Dana Osborne PhD

Dr. Dana Osborne joined the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures in 2016 and is a linguistic anthropologist.

The central aims of my research focus on understanding the ways in which speakers in the Philippines have grappled with language contact and change in light of 450 years of colonial and imperial occupation, with a special focus on the last century. Focusing on historical as well as contemporary analyses of language, my research traces an archaeology of largescale discourses forged in the crucible of the burgeoning Philippine nation at the turn of the 20th century, critical moves by the newly sovereign state at mid-century, and contemporary orientations to language in everyday practices across the archipelago. With a focus on multilingual speakers in the provincial minority-language region of Ilocandia in the northernmost part of the big island of Luzon, my research sheds light onto the ways in which processes of coloniality and imperialism can be understood in new ways through the lens of language. Key themes of my research focus on multilingualism, codemixing and switching, and more recently, the ways in which language can be leveraged as a political tool. I teach courses in methods, anthropological theory, linguistics, and linguistic anthropology, among others.

I am currently accepting MA and PhD level graduate students with interests in language, linguistics, code-mixing and switching, discourse analysis, political oratory, or other foci that in part or in whole engage with these themes. Please reach out via email.

Undergraduates, please check for Career Boost or Undergraduate Research Opportunities to work with me as an RA.