Colloquium: Flagg Miller
Lessons on Language Ideology from Osama Bin Laden's Audiotape Collection
| What | Colloquium |
|---|---|
| When |
2009-04-29 03:30 PM
2009-04-29 05:00 PM
April 29, 2009 from 03:30 pm to 05:00 pm |
| Where | 53A Olson Hall |
| Contact Name | Beatriz Wilgohs |
| Contact Email | bwillgohs@ucdavis.edu |
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My talk will focus on how Muslim Sunni reformers differ from each other over the Arabic term al-qa`ida, or a "pragmatic base." Material will be drawn from an audiocassette collection formerly owned by Osama Bin Laden. Divergent approaches to the qa`ida suggest that the term functions a base for many forms of spatial, temporal, social, and ethical orientation. Much of the critical leverage of the concept stems from speakers' sense of Arabic as a template of ethical attunement that cues language users to founding Muslim lifeways and leaders in and beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Through an overview of Western Arabic sociolinguistics, and studies of diglossia in particular, I will explore how scholarship has hampered and also enhanced our understanding of the pragmatic resourcefulness of Arabic. Special attention will be given to the ways Arabic can be approached as a culturally situated signifying practice that accommodates diverse textual, historical, and territorial claims.
Flagg Miller is an assistant professor in the Religious Studies program. Trained as a linguistic anthropologist, he has lived in and studied the Middle East for over twenty years. He is currently writing a book on a collection of audiotapes formerly owned by Osama Bin Laden. His first book on political poetry, resurgent tribalism, and audiotapes in Yemen was published in 2007 by the Center for Middle East Studies at Harvard University. Other publications include the preface for Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak (The University of Iowa Press, 2007), and “Al-Qa`ida as a “Pragmatic Base”: Contributions of Area Studies to Sociolinguistics,” The Journal of Language and Communication, 28(4): 386-408 (2008). More information, including publications, can be found on his website.
New Linguistics Club