Prof. David Gramling, Ph.D.

Hannah Arendt Fellowship 2026 “Democracy”

Senior Fellowship | Applied Linguistics, Literature Studies, Translation and Reception Studies

David (they+) is Professor at the University of British Columbia (Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies) and author, editor, or translator of eight books in print: Literature in Late Monolingualism (Bloomsbury 2024); The Invention of Multilingualism (Cambridge University Press, 2021); The Invention of Monolingualism (Bloomsbury 2016, American Association for Applied Linguistics Book Award, 2018); co-author of Palliative Care Conversations: Clinical and Applied Linguistic Perspectives (De Gruyter 2019, with David’s big brother Robert Gramling); Linguistic Disobedience: Restoring Power to Civic Language (Palgrave 2019, with Yuliya Komska and Michelle Moyd); Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration 1955–2005 (University of California Press 2007 with Deniz Göktürk and Anton Kaes); and Transit Deutschland: Debatten zu Nation und Migration (Konstanz University Press / Wallstein Verlag, with Deniz Göktüurk, Anton Kaes, and Andreas Langenohl). David’s book-length co-translation (with Aron Aji) of Murathan Mungan’s Turkish-language Shahmeran story cycle Valor: Stories (Cenk Hikâyeleri) was published in Fall 2023 with Northwestern University Press, and made possible by a 2021 Global Humanities Translation Prize from Northwestern University.

Future books include Translating Transgender (with Aniruddha Dutta, Routledge 2026), and Aloof: On Seeing Less than you Should, which details David’s lifelong social and logistical adventure with their okulären Albinismus, a rare congenital visual Disability. David is an editorial board member of Transgender Studies Quarterly (Duke University Press) and German Quarterly, and was founding editor with Chantelle Warner of Critical Multilingualism Studies, now under the editorship of Janice McGregor and Emma Trentman.

Personal profile at the University of British Columbia

Prof. David Gramling, Ph.D., Hannah Arendt Fellow 2026

/ Envisioning Language(s) – Linguistic Disobedience in the Democracies of the Future

In light of the growing prevalence of authoritarian tendencies within contemporary democratic societies and the resulting demand for a critical re-evaluation of how power operates through language, we will pursue an engagement project on linguistic disobedience. Conducted in collaboration with the Göttingen Youth Parliament, a democratically elected student body with the capacity to act as civic multipliers, the initiative aims to investigate the potential of language(s) as a site of resistance and social justice. Based on studies showing that linguistic disobedience – once a critical antidote to question power – is now being exploited by heads of state, digital troll armies and other authorities to exert interactional hegemony, the project will explore new forms of linguistic disobedience that could counteract this instrumentalization of language and evolve into a democratic practice by fostering more inclusive and equitable civic participation.

Drawing on participatory research methodologies, we will convene a series of workshops at the Göttingen City Lab with international students from local schools. These workshops will explore how participants assess the current role of language in politics, culture, and education, paying particular attention to power asymmetries. Based on this knowledge, they co-construct a shared conceptualization of linguistic disobedience in relation to their areas of activity and environments. Building on critique, correction, and care, the project focuses on unearthing and uplifting counterlanguages and counter ways of languaging – including translanguaging – that challenge dominant notions of monolingualism and ‘legitimate’ language use, thereby amplifying diverse voices. As co-researchers, the participants actively contribute to the collection, analysis, structuring and development of forms of linguistic disobedience to refine the concept's theoretical and practical contours.

Public dissemination formats will include an updated edition of David’s book Linguistic Disobedience: Restoring Power to Civic Language (co-authored with Yuliya Komska and Michelle Moyd in 2019), enriched with practical examples from culture, politics, education, activism, and community engagement, as well as a series of podcasts or a digital toolbox on linguistic disobedience and multilingual practices. As part of our joint research, we will present preliminary findings derived from workshop-generated data in a co-authored article.

/ Project Activities

Host

University of Göttingen, logo

Partner

Dr Jacqueline Gutjahr

Dr Jacqueline Gutjahr is a research associate in the Department of Intercultural German Studies at the University of Göttingen. Her research focuses on (literary) multilingualism and its manifestations in poetics, theory, and mediation practice. She explores the interplay between language and power, with a particular interest in how dominant language ideologies influence the perception and development of individual linguistic repertoires, and how they shape and limit processes of knowledge construction and meaning-making in educational settings. Her work contributes to the advancement of critical multilingualism studies in literature, society, and education.