International Colloquium: Monolingualism or Multilingualism in the Production and Dissemination of Science: Dynamics and Challenges

Tuesday, 14 – Wednesday, 15 November 2017

The International Colloquium “Monolingualism or Multilingualism in the Production and Dissemination of Science: Dynamics and Challenges” calls for engagement in the debate through presentations. We invite you to participate!

Download the Call for Papers, or read on!
Call for Papers – Monolingualism or Multilingualism

“In modern Western culture, it is no longer a discourse that plays this role, but rather a transport,
in other words, a practice: writing. The origin is no longer what is narrated, but rather
the multiform and murmuring activity of producing a text and producing society as a text.
“Progress” is scriptural in type.”

Michel de Certeau

Language and the Dissemination of Science

The development of links to incentivize international scientific cooperation is a
common practice today in higher education and research. The role of language is important
in this context, where about one fourth of scientific production is carried out with
international collaboration. Language has a role in allowing for or facilitating the
communicative process among researchers and between researchers and the society that
contributes to science through public financing. While 86.5% of research needs are
financed by industry itself in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), state assistance to businesses conducting research is increasing.
On the other hand, 35% of public research in the world takes place in non-OECD countries,
where 40% of researchers are concentrated.

The colloquium is intended for researchers and those responsible for the production and
dissemination of scientific books and publications. Topics addressed will include the
sustainable economics of international scientific collaboration, the strategic roles of
scientific journals and university publications in local and world markets, the quality of
scientific expression in non-native languages, and the comparative effects of
monolingualism and multilingualism in the medium and short term.

The general objectives of the colloquium are:

– To debate the role of language, particularly the language of science
– To analyze language, culture, and the diversity of thought
– To examine science, the transmission of scientific knowledge, and development
– To promote on line networking using different languages

The Colloquium proposes to organize the discussion into the following thematic focuses,
which may be reformulated depending on the nature of the proposals received:

Focus 1: The languages of science
The work of editing, publishing, and disseminating scientific knowledge is arduous.
Different constituencies recommend using just one language in order to receive higher
evaluations from the many academic information systems that are used. But if our goal is to
make newly-produced knowledge available for debate in different contexts, and keeping in
mind that science seeks to improve the lives of human beings, it is necessary to consider the
diversity of languages.

1. Monolingualism or plurilingualism in the filed of science and higher education;
– The field of science and higher education: production, circulation, and knowledge
creation;
– Field models related to languages: monolingual and plurilingual proposals and
experiences.

Focus 2: Language, culture, and the diversity of thought
One conception of culture is as a form of language that allows us to observe and analyze
the different forms of comprehension that allow human beings to understand their
surroundings, and how these ways of understanding relate to each other (Clifford Geertz,
1983, in Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, New York, Basic Books).
The global organization of a culture is then constituted in a group of interpretative schemes
that allow, in this specific context, to produce and perceive the social meanings of
behaviour of a given group, and of the “objects” of the world, categorized and built by
language and culture (Claude Clanet, 1990, Introduction aux approches interculturelles en
éducation et en sciences humaines, Toulouse, Presses Universitaires du Mirail). Different
languages enrich the processes, the meanings, the symbolism, and the actions of each social
group, and science is not extraneous to cultural processes. Thus, our challenge is to
stimulate a productive dialogue for scientific progress and development from the Tower of
Babel, preserving diversity.

2. Diversity of languages, scientific speeches and cultural models in science and higher
education
– Higher education and college globalization: the language role;
– Globalization of investigation models and publishing from the Anglo-Saxon space
opposite to local Latin American models;
– The role of knowledge, epistemology and indigenous languages in the science and
higher education.

Focus 3: Language: science, transmission, translation and development
The dissemination of scientific knowledge is a continuous challenge. The communication
of high quality information to potential readers, those interested in widening their
knowledge through reliable sources of information such as academic publishers, is even
more complex when one or another language must be chosen in which to do so. Publishing
all such content in one language increases visibility and reputation while doing so in several
languages may bring about dialogue, diversity, and inclusion.

3. Writing and publishing in different languages: challenges and solutions
– Higher education and college globalization: the role of the languages;
– Demands and requisites of English as a foreign language in research and
international relations;
– Barriers and difficulties to publish in English and other foreign languages from
science and higher education in Latin America;
– Evaluation: selection systems, prioritization and exclusion of scientific publishing
and its relation with the use of a certain language.

Requirements for the presentations

1. Proposals should be written in Spanish, French, Portuguese, or English. They
should have tentative titles and be accompanied by abstracts of 550-650 words
(4,000-5,000 characters). No more than one proposal will be accepted from any
author.

2. The proposal should indicate in which thematic focus the author wishes to
participate, with a brief explanation of why. A summary of the presenter’s resume
should be included, not to exceed 150 words, and indicating his or her principal
academic positions as well as current academic affiliation.

3. The deadline for receiving proposals will be Tuesday, September 5, 2017.

4. Proposals will be examined by the Scientific Committee, made up of specialists
from different institutions and countries, which will select presentations for the
Colloquium based on criteria of quality and thematic relevance.

5. The Committee will announce its decisions no later than September 20, 2017. Its
decisions will be final and not subject to appeal.

Send proposals to the following address:

Email: [email protected]
Editorial Universidad del Rosario,
Carrera 7ª No. 12 B 41, oficina 501
Tel. (57 1) 297-0200 ext. 3110
Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia, June 2017.