Towards an appreciation of individual positionality and the global-local interface: Facebook Actorhood in Zambia

ABSTRACT

Using data from Zambian Facebook platforms, we argue for the complex intersectionality of the global-local semiotic assemblages for the production and consumption of a contested and unpredictable virtual landscape. While ‘glocality’ is a by-product of an on-going sociolinguistics of globalization, and that the local remains an active partner in the (co-)creation of glocality, the paper sees the virtual platform as a semiotic canvas on which individualized semiotic preferences are expressed within and beyond the pull and push of the sociolinguistics of globalization. The paper takes instances of translanguaging on Facebook as markers of semiotic and linguistic freedoms in which individual agency undercuts the global semiotic flows and goes against the normative expectation to act in an unpredictable way in the face of globalization. We thus argue for the role of assertiveness, spontaneity arising from the shared heritage, bilingualism and ‘play’ as motivation for the ‘messy’ yet meaningful virtual landscape.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• African languages
• Facebook
• globality
• mobility
• positionality

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Gabriel Simungala

Gabriel Simungala is an early career academician in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Literature and Languages at the University of Zambia. He holds a Master of Arts in Linguistic Science from the University of Zambia and has wide research interests in language education, youth and pop culture, critical and multimodal discourse analysis, globalization and mobility, linguistic/semiotic landscapes, Bantu linguistics and the sociolinguistics of language contact. His recent publications include ‘Socio-cultural narratives and the anthropomorphic power of agency in a semiotic landscape (with Jimaima H.)’ and Multilingual Realities of Language Contact at the University of Zambia (with Jimaima)’ Email: [email protected], The University of Zambia, Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia.

Hambaba Jimaima

Hambaba Jimaima is commonwealth fellow, and holds a PhD in linguistics teaching in the Department of Literature and Languages in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zambia. His research interests revolve around semiotics, sociolinguistics, syntax and the extended view of multimodality, predicated on language production and consumption in the public spaces. His recent publications include ‘Linguistic Landscapes and the sociolinguistics of language vitality in multilingual contexts of Zambia’, Multilingua, De Gruyter Mouton vol 36/5: 595–626, 2017 (with Felix Banda) and Semiotic Ecology of linguistic landscapes in rural Zambia, Journal of Sociolinguistics 19/5: 643–670, 2015 (with Felix Banda). Email: [email protected], The University of Zambia, Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia