The plenary talk will be given by Juan Carlos Moreno Cabrera (professor emeritus, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid):
Linguistic supremacism in the academic world
The academic policy that requires that just a few languages, often a single language, be considered as the only acceptable and prestigious one in the academic world is implicitly based on a supremacist vision of languages, according to which some are more suitable or appropriate than others for certain purposes. This vision, which lacks any linguistic justification, is directly inspired and governed by the processes of linguistic imperialism that have led to the hegemony of a few languages over others, which have been and continue to be displaced, marginalized and minoritized. The goal of the conference is to make the academic community aware of the deep connections between that policy and those processes that can reveal the ideological aspects underlying the supposedly free choice of some languages over others because they are considered more scientifically or academically relevant.