Foreword

Foreword Farah Ali Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Year of Graduation: Institution: University at Albany, Dissertation Title: Language Attitudes among Muslim Women in Barcelona It is truly an honor to be invited to write a foreword for this timely and importresearch undertaking. Whether or not one ends up pursuing an academic and/ or research-oriented profession, the dissertation is a major juncture of a scholwell beyond the awarding of the title of doctor. The selection of a dissertation topic is typically centered around practical considerations, and as doctoral candidates, we have often asked ourselves, “Is this topic original?” “Is this study feasible?” And ultimately, “Will my advisor and/or dissertation committee approve of this topic?” In other words, our academic preparation often emphasizes the approval and completion of a dissertation (“the best dissertation is a mentees seldom discuss one of the crucial aspects of choosing a dissertation topic: the reality that, in many cases, the process of choosing a topic can be a identity, as it can involve an interaction between the personal and the profesWomen in Barcelona,” was very much connected to my identity, and subsequently shaped my research trajectory all the way through the present day. As a Pakistani-American Muslim woman who was born and raised in the American of English, yet being placed in an English as a second language ( ) class because of my heritage; feeling uneasy at being asked, “Where are you from?” since the inevitable follow-up question is, “but where are you really from?”; being seen as an outsider in one’s country of birth, yet still being seen as an outsider when visiting family “back home” (i.e., Pakistan). When I began my studies in Spanish linguistics, I distinctly recall reading Varieties of Spanish in the U.S. by John Lipski, and being struck by my newfound knowledge of the notion of a “heritage language,” as well as nuances of the quote, “Ni de aquí, ni de allá” (neither from here nor there), which has often been used to describe remember being stunned that there were names that described what I thought generation Muslim immigrant women. This also lent some originality to my research: Muslim women can be a relatively inaccessible community for an outin research that does not pay attention to gender and/or religious identity. The through reworking my dissertation into a book (Ali, 2022), but also in opening me up to research on Arabic-Spanish language contact as well as a continued interest in research that intersects with gender studies and migration/border studies. At the time of writing this foreword, I have actually come full circle and veil in Europe, which has been especially meaningful for me because I conducted much of it during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, resulting in being invited to break fast with some of my participants, and even celebrate Eid (the end of Ramadan) with them. Given that my identity has allowed me to access participants’ time and personal space, be in community with them, and even be indelibly changed by them, I argue that removing oneself and one’s personal investment from the research process is akin to separating the tree from its roots. The present volume looks at the profound link between the academic and the personal, and provides autoethnographic accounts of new scholars’ dissertation journeys. An autoethnography, in short, is a method of research an autobiography because it goes beyond storytelling in order to methodically own community and culture, and those entering this community must learn to navigate the social practices and norms that govern its hierarchical culture, which can be an especially thorny endeavor for those whose identities position them as outsiders. Graduate students as a group typically start as outsiders (and unfortunately, many continue to feel that way even as their studies progress) and hold far less power and privilege than their faculty counterparts, which can, in turn, play a major role in shaping one’s career trajectory, for better or worse. Considering that one’s time in a graduate program is often where culture, practices, and discourses that can shape and be shaped by identity, and how academic identity is often tightly bound to other parts of a person’s identity. This is especially critical for academics in privileged positions, such a student’s professional choices, such as course enrollment, research topics, conference participation, and certainly the entire process of starting and the personal and the subjective, while holding the impersonal and objective as the sterile model for scholarly output. Faculty often perpetuate this and insist practice in academia in which faculty diminish the value of students’ personal sonal identities from their scholarship. - from research and other professional engagements? Autoethnography, as an approach to self-research, categorically refutes this idea. Instead, it highlights how one’s personal identities are constructed and negotiated simultaneously, - Many of us have been trained to approach academic writing through formulas, and one universal component to this formulaic style of writing is to always justify one’s research objectives, and address the question that all reviewers and personal motivations must often be padded by citable, peer-reviewed ones. Autoethnographies, while still theoretically and empirically grounded, make space and, in fact, center the author’s positionality, and show how our profesthrough their focus on subjectivity and use of personal narratives, autoethnographers have the potential to provide a rich and nuanced understanding of a an engaging and evocative tone that can spark empathy and personal connecThe present collection of autoethnographies consists of accounts of new scholars and their academic journeys that center around choosing a dissercussion of researcher identity, as language and linguistic behavior are notably sociocultural practices that are constructed by speech communities, and are - life, professional identities often take form as we choose our career paths. In the case of academia, language may also play a critical role in negotiating one’s academic identity, particularly among language instructors (Norton & Early, such as the case for many non-native speakers in a program of study (Halic research on the relationship between language and identity has been informed by researchers’ personal connections to their topics of study. For this reason, the present volume makes a considerable contribution to our understanding of the otherwise invisible processes that go into the realization of a doctoral dissertation. New doctoral candidates who are just beginning their academic journeys may see themselves in some of these chapters, and may prompt useful it is vital that faculty advisors and mentors are cognizant of what it means for another. As scholars who are committed to engaging in dialogue with each other through our academic work, recognizing the motivations and journeys transparent and nuanced discussions. References Ali, F. (2022). Multilingualism and gendered immigrant identity: Perspectives from Catalonia. Multilingual Matters. Raciolinguistics: How language shapes our ideas about race Cameron, D., & Kulick, D. (2003). Language and sexuality. Cambridge University Press. , 24(3), Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and gender. Cambridge University Press. Fishman, J. A., & García, O. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of language & ethnic identity (Vol. Linguistics and Education, 7 tional Education, 38 Interna- Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35 Lipski, J. (2008). Varieties of Spanish in the U.S. Georgetown University Press. Norton, B., & Early, M. (2011). Researcher identity, narrative inquiry, and language teaching research. Quarterly, 45 The Routledge handbook of language and identity Trinh, E., & Pentón Herrera, L. J. (2021). Writing as an art of rebellion: Scholars of color & J. Sablan (Eds.), navigating institutional power in early academic careers