Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2019
Starting from the idea that all social life is characterized by contact between those who do not have the same trajectories of socialization, this article draws on insights from work on narrative, normativity, and social value to examine how contact is discursively policed. Building on scholarship on diversity talk and translingualism I propose the concept contact discourse to refer to the discursive work that constructs and evaluates those who inhabit contact zones. While both streams of scholarship cover the discursive policing of social life to greater and lesser extents, they cover very different participation and authorization frameworks. Contact discourse and the three associated terms—models of contact, contact commentary, and contact talk—highlight the importance of participation and authorization frameworks for understanding the policing of social life in contact zones. My empirical focus is on discursive data from television, social media, interviews, and everyday talk. (Contact, discourse, diversity talk, normativization, translingualism, value)*
In addition to the many Indonesians who have enabled me to glimpse into their contact worlds (acknowledged in the publications listed in note 1 below), I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the journal editors for their feedback that has helped me sharpen the ideas I present here. All errors, omission, and misinterpretations are, of course, my own.