Publications

Publication details [#64645]

Eilam, Efrat and Julianne Lynch. 2018. Transcending networks’ boundaries: losses and displacements at the contact zone between English and Hebrew. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2018 (254) : 185–204.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
De Gruyter

Annotation

This paper applies a theoretical-linguistic assay for exploring the socio-cultural-historical networks that occasioned two different forms of out-of-school education. One form is practiced in western English speaking cultures and termed “informal education”, the other is practiced in Israel and termed “complementary education”. Exploration of the contact zone between English and Hebrew found a strong Anglophone domination, which allows sole unidirectional translation from English to Hebrew. The debate advocates evolving post-monolingual inquiry which supplies chances for bi-directional translation processes to take place, thus removing losses of valued knowledge at both sides of the contact zone. The process of examination applies the theoretical lens of Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) to analyse how social- historical-cultural-political processes have interacted to produce “complementary education” in Israel. This is followed by analysis of the bi-lingual translation processes that take place at the contact-zone (Pratt, M. L. 1991. Arts of the contact zone. Profession, ofession, 33–40. Modern Language Association Publishers.) between the two languages. The ANT analysis revealed a network consisting of a unique educational model that closely aligns with Ivan (Illich, I. 1971. Deschooling society. New York, USA: Harper and Row.) model presented in his seminal book Deschooling society. The examination also revealed that over time, the Anglophone term “informal education” displaced the Hebrew term “complementary education”, yet the network itself with its unique model continues to thrive. Examination of the contact zone between English and Hebrew found a strong Anglophone dominance, which permits only unidirectional translation from English to Hebrew. The discussion argues for developing post-monolingual research which provides opportunities for bi-directional translation processes to take place, thus eliminating losses of valuable knowledge at both sides of the contact zone.