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Prof. Alexandre Duchêne

© Alan Humerose

Member of the Board of Directors

+41 26 305 61 70
alexandre.duchene@unifr.ch

Full Professor in the Sociology of language, UNIFR

Research interests

  • Language and social inequality
  • Multilingualism, school and social selection
  • Multilingualism and the workplace
  • Multilingualism, human migration and globalization
  • Language politics, linguistic minorities
Research projects (direction)
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Title
Gloto[economiá]política - Language under Capitalist (Trans)Formations
Status
In progress
This collaborative project aims at moving beyond common and acritical assumptions about capitalism and language that tend to take them for granted, without sufficiently interrogating their historical development, their... more
Title
Problematising inequality in the classroom
Status
In progress
How can inequalities (in terms of social class, language, ability, race, gender) be addressed in the classroom by focussing on social processes and encouraging students to reflect on possible ways of challenging them?... more
Title
A Web of Care
Status
In progress
Swiss National Science Foundation, project funding, project no. 159852 Using the healthcare industry as a site of study, this project aims to uncover the conditions in which particular configurations of language... more
Title
Behind the scenes of language quantification
Status
Completed
The purpose of this project is to conduct a detailed analysis on language census issues in Switzerland since the 19th century and to better understand the role this tool plays in the Swiss political landscape. This... more
Title
Counting languages: history, methods and politics of population censuses
Status
Completed
This literature review aims to present an overview of scientific research on the social, political and linguistic issues of language census by analysing international works conducted in various sociopolitical and... more
Title
Formulation, Performance and Instrumentalisation of the German-French Language Border in Swiss Tourism
Status
Completed
Swiss National Science Foundation, project funding, project no. 143184 The project examines the German-French language border in Switzerland through the analysis of touristic discourses and activities. By looking at... more
Title
Questioni di lingue ed indagini statistiche
Status
Completed
In collaboration with the Federal Statistical Office (FSO)In 2010, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) began conducting an annual population census. The data are mainly gathered from registers of residents, with... more
Title
Access to the labour market, unemployment and language skills
Status
Completed
In cooperation with the University of Lausanne UNIL Today's labour market is characterised by a globalised economy with increasing immigration and mobility. Current economic, social and technological conditions have... more
Title
AME (Accueil, Migration, Ecole)
Status
Completed
Commissioned by: Département de l’instruction publique, de la culture et du sport of the Canton of Geneva The goal of the project mandated by the department of education of the Canton of Geneva was to understand the... more
Title
Language courses for personnel in the Federal Administration
Status
Completed
Project conducted by the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) In the interest of advancing multilingualism in public services, the Swiss Confederation is legally bound to promoting federal employees' language... more
Title
Performing Swissness
Status
Completed
Swiss National Science Foundation, independent pure research grant, project no. 100012 129885 Work in our project “Performing Swissness: institutions, discourse and social transformation” focuses on ways in which... more
Title
Towards a critical pedagogy of diversity
Status
Completed
A project at the University of teacher education Fribourg This project lays out a critical approach towards a pedagogy of diversity that takes social inequality among children as a starting point and reflects on how... more
Title
Swiss Federal Administration and the representation of language communities
Status
Completed
In cooperation with the University of Zürich (UZH) In Switzerland’s political dialogue, an adequate representation of Swiss language communities in the Federal Administration is considered to be a vital expression of... more
Title
Multilingualism and Mobility
Status
Completed
Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Plan Nacional de la Ciencia I+D This project focuses on the study of multilingualism from the perspective of the recent mobilities and globalisation paradigm. This paradigm takes up... more
Title
When language becomes the subject of work: multilingualism in Biel/Bienne’s call centres
Status
Completed
The city Biel/Bienne is experiencing an economic boom. Alongside the traditional watch industry, Biel/Bienne has set its sights on diversification and is now exploring the service and communication sector. This recent... more
Title
The Management of Multilingualism in Institutional Sites
Status
Completed
The object of the present investigation is to undertake ethnographic studies at three sites: a non-governmental organization dedicated to adult education, a public hospital, and a multinational company based in Spain.... more
Title
Languages, Identity and Tourism
Status
Completed
Swiss National Science Foundation, NRP 56 Language diversity and linguistic competences in Switzerland This project adopts a sociolinguistic approach to examine the linguistic aspects of tourism on three levels: 1. How... more
Research projects (contributor)
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Title
Cold rush
Status
In progress
The Cold Rush project examines the transforming Arctic North as an expanding hotspot at the juncture of economic development and cultural transformation, focusing on the ways in which language and identity matter in... more
Publications
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