Keynote Alastair Pennycook

Alastair Pennycook

(University of Technology Sydney, Australia)

Alastair has never been afraid to enter new territory. Over the years he has challenged many of the core ideas in applied linguistics, arguing for the importance of considering language as a social and political practice, with implications for many domains of inquiry such as the global spread of English or critical applied linguistics. Recently, this has involved a turn towards posthumanist ideas and southern theories in an attempt to understand the relations among language, things, people and place, and to rethink applied linguistic concerns from alternative spaces. Thirty years ago, he outlined a project for a 'critical applied linguistics for the 1990s'. His paper will revisit that proposal, explore what has changed since, and outline ways in which a renewed critical applied linguistics can be developed to engage with contemporary conditions and concerns.