Spaces of conscientization as a bridge between inequality and contestation

Abstract

Abstract The EquiLing project aims at contributing to sociolinguistic justice by understanding language-mediated social inequalities and facilitating the conditions through which to challenge and transform these situations. In order to do so and following a Freirean approach and a Participatory Action Research methodology, we created conscientization spaces in two university sites in Bilbao and Madrid. In these conscientization spaces, researchers and students (or co-participants, as we term them here) engaged collaboratively in group dynamics to develop critical sociolinguistic awareness and foster transformative actions to challenge the sociolinguistic inequalities within each context. Students, when sharing these experiences, often evoked the external spaces they transit through in their daily lives, in which they faced situations that show lack of recognition, unequal distribution of resources and/or participation. Space appeared as a key element in the articulation of their narratives and experiences due to it usually being configured and constructed through hegemonic (in our case, sociolinguistic) ideologies and practices, which can leave speakers falling outside this normativity in situations of sociolinguistic injustice. In reaction to this, in our conscientization spaces, we (researchers and co-participants) have challenged these dynamics interactionally in joint reflection and practice by cultivating a safer space. In this sense, we have tried to foster counter-hegemonic practices in our spaces, facilitating in some cases a bridge to other spaces. This has shown that space is a central element in the configuration of a sociolinguistic order and that it is dynamic, socially constructed, and in continuous transformation, which also creates possibilities for resistance.

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