Limerick, Nicholas
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Email Address
ORCID
Disciplines
Anthropology
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education
Education
Linguistic Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education
Education
Linguistic Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Position
Faculty Member
Introduction
Home I am a linguistic and cultural anthropologist. My current status is PhD Candidate in Anthropology and in Educational Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. I am writing my dissertation, which is based on more than two years of fieldwork in Ecuador, where I have lived on and off since 2007. My dissertation considers the paradox of why indigenous languages are promoted by social movements in Ecuador but are less commonly used in daily communication among Quichua leaders. I examine the historic case of intercultural bilingual education, and my research intersects with the study of educational institutions. In language revitalization projects, it is useful to examine how individuals involved in such movements speak. My dissertation argues that to understand how indigenous languages are employed in large-scale cultural politics vis-Ã -vis daily communication patterns, one must consider the socio-structural differences that emerge within imaginations about indigeneity. I show how such differences are mediated through shifting social hierarchies that affect multilingual communicative practices and debates about them. My research depends upon extensive ethnography. This orientation illustrates both a professional commitment as an anthropologist and a personal commitment as a friend of and collaborator with Quichuas in Ecuador. The main sites of my dissertation research have been the National Directorate for Intercultural Bilingual Education (DINEIB) in the Ministry of Education, and in intercultural bilingual schools. Living with Quichua friends in a particular migrant neighborhood in Quito, and spending much time in spaces of Quichuas, have shaped my perspective on social life in Ecuador. My research is also deeply engaged with local Quichua language initiatives. I agree that notions of languages are indicative of, and usually subsumed by, larger struggles over what we could broadly, and euphemistically, term cultural debates. With this acknowledgement, I offer that language initiatives provide one route of confronting systemic inequality that exists in Ecuador. We are aware that ideologies about shared languages can, and frequently do, unify groups. I hope that Quichua revitalization initiatives will contribute to increased social organization by Quichuas in Ecuador, especially as multicultural policies have gained popularity in Latin America. These ideologies drive my involvement with Quichua educational programs and materials. Links to my research My site at Penn Anthropology: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthropology/people/limerick I am fortunate that my research has received generous support from funding agencies across academic disciplines. I have been awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, a Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a Summer Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, and fellowships by the University Pennsylvania. Here are links for a couple of these awards that also have information about my research: http://www.wennergren.org/grantees/limerick-nicholas http://www.naeducation.org/NAED_083531.html#Limerick