Whiteness, Accents, and Children's Media

Summary

In this episode of the Language on the Move podcast, Brynn Quick speaks with Dr. Laura Smith-Khan about language and accents in children’s media, from Octonauts to Disney to Bluey, and they investigate what a choice as seemingly banal as a character’s accent has to do with whiteness, standard language ideology, and securing a nation’s borders. They then reflect on Laura’s most recently published paper (with co-authors Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller and Dr. Hanna Torsh) and how accents and language are used to shape discourses around migration and belonging.

For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here.

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Language on the Move

Language on the Move is a podcast about linguistic diversity in social life. Produced and edited by Ingrid Piller and Brynn Quick, our aim is to have in-depth and fun conversations with key thinkers about multilingualism, language learning, and intercultural communication in the contexts of globalization and migration.

To find out more about the Language on the Move research team at Macquarie University, follow our research blog, or find us on Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, and YouTube.

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