Academic Research: My academic inquiries into the intersections of language and human development are grounded in anthropological theories of agency, which illuminate young children’s capacities to actively shape their social and cultural worlds. Using video ethnography, I examine the everyday language use of young children to understand dynamic cultural change. Combined with oral history interviews, I contextualize contemporary children’s language practices in histories of language contact and migration.
Specifically, my research addresses how language ideologies, or taken-for-granted beliefs about languages and their speakers, influence young children’s choices to speak or not speak their mother tongues. I examine the processes of language survival and endangerment in migrant Tibetan communities, informed by a deep understanding of colonial histories in South Asia.
“The true locus of culture is in the interaction of specific individuals and…in the world of meaning which each one of these individuals may unconsciously abstract for [themselves]…”
— Edward Sapir (1949)
My current research examines the links between formal heritage language education and everyday language and literacy practices among Tibetan refugees (which I am conducting along with several feline side-kicks). I am addressing the ideological construction of heritage languages, and illuminating how children use multilingual repertoires to claim identities as speakers of their heritage languages. The most recent findings from this work are published in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.
Non-Profit Research: With my robust training in the social sciences, I apply mixed methods to support non-profits serving marginalized communities, especially Asian diaspora communities. Through grant-funded projects, I work with community partners to identify the best-fit methods to evaluate the impact of current programs and develop effective strategies to better serve their diverse populations. Examples of my partner organizations include the Tibetan Cultural Society of British Columbia, Radio Free Asia, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, where I have used deep interviewing, focus groups, and participant observation to assess the effectiveness of programs in education, media, and the arts. Alongside actionable research insights, I offer training workshops to build capacity within non-profit organizations. My non-profit work has been featured in academic magazines.
I hold a BA in Anthropology from Wellesley College, and an MA, MPhil, and PhD in Anthropology from New York University.
Shannon M. Ward, Ph.D. 