La journée d’études Langues locales et (éco)développement (LoLaDev) propose de s’intéresser aux pratiques langagières et à la circulation des savoirs dans les contextes de développement et d’écodéveloppement dans les relations Sud-Nord et Nord-Sud. Plutôt que d’alimenter la discussion concernant les langues internationales, notamment celles prenant l’anglais comme point central des politiques linguistiques des projets de développement, cette journée a pour objectif principal de proposer une réflexion sur les pratiques langagières des acteurs et actrices sociaux issus des contextes dans lesquels ces projets sont implantés. 

8th and/or 9th September 2025 - Paris, France

Argument

The LoLaDev workshop takes the opposite side of studies focused on international dominant languages in development work, mainly drawn to English as the focus of language policies (Garrido 2024), and welcomes contributions focusing on how local languages can be used to challenge hegemonic language practices in humanitarian and (eco)development contexts, or, in some cases, reinforce hierarchies and silence the local communities. 

In this sense, the colloquium looks at contexts in which members of (eco)development projects are engaged in including local languages. While the potentialities of doing (eco)development multilingually, in line with recent calls to pluralistic approaches to sustainability and biodiversity research (Droz et al 2023), can appear as fostering social justice, the involvement of some social actors towards the use of local languages can also produce new forms of silencing. This workshop therefore intends to address these complexities. 

The LoLaDev workshop will address the complexities of including local/indigenous knowledge in contexts of (eco)development. Traditionally, researchers in environmental and sustainability sciences have not been interested in the role of languages, although in recent years they have developed an interest in the role of social and cultural dimensions in the construction of sustainability as a contemporary social order (Holz 2018). Similarly, sociolinguistics has not addressed the socio-ecological issues related to sustainability and the environment and the role of languages in the construction of the idea of sustainable development.

This workshop aims to open an inter/transdisciplinary dialog in order to contribute to critical research on multilingualism (Heugh et al. 2021, Deumert & Makoni 2023) and critical research on development (Sondarjee 2020, Murrey & Daley 2023) through the geopolitics of knowledge (Mignolo 2008), in both the South and the North. It aims to bring together research from different fields in the humanities and social sciences, and recognizes that language and development practices are as much an anthropological, economic, geographical, linguistic, political, psychological and ecological object of research as they are a social one.

The LoLaDev workshop will be held over one or two days depending on submissions. The workshop will be divided in three main themes:

1. Language and the geopolitics of knowledge

2. Language and sustainability sciences

3. Language and ecotourism

Guest lectures will be given by Ibon Tobes, Professor of Socio-ecology (Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Ecuador) and Maïka Sondarjee, Associate Professor of International Development and Global Studies (University of Ottawa, Canada). 

Submission guidelines

Abstracts (in English, French or Spanish) should be 300-500 words long and should be followed by a short bibliography and biography. A preliminary list of participants for panels and roundtables is required.

Deadline for submissions is June 1st, 2025.

Presentations can be in English, French or Spanish, but the power point must be in English. 

In keeping with the scientific interests of the Fédération Sciences Sociales Sud (F3S), research in humanities and social sciences focusing on the circulation of knowledge in South/North-North/South-South/South relations will be given priority. However, all types of research about language and knowledge in (eco)development contexts will be evaluated. 

In order to promote open science and the principles of transdisciplinarity, abstract proposals are open to all social actors of  the research and development sectors. 

Abstracts should be sent to Hermelind Le Doeuff (hermelind.le-doeuff@u-pec.fr), Santiago Sanchez Moreano (santiago.sanchez-moreano@ird.fr) and Stéphanie Brunot (stephanie.brunot@ird.fr).  

Scientific Committee

• Hermelind Le Doeuff (SeDyL UMR 8202, CNRS-IRD-INALCO & EUR FRAPP, Université Paris-Est Créteil)
• Santiago Moreano Sanchez (CEFE UMR 5175, IRD)
• Stéphanie Brunot (CEPED UMR 196, Université Paris Cité-IRD)