Semi peripheral scholars negotiating internationalizing institutional strategies with translingual tactics in academic discourse

Abstract

Abstract This article takes a closer look at the complexity of scholarly communication in the specific context of a German University by discussing the relevance of individual discourse tactics of European scholars with a heterogeneous background in communicating in English. The case study featured three scholars from the fields of Neurobiology and Microbiology. The data comes from interviews with the scholars, perusal of their drafts, and policy documents on the publishing expectations in their scientific community. Borrowing de Certeau’s terms strategies and tactics, I treat strategies as belonging to institutions, as manifested in tacit and explicit normative policies on publishing expectations and academic requirements in the name of internationalizing scholarship. Tactics are demonstrated by the dynamic and creative practices of scholars in the discourse practices they adopt to negotiate restrictive policies. While the policies are largely monolingual and monolithic, the practices of scholars draw from their translingual resources and social communicative ecologies. The article demonstrates through a case study that translingual practice can be a resource in negotiating dominant academic conventions for semi peripheral scholars.