Galician Language and Culture in the United States

Associate Professor Gabriel Rei-Doval, University of Winsconsin-Milwuakee, is a world renowned specialist in the field of Luso-Hispanic Linguistics. Professor Rei-Doval will deliver a talk about the situation of the Galician region, its language and culture in the globalized world.

This presentation will address the interaction between Galician language and culture, as regarded contemporarily both in Galicia and the US context. 

Galician has often been considered, despite its medieval European origin, a minority or minoritized language, as opposed to an international language or language of wider communication. However, this distinction might need some revision, in particular if we take into account that, due to historical factors, migrations and sociocultural interactions at different levels, Galician allows to bridge the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking worlds and their corresponding cultures.

In addition, it is relevant to consider how to teach and evaluate the interaction between so-called foreign languages and cultures such as the Galician ones that, being somehow invisible in the United States, were previously minoritized in their countries of origin. This situation might mean a “double minoritization”, but could also help linguists and educators to better understand the status and marketing of foreign languages in the North American context.

Sponsored by Department of Spanish and Portuguese, European Studies and Linguistics Programs, Academic Enrichment Fund, Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity