Greenlandic PhD student going to the windy city

Camilla Kleemann-Andersen - assistant professor and PhD student from the Department of Language, Literature & Media / Centre for language research at Ilisimatusarfik - will soon embark on a research stay at University of Chicago.

During Camilla’s research stay, she will write two chapters in relation to her PhD research:

• One about what standardization ideologies mean for the formation of meaning in society and the individual, and
• One about how standardization ideologies help to suppress particular dialects.

The theoretical framework that Camilla will use in her research, is the work from linguistic anthropology research based at University of Chicago. Therefore, this is an excellent opportunity for Camilla, as it offers her the ideal research environment: University of Chicago is home to a robust intellectual community of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates engaged in studying related issues.

One of the challenges of being based at Ilisimatusarfik in Greenland is the relative isolation, and a lack of specialists in sociolinguistics. At University of Chicago, Camilla will be hosted by Professor Lenore Grenoble - a specialist in Arctic languages, with extensive experience in Greenland. Here, Camilla will participate in the intellectual life of the Linguistics & Anthropology Department, which have regular, ongoing workshops and seminars on language variation and change, and (social) semiotics. In addition, Camilla will also join the fieldworkers’ lab, and work with a cohort of researchers investigating similar issues in other parts of the world.

Camilla’s research stay at University of Chicago is planned for August 2023 to May 2024. It has been made possible due to generous funding from the highly prestigious Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship, and the Greenlandic Ivalo & Minik Foundation.

Both foundations are highly competitive - and it is not a guarantee that every applicant will receive such support.

The fact that Camilla was selected for funding demonstrates her exceptional ability as a candidate - and because of her outstanding qualifications as a linguist, and the significance of her PhD project.