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

Wed May 31 18:57:53 UTC 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.

[image: Smoking Fish.jpg]
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.

[image: Dinner.jpg]
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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