Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada (RBLA) – Call for papers – v.27, n. 1 (jan. - mar. 2027) Special Issue: Language, Generative Technologies and Sustainability: Entangling policies, discourses and practices to reinvent affective alliances and pluralist worlds

2025-11-10

Special issue (2027/1):

LANGUAGE, GENERATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND SUSTAINABILITY: ENTANGLING POLICIES, DISCOURSES AND PRACTICES TO REINVENT AFFECTIVE ALLIANCES AND PLURALIST WORLDS

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

This special issue invites contributions that explore the intersections between language, affect, generative technologies, and sustainability, with a focus on decolonial and counter-colonial perspectives in Applied Linguistics and related fields. In a profoundly unequal society marked by deep political, economic, social, cultural, and linguistic crises, it becomes increasingly urgent to confront planetary devastation and to challenge Eurocentric onto-epistemologies shaped by neoliberal capitalism. This challenge requires us to envision alternative modes of existence and new ways of producing and sharing knowledge, more closely aligned with pluriversality and the sustainability of life on Earth (Krenak, 2019; 2020). Within this scenario, it is equally vital to interrogate the foundations that sustain the rapid development of artificial intelligence across multiple social fields and contexts, so that we may resist the platformisation of (language) education and the realities of digital colonialism (Kwet, 2021). It is also crucial to consider the harmful effects of hegemonic policies, discourses, and practices of the present - intensified by generative technologies - on the relationships among human beings, nature, and the visible and invisible entities that inhabit our planet. In this regard, careful attention must be given not only to the oppressive limitations these technologies impose - particularly on minoritised groups - but also to the possibilities they create for resistance and transformation, also in the fields of  critical, transgressive Applied Linguístics and liberatory (language) education (Freire, 2014).

Within this horizon of seeking less oppressive and more genuinely plural and collective modes of existence in the world, it becomes meaningful to envision policies, discourses, and practices that allow for the emergence of alternative circuits of affect (Safatle, 2016), more closely aligned with ideas of coexistence and sustainable futures (Mignolo, 2019), biointeraction (Bispo dos Santos, 2023), political ecology (Leff, 2021), planetary justice (Pedersen, Stevis & Kalfagiani, 2024), among other perspectives. These approaches are situated within decolonial (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018) or counter-colonial (Bispo dos Santos, 2015) frameworks, as well as antiracist perspectives, within Applied Linguistics and related fields (Nascimento, 2019; Souza Neto, 2021; Conceição, 2023).

In today’s world, what is commonly referred to as the “cloud” is material and physical: submarine cables connecting continents make data flows possible, and massive data centers house thousands of machines for storing and processing information. These infrastructures demand immense quantities of natural resources: equipment, cooling systems requiring millions of liters of water, maintenance, and disposal - all of which should be carefully regulated to avoid environmental contamination. Moreover, they emit vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. As Crary (2023) notes, there remains a widespread imaginary that conceives digital technologies as “dematerialised.” The material and environmental realities are conveniently concealed by discursive strategies, such as the use of terms like “virtual” and “cloud.” At the current pace of global data storage and circulation - especially with the rapid advance of generative AI - data centers continue to expand, occupying large tracts of land not only in North America but also in countries with abundant natural resources and “openness” to hosting such infrastructures. These enterprises employ toxic methods for extracting rare metals, inflicting irreparable damage on soil, water, and human lives.

The modern project of dominating nature dates back to the sixteenth century, when social practices rooted in human connections with animals, insects, plants, forests, and rivers were dismantled. Natural cycles such as seasonal changes, lunar phases, bird migrations, the alternation of day and night, and the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness once guided social life but came to be disregarded - or perceived as obstacles to be overcome - in the name of “progress” and productivity.

According to Kwet (2021), we are now witnessing a new form of corporate colonisation: instead of conquering territories, technology corporations colonise digital space. A handful of U.S.-based companies concentrate control over essential functions of global digital life. This phenomenon has been termed “digital colonialism.” Similarly, Couldry and Mejias (2020) describe “data colonialism” as an emerging order of human appropriation, wherein lives are continuously mined for data extraction in pursuit of profit. Zuboff (2015) identifies this as “surveillance capitalism,” a parasitic economic logic in which the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new global architecture of behavioral modification. Together, these concepts reveal how today’s internet, dominated by a few corporations, consolidates control over the global flow of data. Likewise, in present times,  technology production, application and commercialization, when strongly linked to current neoliberal, capitalist systems, can foster the development of oppressive surveillance technologies that are used against forced migrants (Korkmaz, 2024). Taking all this into account, , it is both urgent and vital to challenge capitalist and neoliberal structures deeply rooted in coloniality, in order to confront their devastating and destructive effects across diverse contexts of contemporary life.

