Positive ideologies ain't enough! (Dis)junctions and paradoxes in minority language protection

Bibliographic Data

ID2658086
AuthorsGiorgia Decarli (0000-0002-6784-4457, University of Verona, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume9
Issue2
Pages97-120
Publication date2020-12-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueANUAC (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2239-625X • E-ISSN: 2239-625X
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.7340/anuac2239-625x-3987
OpenAlexW3137677716
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited3

In 2018, I conducted research on the application of protection measures for two minority language groups (Cimbrian and Mocheno) in Northern Italian schools. The study aimed at describing linguistic learning programs but it slowly turned into something more. The anthropological holistic perspective unveiled profound contradictions and paradoxes in the implementation of minority language policies. Such discrepancies suggest that law can be both a 'present and absent' social actor that influences reality in non-immediately perceptible ways. On the one side, purposes of a legislative manifesto can be soundlessly inhibited by bureaucrats' deliberate inaction or lack of competence. On the other side, an inhibited legislative text still produces undetectable effects and ontologically impacts on individuals. Consequently, positive ideologies ain't enough if little is known about what happens in everyday operational terms and this cannot be ignored, especially by those who are sincere in their support for linguistic and educational rights. This article endorses a critique of 'the justice possible through law' upheld by early law and society research

Economic Justice · Epistemology · Ideology · Law and economics · Legislature · Manifesto · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Law · Linguistic Studies and Language Acquisition · Minority Rights and Languages · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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