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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 412

Part of Session 130: Language in Multilingual Cities (Other abstracts in this session)

Cosmopolitanism Identities in the Linguistic Landscape of Taipei

Authors: Curtin, Melissa L.
Submitted by: Curtin, Melissa L. (University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America)

This project seeks to contribute to research on linguistic landscape (LL) and identity in two key ways.  Firstly, whereas most LL research involves synchronic investigations of a locale (Pavlenko, 2009), this is a diachronic study of an urban environment, Taipei, Taiwan, which has undergone remarkable change over the past 15 years.  This diachronic, ethnographically informed investigation is thus able to more fully capture the dynamic nature of the LL in relation to both the processes of identification and the production of place.

Secondly, in tracing the development of varieties of cosmopolitanism in Taipei’s LL, the analysis integrates theorizations of cosmopolitanism with those of identity and place.  A review of LL scholarship reveals that the concept of cosmopolitanism has thus far been undertheorized in the field, with scholars employing mostly generalized references to the notion, such as (i) a cosmopolitan city (e.g., Tel Aviv — Waksman and Shohamy 2010), (ii) a cosmopolitan practice (e.g., dining in “ethnic” restaurants in Washington, D.C. — Leeman and Modan 2009), (iii) a language script indexing a general cosmopolitanism (e.g., English in Thailand — Huebner 2006; English in Tokyo — Backhaus 2007), (iv) “exotic” orthographies indexing an achieved, localized cosmopolitan identity (e.g., English, French, Japanese and “vogue European” in Taipei — Curtin 2007), (v) a script denoting an aspirational, prestige cosmopolitan identity (e.g., English in Poding-tse-Rolo in rural South Africa — Kotze 2010), or (vi) the general coexistence of modernity and cosmopolitan identity (e.g., symbolized in streetwise English in French advertising in DR Congo — Kasanga 2010). 

However, quite sophisticated theorizations of the phenomenon have been developed in a range of fields, including sociology and transnational anthropology (e.g., Vertovec and Cohen 2002; Beck and Grande 2010), global studies and cultural anthropology (e.g., Nederveen Pieterse 2006), and economic geography (e.g., Donald, Kofman and Kevin 2009). Drawing upon these scholars’ work, this paper aligns with Hannerz’ (2006) call for an ethnographically grounded, multi-centric understanding of different varieties of cosmopolitanism. Specifically, it analyzes particular cosmopolitanisms as these are indexed in orthographic scripts employed in several domains throughout the city’s LL: (i) traditional Mandarin Chinese characters and various Romanization systems thereof, (ii) non-Chinese scripts in official and unofficial domains, and (iii) graffiti. Furthermore, each script domain contributes to particular varieties of cosmopolitanism, labeled “presumptive, distinctive, and transgressive” cosmopolitanisms (respectively, these labels draw upon social indexicality (Silverstein), distinction (Bourdieu), and transgressive semiotics (Scollon and Scollon; Pennycook)).  

Importantly, the cosmopolitanization of these scripts is best understood in relation to two main continua of Taiwanese identities: (1) Taiwanese–Chinese Identities and (2) Taiwanese–East Asian–Global Cosmopolitan Identities. Taken as a whole, then, each script domain contributes to the “achieved, bona fide cosmopolitan sensibility" of current-day Taipei, while concomitantly indexing various aspects of Taiwanese identities in relation to divergent constructions of place and belonging. This study thus demonstrates that cosmopolitanism is best apprehended as highly situated and multi-faceted, yet also as recursive and multi-centric (non-West-centric).  Moreover, it shows that the LL is a key semiotic resource in constructing different cosmopolitan identities and spaces of belonging in today’s globalized, multilingual city.