Agency as doing-together: learning from fieldwork experiences

Abstract

Drawing on the perspective of critical sociolinguistics, this article presents preliminary reflections on the debate on agency in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. It draws upon three studies inspired by the Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, conducted in various contexts in the Spanish state: (i) a university setting of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, characterized by a high linguistic diversity that remains largely invisible; (ii) a cultural organization in Catalonia, whose objective is to overcome social and linguistic forms of segregation by fostering contact between recent migrants and the local population; (iii) sport clubs in the Basque Country, where young people are encouraged to use Euskara (the Basque language) and resist the tendency to resort to the more dominant Spanish language. We discuss diverse approaches to the notion of agency, while also offering an innovative perspective grounded in field experience: agency emerges as a “doing-together”, as a dialogic-collaborative process resulting from the interaction of researchers and participants. The outcomes of our interactions in the field extend beyond the confines of research studies, revealing the inherent political dimension of the project. This realization compels us, as researchers, to engage in ongoing reflection both within and beyond the context of fieldwork.