Abstract

In this volume, authors from four disciplines join forces to develop an analysis of political discourse on a comparative and multidisciplinary basis. Language policy is often based on the political use of history, where the remembrance of past experiences by communities, individuals and historical bodies play a fundamental role. These authors see politics and policies as multi-sited by nature, taking place, being constructed, contested and reproduced simultaneously and in different times and places. Theoretically the book draws on the concept of language policy, operationalising it through the rhizomatic nature of politics and policies. Although confined empirically to considerations of situations in Finland and Sweden, the volume extends far beyond these locations in its theoretical contributions. The polities of Finland and Sweden are the lens through which a new and much needed understanding of language policy research, and policy research in general, is posited.

The book promotes interdisciplinary and constructivist approach in research. Some of the comments by the authors on links between academic subjects are startlingly true: history and linguistics are close for the simple fact that research in history is mainly based on written documents. For someone who is a linguist, the book contains a great deal of complex theorising, and argumentation for a new approach to language policy research, probably designed to break intra- or interdisciplinary barriers.

Mia Halonen is a senior researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests include language ideologies and policy, sociophonetics, performances, micro analytic and mixed methods, social media and popular culture.

Pasi Ihalainen is a professor of Comparative European History at the Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research interests include comparative history, national identity, parliamentary discourse, and multi-sited constitutional debates.

Taina Saarinen is a senior researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests include language policy, methodology, and higher education internationalisation.

Instead of merely calling for more language policy research of an ethnographic
nature, this volume takes a step in this rather recent direction. With these well elaborated examples of ethnographically-oriented language policy research and the focus on multi-sitedness that respects the interconnectedness of policy discourses,
the book comes some way closer to a multidimensional and holistic view of
language policy.

This methodologically innovative volume carefully exposes the construal nature of ‘language’ vis-à-vis ‘national language’, ‘minority language’ or ‘home language’. It broadens our understanding of the interconnectedness of local practices and larger policies, and shows how macro level language policies are remodelled, experienced, and acted upon in individual life experiences.

This excellent book provides a state of the art account of language issues in Sweden and Finland, presented in an interesting theoretical frame. The authors’ view that language policy is multi-sited and in constant dialogic development results in a cohesive volume which reveals both the origins and the current complexities of Northern language policy and practice.

Thanks to multiple perspectives, the present volume offers valuable insight into how problems caused by different languages have been felt at the grass roots level – among immigrants, in classrooms, during job interviews and in other every-day situations – and how politicians and legislators have sought to solve them. This coherent and well-edited book is definitively worthwhile reading for all who are interested in Scandinavian societal policies or language issues in general.