Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Applied Linguistics
First Advisor
Kimberley Brown
Term of Graduation
Spring 2025
Date of Publication
2-4-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.) in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Department
Applied Linguistics
Language
English
Subjects
Danube Swabians, ethnography, identity loss, language loss, Serbia, war trauma
Physical Description
1 online resource (xxiv, 90 pages)
Abstract
Through ethnography and personal narrative, I explore the language and identity loss of one person, my father, in order to understand the complex issues surrounding the effects of symbolic and structural violence on language and identity development. Through personal narrative, fieldwork, and interviews, I tell the story of one person, born in wartime during Nazi occupied Serbia, and follow the guiding questions: how does language get lost and what are the effects? Drawing on methodology set forth by empirical ethnographical work as well as more recent theory around epigenetics and trauma, my research synthesizes into focus three pillars of understanding in order to follow the personal narrative of one person in context: the nationalistic beliefs and language policies of the era, beliefs surrounding multilingualism and identity, and heuristics and epistemologies during the era. Results briefly consider theories around 'borderland identities' of the Global East and translanguaging. Conclusions advocate for the need for more personal stories in research in order to develop a picture of the complex frames around language and identity loss.
Rights
© 2025 Ariel Caroline Wilsey-Gopp
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43270
Recommended Citation
Wilsey-Gopp, Ariel Caroline, "Displaced: An Ethnography of Language and Identity Loss" (2025). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6806.
