Mieke Vandenbroucke
Biographic Data
| ID | 732511 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mieke Vandenbroucke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mieke |
| FAMILY NAME | Vandenbroucke |
| SIGNATURE | VANDENBROUCKE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Antwerp |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1337-4349 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Chronicles of change and layered transformation
Using a qualitatively historicized and contextualized approach to componential elements of the semiotic landscape of urban neighborhoods, this article analyzes the changes and transformations discernible over time in the outward appearance of the Chinatown area in Antwerp and Brussels. Building on Massey’s (1984) metaphor of the geological landscape and Lai’s (1988) model of the historical development of Chinatowns, we specifically examine how so…
Born and buried
A growing body of research in language, discourse, and social sciences shows that criminal records, like other institutional documents, are rooted in bureaucratic routines, reflecting the perspectives of record makers rather than objective, all-encompassing facts. During criminal proceedings, various law functionaries collect information to match real-life events with legal definitions—a process known as “institutional categorization.” This paper…
Language mediation as a window into language ideological beliefs
Sham relationship investigations in Flanders (Belgium) are multi-phased institutional procedures comprising (i) a municipal phase at the civil registry office and (ii) a judicial phase at the police office. While language rights are supposedly guaranteed for applicants on the police level, where certified sworn interpreters are provided by the State, in the municipal phase, any type of interpreter, professional or non-professional, may be used. T…
The variable geometry of proof
Participant role shifting in minority language institutional interactions
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of collecting and disseminating publicly relevant health information from and to lay audiences to combat global health crises. In Flanders, Belgium, reaching linguistic minority groups within this context largely depended on government-mandated contact tracing through telephone interactions, which was initially put in place to contain the level of outbreak, but was gradually tasked with relayin…
Multilingualism in performance appraisal interviews
This paper explores three multilingual strategies to bridge the lack of a shared first language as they are used during performance appraisal interviews, namely English as a business lingua franca , receptive multilingualism, and a lay interpreter. The study is based on authentic video-recorded performance appraisal interviews at a globally active Belgian company, and follow-up interviews with the managers. The analysis focuses on how the company…
Covid-19 telephone contact tracing in Flanders as a “contested” new genre of conversation
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, most COVID-19-related information was communicated to the public through mainstream media such as newspaper outlets, television, and radio. These media had substantial influence over which information was (widely) distributed and how this information was framed, subsequently shaping citizens' interpretations of matters concerning the pandemic. This chapter considers one of the government's endeavors to con…
Solidarity and support in Belgian residential linguistic landscapes during the Covid-19 outbreak
This article examines the role played by signs in the public space of two socio-economically stratified residential neighbourhoods of Ghent (Belgium) during the first Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. On the basis of fieldwork, we explore the potential of public signs as a resourceful strategy for communicating solidarity and support and the discursive construction of a community affected by this crisis. We show that in times of lockdown and social dist…
The geosemiotics of ethno-political graffiti in Kosovo
This article examines the nature of graffiti semiotics in the public space of Kosovo's capital Pristina. By adopting a perspective on graffiti as a historically situated and semiotic practice, we identify distinct ethno-political voices, each relying on highly multimodal-linguistic resources to convey their respective political messages to a wider audience. The corpus was gathered during a specific period in Kosovo's history (2013-2014) and as su…
Interactions, agentivités et catégorisations politiques dans les enquêtes sur les mariages mixtes en Belgique
Dans cet article, nous mobilisons un outillage analytique qui rassemble plusieurs sciences sociales du langage afin de porter un regard critique sur les dynamiques sociolinguistiques des entretiens réalisés dans le cadre d’enquêtes sur les migrations par la voie du mariage en Belgique. En nous appuyant sur un travail de terrain ethnographique multi-site, nous explorons les manières dont pratiques langagières et dynamiques politiques et idéologiqu…
Reconstructing over 20 years of language practice, management and ideology at a multinational corporation in Brussels
DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies (Vol. 7, No. 1)
Regular Issue
Legal-discursive constructions of genuine cross-border love in Belgian marriage fraud investigations
In recent years, marriage migration as a form of family reunification has become a growing policy concern for migration governance in European member states and is seen as ‘the last loophole’ in EU migration policy in the face of a supposedly large and increasing number of sham marriages through which the non-European spouse is granted a residency permit. Several European nations have therefore legislated legal-administrative measures to battle m…
Multilingualism, urban change and gentrification in the landscape of a Brussels neighbourhood
This paper focuses on how different historical stages of socio-economic development in Brussels are played out on the ground over time in one particular inner-city neighbourhood, the Quartier Dansaert. In particular, I document the history of this neighbourhood and how urban change and gentrification have impacted the outlook of multilingualism and the development of multilingual discourses and language hierarchies in its material and semiotic la…
Whose French is it anyway? Language ideologies and re-emerging indexicalities of French in Flanders
In this article I address a number of recent controversial language-related incidents and ideological statements regarding the use of French in the public sphere by Flemish nationalist aldermen in two Flemish towns. By drawing on interviews with different stakeholders (shop owners, aldermen, and passers-by), I address the different perceptions and ideological indexicalities of French shop names and signs in these Flemish contexts. In the data, th…
