Decolonising Academic Writing and Diversifying Publication Languages: Positions and Possibilities

The international academic publishing system is increasingly dominated by Anglo-American publishers, procedures, and writing requirements, and by the exclusive use of English. In contrast, in the Global South, for example in the Arab world, there are calls for the decolonisation of academic writing, the promotion of regional publishing houses, and the (re)recognition of Arabic as an academic language. Moreover, in many countries, such as in the Maghreb, scholars have grown up in a French-based academic system to which they are accustomed, but from which they are also trying to escape. But even in the Western world, the traditional “big” languages of knowledge such as German, French, and Spanish are increasingly being replaced, less and less perceived internationally, and less recognised, even in their own countries. In this context, this public MECAM “Winter Talk” will address issues such as postcolonial writing, Anglicisation and Americanisation vs. diversity of academic languages, multilingual publishing, linguistic (but also conceptual, ….) translation problems, different linguistic logics and possibilities of expression in the respective languages, etc.