Against this backdrop, this special issue invites contributions that deepen debates and propose new perspectives on the intersections of language, affect, generative technologies, and sustainability, in relation to policies, discourses, and (educational) practices, from multiple perspectives, within the field of Transgressive and Undisciplined Applied Linguistics. By interweaving critical, decolonial, and counter-colonial studies, research, and reflections, this volume aims to offer theoretical, practical, and methodological contributions to ongoing challenges in research, (language) education, and teacher education in contemporary times, in connection with the issue’s central theme.

We welcome theoretical and practical proposals addressing, among others, the following interconnected topics:

  • Language education (in foreign/additional languages)
  • Educational policies
  • Teacher Education
  • Affect
  • Sustainability
  • Data decoloniality
  • Digital colonialism and decoloniality
  • Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
  • Migration policies
  • (Educational) Practices in diverse contexts, mediated by digital technologies or generative technologies (AI)
  • Other related themes

 

Referências

CONCEIÇÃO, J. V. Eles nos deram um rascunho da história, mas nós temos que passar a limpo: letramentos e identidades racializadas na escola e em outros espaços. Tese de Doutorado em Linguística Aplicada, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 2023. Disponível em: https://lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/handle/10183/266239/001186840.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

COULDRY, N.; MEJIAS, U. A. The Costs of Connection: How Data Are Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism. Redwood City CA: Stanford University Press, 2020.

CRARY, J. Terra arrasada: além da Era Digital, rumo a um mundo pós-capitalista. Trad. Humberto do Amaral. São Paulo: Ubu, 2023.

FREIRE, P. 2014[1992]. Pedagogia da esperança: um reencontro com a pedagogia do oprimido.  São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 2014[1992].

HOLANDA, F.U.X. Crise Civilizacional e Pensamento Decolonial. Belo Horizonte: Editora Dialética: Kindle Edition, 2021.

JUSRACIAL. Coexistência e respeito mútuo: princípios básicos da cidadania – Ailton Krenak e Rincon Sapiência. [Vídeo]. YouTube, 5 jun. 2024. Disponível em: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1bp5pCNmik. Acesso em: 11 set. 2025.

KORKMAZ, E. E. Smart borders, digital identity and Big Data: How surveillance technologies are used against migrants. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2024.

KRENAK, A. Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019.

KRENAK, A. A vida não é útil. Companhia das Letras. Edição do Kindle. 2020.

KWET, M. A ameaça nada sutil do Colonialismo Digital. Outras Palavras, São Paulo, 15 mar. 2021. Disponível em: https://outraspalavras.net/tecnologiaemdisputa/a-ameaca-nada-sutil-do-colonialismo-digital/. Acesso em: 13 set. 2025.

LEFF, E. Ecologia Política. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp. 2021.

MIGNOLO, W. Sustainable development or sustainable economies? Ideas towards living in harmony and plenitude. Socioscapes: International Journal of Societies, Politics and Cultures, 1(1), 48-65, 2019. https://doi.org/10.48250/1004

MIGNOLO, Walter D. & Catherine E. Walsh. 2018. On decoloniality: Concept, analytics, praxis. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

NASCIMENTO, G. Racismo linguístico: os subterrâneos da linguagem e do racism [Linguistic racism: The subterranean aspects of language and racism]. Belo Horizonte: Letramento Editorial, 2019.

PEDERSEN, S.;  STEVIS, D. & KALFAGIANNI, A. What is planetary justice?, Environmental Politics, 33:7, 1137-1145, 2024. DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2024.2418222

SAFATLE, V. O circuito dos afetos. Corpos políticos, desamparo e o fim do indivíduo. 2016

SOUZA NETO,  M. J. Por que pensar hoje em uma educação linguística antirracista? Limites, tensões e possibilidades. Revista Paraguaçu – Estudos Linguísticos e Literários – Volume 1, Número 1, p.p. 168-188, 2021.

ZUBOFF, S. Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of Information Technology, Thousand Oaks/CA, n. 30, p. 75-89, 2015. Disponível em: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2594754. Acesso em: 13 set. 2025.

 

PodCast

jusracial.com.br. PROJETO Criação e ... Coexistência e Respeito Mútuo: Princípios Básicos da Cidadania - Ailton Krenak e Rincon Sapiência.