Post-war Kosovo landscapes in Pristina
This paper focuses on the complex nature of post-war multilingual landscapes in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, as shaped by the country's political shift after independence in 2008. We aim to contribute to this sociolinguistically underexplored territory through an examination of the relative predominance and visibility of the capital's most dominant languages: Albanian, Serbian, and English. Our central aim is to empirically problematize the s…
Socio-economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes
Globalization has dramatically altered the urban societies of Amsterdam and Brussels over recent decades, with intensified socio-economic inequality, unprecedented levels of multilingualism and the increasing importance of English. In this paper, I examine the use of English in the linguistic landscape of socio-economically stratified commercial shopping streets in these two second-tier global cities. I adopt a market-oriented, contextualized app…
Language visibility, functionality and meaning across various TimeSpace scales in Brussels' multilingual landscapes
This paper addresses the complex multilingual linguistic landscapes (LLs) of three strategically-chosen areas in global city Brussels by examining how language displays on public signage in these areas are used for different purposes, functions or intentions. The focus will be on meaning-construction in the post-Fordist globalised era as shaped by different contextual scales. By drawing on a systematic corpus of linguistic landscape data indicati…
Socio-economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes
Globalization has dramatically altered the urban societies of Amsterdam and Brussels over recent decades, with intensified socio-economic inequality, unprecedented levels of multilingualism and the increasing importance of English. In this paper, I examine the use of English in the linguistic landscape of socio-economically stratified commercial shopping streets in these two second-tier global cities. I adopt a market-oriented, contextualized app…
Language visibility, functionality and meaning across various TimeSpace scales in Brussels' multilingual landscapes
This paper addresses the complex multilingual linguistic landscapes (LLs) of three strategically-chosen areas in global city Brussels by examining how language displays on public signage in these areas are used for different purposes, functions or intentions. The focus will be on meaning-construction in the post-Fordist globalised era as shaped by different contextual scales. By drawing on a systematic corpus of linguistic landscape data indicati…
Legal-discursive constructions of genuine cross-border love in Belgian marriage fraud investigations
In recent years, marriage migration as a form of family reunification has become a growing policy concern for migration governance in European member states and is seen as ‘the last loophole’ in EU migration policy in the face of a supposedly large and increasing number of sham marriages through which the non-European spouse is granted a residency permit. Several European nations have therefore legislated legal-administrative measures to battle m…
Multilingualism, urban change and gentrification in the landscape of a Brussels neighbourhood
This paper focuses on how different historical stages of socio-economic development in Brussels are played out on the ground over time in one particular inner-city neighbourhood, the Quartier Dansaert. In particular, I document the history of this neighbourhood and how urban change and gentrification have impacted the outlook of multilingualism and the development of multilingual discourses and language hierarchies in its material and semiotic la…
Post-war Kosovo landscapes in Pristina
This paper focuses on the complex nature of post-war multilingual landscapes in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, as shaped by the country's political shift after independence in 2008. We aim to contribute to this sociolinguistically underexplored territory through an examination of the relative predominance and visibility of the capital's most dominant languages: Albanian, Serbian, and English. Our central aim is to empirically problematize the s…
The geosemiotics of ethno-political graffiti in Kosovo
This article examines the nature of graffiti semiotics in the public space of Kosovo's capital Pristina. By adopting a perspective on graffiti as a historically situated and semiotic practice, we identify distinct ethno-political voices, each relying on highly multimodal-linguistic resources to convey their respective political messages to a wider audience. The corpus was gathered during a specific period in Kosovo's history (2013-2014) and as su…
Whose French is it anyway? Language ideologies and re-emerging indexicalities of French in Flanders
In this article I address a number of recent controversial language-related incidents and ideological statements regarding the use of French in the public sphere by Flemish nationalist aldermen in two Flemish towns. By drawing on interviews with different stakeholders (shop owners, aldermen, and passers-by), I address the different perceptions and ideological indexicalities of French shop names and signs in these Flemish contexts. In the data, th…
Language visibility, functionality and meaning across various TimeSpace scales in Brussels' multilingual landscapes
This paper addresses the complex multilingual linguistic landscapes (LLs) of three strategically-chosen areas in global city Brussels by examining how language displays on public signage in these areas are used for different purposes, functions or intentions. The focus will be on meaning-construction in the post-Fordist globalised era as shaped by different contextual scales. By drawing on a systematic corpus of linguistic landscape data indicati…
Post-war Kosovo landscapes in Pristina
This paper focuses on the complex nature of post-war multilingual landscapes in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, as shaped by the country's political shift after independence in 2008. We aim to contribute to this sociolinguistically underexplored territory through an examination of the relative predominance and visibility of the capital's most dominant languages: Albanian, Serbian, and English. Our central aim is to empirically problematize the s…
Socio-economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes
Globalization has dramatically altered the urban societies of Amsterdam and Brussels over recent decades, with intensified socio-economic inequality, unprecedented levels of multilingualism and the increasing importance of English. In this paper, I examine the use of English in the linguistic landscape of socio-economically stratified commercial shopping streets in these two second-tier global cities. I adopt a market-oriented, contextualized app…
