engleski

Hybridity and Dynamism of Making of the Self – Multilingual Habitus of Children in Eastern Croatian Urban Spaces

The aim of this chapter is to critically address the complex relations of language and identity in the multicultural area of Eastern Croatia, especially with regard to the city of Osijek and the children and youths that belong to the multilingual communities. From a historical perspective, with its past embedded in different empires and states (eg. Roman, Ottoman, Austro- Hungarian), this region of Croatia has witnessed numerous changes in languages, either official or unofficial. Thus, Celtic, Latin, Hungarian, Turkish, Serbian, German, Yiddish, Slovak etc. are just some of the languages that were spoken for longer periods of time in these areas. Though many of them disappeared a long time ago, there are still 20 official minority languages spoken in the region (Census 2013) as a result of the historical migration and transformation processes. In order to critically examine the complex relations of identity and language I conducted 19 in-depth interviews with multilingual children and youths. The children and youths with a diverse multi- ethnic background which encompassed Serbian, Slovak, Hungarian, Albanian, German, Roma-Bayashi and Bosnian- Croatian languages took part in the study. The interview questions covered a wide range of topics dealing with the communicative practice and language attitudes of the interviewees and the data collected was analysed in the framework of critical applied linguistics drawing on the work of May (2005), Canagarayah (2005, 2006), Skutnabb-Kangas (2004) and Pennycook (2010) where linguistic identities as perceived dynamic and hybrid phenomena. Furthermore, the input from linguistic anthropology concerning the notions of marked and unmarked identities (Bucholtz and Hall 2004) also contributed in the data analysis. In this framework unmarked identities are those that represent the elite and the powerful, which in the Croatian context, as the interviews have shown, are the Croatian and English language, while the use of other languages represents manifold and layered marked identities.The analysis of the data shows that though multilingualism is generally perceived as a personal resource, some common patterns regarding a diverse ethnic background emerged ; the findings thus show that the multilingual identities are often hybrid, performed as the form of hidden practice in closed communities, frequently perceived as an asset in other places (outside of Croatia), but also as form of resistance. The implications of this level of research were shared on the next level with stakeholders and policy- makers from public spheres to gain an idea how these identities are reflected on, but also generated. At this level of research I used statements from the interviews with children and youths that epitomized their multilingual identities and discussed them with the stakeholders (from state agencies, schools, municipality etc.) asking for their reflections. The results of this stage of research revealed dominant ideologies that shape and generate, and at the same time challenge the identity practices of the children and youths. The overall results indicate that more care and effort needs to be made by the policy makers at all levels of the public sphere, especially concerning the recent war and its impact on society, in order to revitalize the diversity of city and the region in general.

hybrid identities ; multilingual children ; Eastern Croatia

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