At long last I have uploaded the research reports onto the Stop: Toutes Directions site. I initiated this project in the winter term in my Methods course, during which I and 27 senior students spread out throughout a large portion of Montreal collecting data on stop signs, focusing particularly but not exclusively on the language of the sign text. For me, one of the fascinating things about Montreal, visually, is the diversity you see in signs in different regions; Montreal's stop signs are in many ways a microcosm of language politics in the city and more generally in the province of Quebec. This is particularly significant given the changes in Quebec's language laws and attitudes towards signs in different languages over the past thirty years. The sixteen reports on the site (plus three or four more that await further revisions from students) are really superlative work, and reflect countless hours of effort in class and beyond. I think we all came to despise the project just a little bit while it was ongoing, but I hope the finished product is worth it.

In addition to the reports, the site has a Google Map on the home page, with placemarks to points of interest on the Montreal 'signscape'. We have also published the entirety of our dataset, although I have little expectation that these will be of immediate use to anyone. If you have any interest in language ideology, material culture studies, contemporary archaeology, urban geography, Montreal, bilingualism, or related topics, I'm sure you'll find exploring the site to be rewarding. Still to come is my editorial introduction to the website, but that's not really necessary to appreciate the site. Eventually my hope is to turn some of these reports, along with some additional material written by me, into an edited academic volume; stay tuned for more on that front!

Tags: anthropology, language, teaching
Current Mood: accomplished