Linguistic Ethnography Forum

Minutes of General Meeting
Kings College London, Monday 19th  April

Present: Richard Barwell, Gabriele Budach, Mette Christensen, Angela Creese, Rosie Flewitt, Valerie Hey,  Noriko Inagaki, Vicky Khasandi-Telewq, Vally Lytra, Marilyn Martin-Jones, Janet Maybin, Pia Pichler, Margaret Obondo, Ben Rampton, Brian Street, Annabel Tremlett

1.	Apologies: Kate Pahl, Joan Swann, Karin Tusting, Margie Wetherell  

2.	Minutes of the meeting held at Edge Hill College, Tuesday 8th April

2.1	The minutes of this meeting were agreed.

3.	Matters Arising

3.1.	None.

4.	Acting Officers Reports

4.1	The following officers’ reports were circulated: convenor, treasurer, communications secretary and meetings coordinator.  These are also available at:   http://www.ling-ethnog.org.uk/aboutus.htm

4.1.	Re. the treasurer’s report Marilyn Martin-Jones noted that the balance carried over to the Edgehill event of £508.07 was income not from the Aberystwyth event but from Leicester.
4.2.	Karin Tusting’s efficiency and overall organisation skills in managing the website and email list were noted.

5.	Seminars and Colloquia

5.1.	Gregynog under-recruitment and implications for Spring 2005.  Ben Rampton led this discussion which covered the following possible causes for the under-recruitment:  timing, location, constituency, theme.  It was suggested that we hold the next seminar on a Friday and Saturday, rather than only on weekdays.  Richard Barwell suggested the idea of ‘piggybacking’ on another conference and both SS16 and next year’s International Bilingualism Conference were suggested as a possibility for the 2006 seminar.  The balance between themed and general topics was also discussed.  There was discussion about whether the seminar should only be held in metropolitan areas, or in areas where there was already a critical mass of linguistic ethnographers.  The consensus was that we should continue to look for invitations to host the 2005 seminar

5.2.	Colloquium at BAAL AM 2004.  Ben Rampton reported on the theme of the Linguistic Ethnography Colloquium (see http://www.ling-ethnog.org.uk/) : Part One: Time, the global & the local: theoretical and methodological explorations. Part Two: Ethnographies of communication in multilingual spaces.

5.3.	Spring 2005 Seminar. There was a discussion about the theme and venue for next Seminar.  Brian Street suggested that at the next seminar we raise questions which focus the audiences on what Linguistic Ethnography is.  The possibility of using the seminar as a consolidation event, to take stock and reflect over the last 5 years was suggested.  Mention was made of using the seminar to plan for an international conference drawing on our active North American and European links, and to consider a publication positioning the work done within linguistic ethnography.   Other suggestions were also made to rethink the structure of the seminar.  This included the idea of inviting participants to put forward abstracts and to organise the overall design of two of the five (90 minute) seminar slots. A possible venue to consider is the University of Southampton which Jill Bourne had suggested the year before.  Theme and venue  will be further discussed at Coordinating Committee meeting on 2nd July in London.  

6.	Other Activity 2004-2005
6.1	Possible links between UKLEF and other organisations were raised.  Brian Street spoke about the possibilities of greater links with the Royal Institute of Anthropology in Education Committee.  Ben Rampton raised the possibilities of links through the ESRC Social Identities and Social Action networks.  

7.	Financial Strategy 
7.1.	Richard Barwell talked through the financial strategy.  He reported that  BAAL will audit UKLEF’s accounts.   There was a debate about revenue and reserves.  A tension was acknowledged between the need to raise additional revenue for future events while keeping costs low.   A specific mandate emerged to amend the financial strategy to reflect  a decision to investigate the possibility of collecting a membership fee,  possibly administered through BAAL.  Marilyn Martin-Jones offered to bring this up at the BAAL executive. Other sources of income were also discussed such as funds from the British Academy for speakers travel.  The time-consuming nature of such applications was also noted.

7.2.	The financial strategy should be amended so that 4.2 (concerning the maximum sum for cheques to be signed by a single signatory) sets a figure of £200 rather than the £500 as stated. 

8.	Constitution
The 9th version of the UKLEF constitution was approved. Marilyn Martin-Jones said that there was acknowledgment at BAAL that UKLEF had provided some a good model of practice for future SIGs.

9.	Elections
The following officers were elected:
Ben Rampton, Convenor (1 year)
Richard Barwell, Treasurer (1year)
Karin Tusting, Communications Secretary (2 years)
Angela Creese, Meetings Coordinator (2 years)
Janet Maybin, Ordinary Member (2 years)
Vally Lytra, Ordinary Member (1 year)

10.	AOB
Marilyn Martin Jones thanked the committee for their work since UKLEF’s inception.  This was seconded by Brian Street.