Sigurd D’hondt appointed professor of applied linguistics
Since 2017, D’hondt has worked as an associate professor of applied linguistics at the Ģֱ. Prior to JYU, he worked at the University of Antwerp, the University of Gent and VU Amsterdam.
D’hondt obtained a PhD in linguistics from the University of Antwerp in 2001. His doctoral dissertation analysed the face-to-face interaction between Kiswahili-speaking adolescents in Dar es Salaam. An example of his early fascination for Africa is a study on exploring what practical knowledge the residents of Dar es Salaam need for using the many minibuses that provide cheap public transport, and which common-sense geographies and spatialities are reproduced during this process.
His research explores how interaction analysis can be used as a tool for dealing with broader social issues. He is also interested in how discourse, everyday practices and lifeworlds, as well as broader social political changes are connected to each other.
D’hondt leads the Academy of Finland project “Negotiating International Criminal Law: A courtroom ethnography of trial performance at the International Criminal Court” (2019–2023). This research offers a linguistic-anthropological perspective on how international crimes are handled by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC in The Hague is a permanent international criminal court that began its operations in 2002. It can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression.
The jurisdiction of the ICC extends across societies whose linguistic and cultural practices are extremely varied. Unlike established domestic legal systems, the ICC represents an evolving form of criminal justice, and its legitimacy is still often questioned.
The project of the Academy of Finland combines linguistic anthropology and interaction analysis expertise to create an empirical snapshot of how ICC trial actors deal with the previously mentioned tensions in the day-to-day implementation of criminal proceedings.
The researchers of the project examine different texts and discourses that are produced and exchanged by the trial actors during trials. The research also explores the unscripted interaction taking place in the courtroom, which often goes unrecognised in the more traditional analyses of international law. In this way, the project develops new perspectives on, for example, negotiations concerning the status of victims or how judges assess the cultural evidence presented to them.
Further information:
Sigurd D’hondt, tel. +358408055071, sigurd.a.dhondt@jyu.fi