Whose French is it anyway? Language ideologies and re-emerging indexicalities of French in Flanders
In this article I address a number of recent controversial language-related incidents and ideological statements regarding the use of French in the public sphere by Flemish nationalist aldermen in two Flemish towns. By drawing on interviews with different stakeholders (shop owners, aldermen, and passers-by), I address the different perceptions and ideological indexicalities of French shop names and signs in these Flemish contexts. In the data, th…
Multilingualism, urban change and gentrification in the landscape of a Brussels neighbourhood
This paper focuses on how different historical stages of socio-economic development in Brussels are played out on the ground over time in one particular inner-city neighbourhood, the Quartier Dansaert. In particular, I document the history of this neighbourhood and how urban change and gentrification have impacted the outlook of multilingualism and the development of multilingual discourses and language hierarchies in its material and semiotic la…
DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies (Vol. 7, No. 1)
Regular Issue
Legal-discursive constructions of genuine cross-border love in Belgian marriage fraud investigations
In recent years, marriage migration as a form of family reunification has become a growing policy concern for migration governance in European member states and is seen as ‘the last loophole’ in EU migration policy in the face of a supposedly large and increasing number of sham marriages through which the non-European spouse is granted a residency permit. Several European nations have therefore legislated legal-administrative measures to battle m…
Interactions, agentivités et catégorisations politiques dans les enquêtes sur les mariages mixtes en Belgique
Dans cet article, nous mobilisons un outillage analytique qui rassemble plusieurs sciences sociales du langage afin de porter un regard critique sur les dynamiques sociolinguistiques des entretiens réalisés dans le cadre d’enquêtes sur les migrations par la voie du mariage en Belgique. En nous appuyant sur un travail de terrain ethnographique multi-site, nous explorons les manières dont pratiques langagières et dynamiques politiques et idéologiqu…
Reconstructing over 20 years of language practice, management and ideology at a multinational corporation in Brussels
Covid-19 telephone contact tracing in Flanders as a “contested” new genre of conversation
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, most COVID-19-related information was communicated to the public through mainstream media such as newspaper outlets, television, and radio. These media had substantial influence over which information was (widely) distributed and how this information was framed, subsequently shaping citizens' interpretations of matters concerning the pandemic. This chapter considers one of the government's endeavors to con…
Solidarity and support in Belgian residential linguistic landscapes during the Covid-19 outbreak
This article examines the role played by signs in the public space of two socio-economically stratified residential neighbourhoods of Ghent (Belgium) during the first Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. On the basis of fieldwork, we explore the potential of public signs as a resourceful strategy for communicating solidarity and support and the discursive construction of a community affected by this crisis. We show that in times of lockdown and social dist…
The geosemiotics of ethno-political graffiti in Kosovo
This article examines the nature of graffiti semiotics in the public space of Kosovo's capital Pristina. By adopting a perspective on graffiti as a historically situated and semiotic practice, we identify distinct ethno-political voices, each relying on highly multimodal-linguistic resources to convey their respective political messages to a wider audience. The corpus was gathered during a specific period in Kosovo's history (2013-2014) and as su…
Multilingualism in performance appraisal interviews
This paper explores three multilingual strategies to bridge the lack of a shared first language as they are used during performance appraisal interviews, namely English as a business lingua franca , receptive multilingualism, and a lay interpreter. The study is based on authentic video-recorded performance appraisal interviews at a globally active Belgian company, and follow-up interviews with the managers. The analysis focuses on how the company…
Participant role shifting in minority language institutional interactions
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of collecting and disseminating publicly relevant health information from and to lay audiences to combat global health crises. In Flanders, Belgium, reaching linguistic minority groups within this context largely depended on government-mandated contact tracing through telephone interactions, which was initially put in place to contain the level of outbreak, but was gradually tasked with relayin…
Chronicles of change and layered transformation
Using a qualitatively historicized and contextualized approach to componential elements of the semiotic landscape of urban neighborhoods, this article analyzes the changes and transformations discernible over time in the outward appearance of the Chinatown area in Antwerp and Brussels. Building on Massey’s (1984) metaphor of the geological landscape and Lai’s (1988) model of the historical development of Chinatowns, we specifically examine how so…
Born and buried
A growing body of research in language, discourse, and social sciences shows that criminal records, like other institutional documents, are rooted in bureaucratic routines, reflecting the perspectives of record makers rather than objective, all-encompassing facts. During criminal proceedings, various law functionaries collect information to match real-life events with legal definitions—a process known as “institutional categorization.” This paper…
Language mediation as a window into language ideological beliefs
Sham relationship investigations in Flanders (Belgium) are multi-phased institutional procedures comprising (i) a municipal phase at the civil registry office and (ii) a judicial phase at the police office. While language rights are supposedly guaranteed for applicants on the police level, where certified sworn interpreters are provided by the State, in the municipal phase, any type of interpreter, professional or non-professional, may be used. T…
The variable geometry of proof
Sociology (13 works) · Linguistics (11 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (11 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Geography (4 works)