Uncovering Spanish Harlem: Ethnographic Linguistic Landscape Projects in an Advanced Content-Based Spanish Course

Abstract

AbstractLinguistic and cultural diversity are hallmarks of postmodern globalized societies. In New York city, for example, the massive influx of immigrants from the Caribbean, especially Puerto Ricans after 1917, altered the linguistic and cultural landscape of an urban center already known for its large concentration of foreign settlers. This chapter reports on a case study of an advanced Spanish course application of the linguistic landscape (LL) as a site for learning. Drawing on a literacy-oriented approach to Foreign Language (FL) education as a framework for integrating LL into an advanced foreign language curriculum, It focuses on the critical role L2 students’ agency plays in making sense of LL as ‘lived spaces’ (e.g., Malinowski) in New York’s El Barrio (Spanish Harlem). Specifically, the chapter demonstrates students’ use of ethnographic tools for interpreting meanings and functions of multimodal cityscapes as situated signs-in-space, in order to understand the social, cultural and political complexity of these immigrant communities in the city. After describing the course design, the chapter provides concrete examples of students’ ethnographic linguistic landscapes projects, followed by a discussion on the importance of implementing LL as a way to contextualize advanced language and literacy practices.