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International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

Abstract

Through a narrative about the formation and advancement of Wichita State University’s community-based health equity initiative Alce su Voz (‘Speak Out’), this article presents a reflection on the author’s role as a community-engaged scholar and the multiple levels of work in which linguists can engage to support linguistic social justice. The paper begins with a discussion of the role of the applied linguist in social change and a discussion of community-engaged scholarship, including community-based learning and community-based research. Then, using Alce su Voz’s approach to improving health equity for speakers of Spanish and Indigenous languages as an example, the author discusses how linguists can bring people together to uplift communities. She next presents the initiative’s three-pronged approach to improving health equity for speakers of minoritized languages, which includes (1) community engagement and education, (2) policy maker engagement and policy research, and (3) workforce development. Finally, the discussion returns to the linguist’s role as a teacher-scholar to explore possibilities and challenges for public scholarship and student engagement and consider how we can overcome the challenges of leadership in scholarship for social change.

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