PrologueMultilingualism and mobility in the twenty-first century: An agenda for migration linguistics
Table of contents
The twenty-first century has presented humanity with challenges and unpredictabilities never experienced before, and, as it continues to unfold, is unceasingly changing the world in more ways than one. A mere quarter of the century has passed, yet it has been as dramatic and tumultuous as can be imagined, having had several iconic moments – not only in the realm of politics, but also of economy, telecommunications, and public health – with far-reaching implications for humanity and society, but most especially mobility and multilingualism. The century opened, in 2001, with two terrorist-hijacked planes crashing into and collapsing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the United States, the deadliest terrorist attack thus far in world history, triggering the United States’ attack of Afghanistan that same year. In 2002, the Euro entered into circulation, becoming the official currency of twelve European states. In 2004, Facebook was launched, as was Twitter in 2006, giving rise to social media. In addition, in 2007, Apple released the iPhone, which led to the ubiquity of smartphones. In the same year and until 2009, the world’s economy declined, resulting in a global financial crisis, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected the first African American President of the United States. 2015 witnessed an increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe, the largest number in a single year since World War II, resulting in a migrant crisis in Europe. In 2016, the British public voted to leave the European Union. In 2017, Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread and brought the world to a halt. And most recently, the years 2022 to 2024 have seen intense conflict between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Palestine.
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