The UAB awards Monica Heller an honorary doctorate
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona conferred an honorary degree to Professor Monica Heller from the University of Toronto on February 28, 2023. The proposal was put forth by the Department of English and German Philology and it was supported by the Facultat de Filosofia i LLetres, the Facultat de Traducció i Interpretació and the Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació and defended by Professor Melissa G. Moyer.
Professor Heller has been widely recognized as a leading thinker in the field of language and its connection to culture and society. Her work has always taken a critical angle focusing on the source and consequences of social difference and inequality. A key element of her thinking is the innovative way she adopts an economic perspective to trace the shifting ideologies of language, nation, and State in Canada. Using ethnographic and fieldwork methods, she broadens our understanding of how the changing conditions in the world economy have placed language at the forefront.
Professor Heller's relationship with the Department of English Philology and German Studies dates back to 1999. She has maintained a fruitful collaboration with the C.I.E.N. research group within the framework of several competitive research projects. An association that has led to research stays by members of the C.I.E.N. research team at the University of Toronto, scientific collaborations, and joint publications. The Department along with our undergraduate, master's and doctoral students have also had the opportunity to benefit from her ideas and academic advice.