Typography, language and ideology: Basque and Galician lettering on urban signposting. Research seminar with Dr Johan Järlehed.

Johan Järlehed, researcher and lecturer at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) will present the results of a comparative study of the Basque and Galician landscapes (signposting in public spaces) funded by the Swedish national research council, Vetenskapsrådet.

The use of the so-called Basque and Galician lettering on urban signposting depends on three ideological frameworks: cultural resistance, cultural standardisation and cultural commodification. This study examines the concept of cultural difference and how this is addressed and reflected in the linguistic landscape. To this end, it examines three interrelated practices: legal and administrative regulations; language and visual representation; and the collective conceptualization of Basque and Galician cultural differences.

The seminar will round off this analysis with a discussion based on the interviews with designers and social actors responsible for signposts and designs. More specifically, it will explore the relationship between language and typography, to then place discussion within a broader dimension of sociocultural transformations in the Basque and Galician societies.

This seminar will be held in Spanish.