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Language and power is an interdisciplinary and evolving field, drawing from applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, political science, media studies, and beyond. Foundational works have established the intricate connections between language, knowledge, and power, yet contemporary shifts in global communication necessitate new approaches. By bridging disciplines and perspectives, the Cambridge Elements in Language and Power series provides a platform for both theoretical exploration and practical applications, examining how language functions as both a conduit and a barrier to power. It explores both empowering and oppressive dimensions, showcasing how language can be a force for inclusion, social justice, and transformation, as well as a tool for exclusion, harm, and control.
The overarching aim of the Cambridge Elements in Language and Power series is to provide accessible publications exploring the profound relationship between language and power, thereby examining how language shapes perceptions, constructs realities, and manipulates relationships within and among individuals, institutions, communities, and languages. In this series, we are interested in divergent and fresh conceptualizations and understandings of both language and power and the intricacies at the intersection of these two entities.
language for/in/and spirituality and development
language and power as sources of healing, unity, and empowerment
language as a mechanism of control, resistance, and weaponization
language for/in/and cultural preservation and celebration
language and power across disciplines and areas such as Indigenous studies, race/racism, decolonial studies, Southern perspectives, dis/ability studies, political science, religious studies, the legal field, ecology and environment, media and communication, and (mental) health sciences, to name a few
language and power in identity and transformation
Language, power, and new technologies: AI, digital media, social media.
language and power as sources for inclusion and/or exclusion
Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Ph.D., is the 2024 TESOL Teacher of the Year, awarded by the TESOL International Association and National Geographic Learning. He is a Professor (Profesor uczelni, in Polish) at Akademia Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna w Warszawie, Poland and Co-Editor of Tapestry: A Multimedia Journal for Teachers and English Learners. Further, he is a Fulbright and English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State. Previously, he served as the 38th President of Maryland TESOL from 2018 to 2019, and earned the rank of Sergeant while serving in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Dr. Pentón Herrera’s current teaching and research projects are situated at the intersection of identity, emotions, and well-being in language and literacy education, social-emotional learning (SEL), autoethnography and storytelling, refugee education, and language weaponization. Originally from La Habana, Cuba, Dr. Pentón Herrera enjoys creative writing, playing with his two doggies, Virgo and Maui, and running.
Sender Dovchin is a Senior Principal Research Fellow and an Australian Research Council Fellow at the School of Education, Curtin University. Previously, she was a Director of Research and an Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics journal and an Associate Professor at the University of Aizu, Japan. Her research pragmatically contributes to the second language education of migrants and Indigenous communities, providing a pedagogical view to accommodate the multiple co-existences of linguistic diversity in a globalized world. She was identified as the ‘Top Researcher in the Field of Language & Linguistics’ in The Australian’s 2021/2024 Research Magazine, and one of the Top 250 Researchers in Australia in 2021/2024 respectively. She was also identified as the world’s top 2% most-cited linguists between 2021 -2024 by Stanford University List of the World’s Top 2% Scientists, published by Elsevier Data Repository.
• Michał Wilczewski, Akademia Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna w Warszawie, (Poland)
• Ana Barcelos, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, (Brazil)
• Yasir Hussain, Quaid-i-Azam University, (Pakistan)