Investigating biographical and spatial trajectories mapping the repertoire of university students

Drawing on the “crossing borders” paradigm under which this symposium is held, this paper investigates the role played by university students in the superdiversification of resources across the world. The focus on... [ view full abstract ]

Drawing on the “crossing borders” paradigm under which this symposium is held, this paper investigates the role played by university students in the superdiversification of resources across the world.

The focus on university students is based on the idea that these Generation Y members are fully engaged with the central notion of mobility and flows. The university students from the different countries under scrutiny –France and Australia- are participating in the multiplication and diversification of cultural and linguistic flows that have so far characterised the XXI century. Not only do they physically cross borders to live, study abroad and travel, but they also make the most of the online communication and dematerialised access to goods the origins of which may be geographically distant -such as literature, music, shows, movies, etc. They are fully engaged in the dissemination and transformation of linguistic and cultural resources.

The interest of the project is not only content based but also methodological. Taking up on the debate about hybridity and complexity which lies under the notion of superdiversity, this study investigates the intersection of individual trajectories (Jan Blommaert) and spatial repertoires (Alastair Pennycook and Emi Otsuji). Moving away from the simple juxtaposition of delimited contexts and reinstating an interactionnist approach to sociolinguistics, this study focuses on the dynamic transspatial unfolding of polylingual language practices.