Anti-racist translingualism: investigating race in translingual scholarship in US Writing and rhetoric studies over the past decade

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this exploratory study, we adopt corpus linguistic methods to quantify, contextualize and investigate race in translingual scholarship in US writing and rhetoric studies over the past decade. Results indicate that while race is mentioned minimally in the corpus, in instances where it is mentioned many scholars pay attention to intersectionality, language, colonial history, and power relations. Additionally, while there is a large representation of international students and newly-arrived immigrants in translingual scholarship in US writing and rhetoric studies over the past decade, domestic multilingual writers of color remain underrepresented. Situating translingualism in greater anti-racist initiatives, we discuss research and pedagogical implications that call for joint efforts from translingual scholars and practitioners to strive for linguistic justice and anti-racist translingual practices.