umbc.edu> on behalf of Francis M. Hult via Edling <edling at lists.mail.umbc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 12:59 PM
To: Educational Linguistics List <edling at lists.mail.umbc.edu>
Cc: Francis M. Hult <fmhult at umbc.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (1940-2023)
Dear friends and colleagues,

It is with sadness that I report the passing of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas.  She died on Monday while enjoying the nature around the summer cottage that she shared with her husband, Robert Phillipson.  With her death we lose another luminary in our field.  Tove was a prolific author and tireless champion of linguistic rights.  She changed the global conversation on rights to language and linguistic equity, with influence on international, national, regional, and local scales in both politics/policy and scholarship.

For many of us, she was the consummate role model of a scholar-advocate.  Never shy about her convictions or in speaking truth to power, she was deeply caring, kind, and compassionate.  Her knowledge of the linguistic situations of the world and the nuances of international legal instruments and national language policies as well as the scope of research in our field, both historical and contemporary, was encyclopedic.  Her "big book" (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000<https://www.routledge.com/Linguistic-Genocide-in-Education--or-Worldwide-Diversity-and-Human-Rights/Skutnabb-Kangas/p/book/9780805834680>) was a tour de force that remains unmatched in scope and depth.

I am deeply grateful to be among those who can call her a friend and mentor.  She served on my dissertation committee and was a career-long guide and supporter.  The memory that emerges most clearly for me in this moment of sadness is the happy occasion when I first met Tove (and Robert, too).  Summer 2002.  At the end of my first year of doctoral study, I was about to embark on pilot work in Sweden to lay the groundwork for my dissertation.  Nancy Hornberger, my advisor, introduced me to Tove by e-mail.  She lived in Denmark, not too far from southern Sweden where I was going to be, with her husband Robert Phillipson, Nancy told me.  Wow!  I knew their work, of course, but visiting them would be something truly special.

Tove and Robert invited me to join a group of their students for a day on their farm.  We students found each other at Copenhagen Central station and took a train together to the Danish countryside.  They were all so welcoming, and it immediately felt like being with old friends.  Robert picked us up, and we drove to the fish market.  We were going to be smoking our own fish for dinner.  When we later arrived at the farm, Tove rushed outside to greet us each with a big hug.  "Welcome!"  I felt like I was visiting my grandmother even though we had only met for the first time.

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It was a delightful day.  Tove gave us a tour of their garden and took us for a long nature walk, pointing out various wild edible plants to us.  We returned to a pile of wood to be shaved by hand with knives in preparation for the smoking.  Vegetables for dinner came directly from the garden.  The day was a wonderful combination of enjoying nature and stimulating intellectual conversation while walking, working, and eating.  Ecology was not just a metaphorical perspective on linguistic diversity but something they lived everyday.

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The day stands out to me for many reasons.  Above all, as a young researcher, it was my first experience with the notion that we can be more than colleagues but friends with those in our field.  I remember feeling embraced so warmly and so quickly.  It was an instant bond, and I have felt the personal care and investment that Tove (and Robert still) has given me since that day.  I already miss her; her legacy continues in all whom she inspired.

Rest in peace, dear friend,
Francis

--
Francis M. Hult, PhD, FRGS | Professor
Department of Education
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

Editor, Educational Linguistics Book Series<https://www.springer.com/series/5894>
Co-Editor, Contributions to the Sociology of Language Book Series<https://www.degruyter.com/view/serial/16644>

Web Profile<https://education.umbc.edu/faculty-list/francis-m-hult/> | Academia.edu<http://umbc.academia.edu/FrancisMHult> | Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2x7pOMwAAAAJ&h> | TESOL at UMBC<http://tesol.umbc.edu/>

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