Voices in transit: Language, belonging, and the edge of (im)mobility

Abstract

In this commentary, I critically engage with the contributions of the special issue Boundaries and belonging in an age of (im)mobility, reflecting on how they illuminate the entangled relations between language, mobility, and voice. Drawing on concepts such as translanguaging, assemblage, and counter-conduct, I argue that (im)mobility must be understood not merely as spatial displacement, but as an affective and epistemic condition shaped by broader structures of inequality. I highlight how the articles explore linguistic legitimacy, belonging, and resistance across institutional, digital, and everyday contexts. I also reflect on the ethical and methodological implications of researching mobility, advocating for reflexive, longitudinal, and intersectional approaches. I conclude by calling for a sociolinguistics that is politically engaged and epistemologically attentive—one that centers the lived experiences of constraint, aspiration, and potentiality in an increasingly bordered world.