The language(s) of segregation: Interdisciplinary perspectives on spatial, social, and symbolic division in cities

Language is often left out of general understandings of segregation, and to address this epistemological research gap, this research environment defines segregation as the spatial, social, and always symbolic separation of different social categories.

The purpose is to analyze and demonstrate how segregation has been discursively created as a problem in Sweden, is implemented as urban policy, materializes in the linguistic landscape, and is negotiated in everyday life by speakers of various languages in different socio-economic areas.

Through a unique combination of linguistic, public administration and urban ethnographic perspectives, the proposed research environment addresses segregation with a focus on language as our principal meaning making system and symbolic capital, and on multilingualism as the sociolinguistic reality of contemporary Sweden.

The purpose is pursued in four interrelated work packages: (1) Segregation discourse in Swedish politics and media 1970-2023; (2) (Anti)Segregation discourse in urban policy and administration; (3) Semiotic materialization of segregation and multilingualism in public space; and (4) Everyday negotiations of segregation and multilingualism.

The ambition is to map out how segregation has been discursively constructed historically in Sweden, and how that process affects the framing and implementation of local anti-segregation policy programs, public language displays and everyday negotiations of belonging and opportunity.