Thinking of the Americas not as a single entity, but as a series of diversities that shape its unity and identity, is a challenge for the Social Sciences and the Humanities; the changes currently taking place—not only technological, but also moral, political, cultural and linguistic—demand a return to the nature of social reality in order to reveal what problems arise and how, through the use and analysis of language, mental states and actions, changes can be generated to address the problems identified. Speech acts thus become fundamental to this reflection, since through the analysis of discourses, norms, rules and declarations it is possible to reveal problems that permeate institutions and their actors, in order to propose changes not from theory but from action itself; as Austin (1962) and Searle (1969) argued, speech acts have the power to impact, change and create social reality.
Accordingly, this symposium is oriented toward the discussion and reflection of various social problems that involve the use of language. It seeks to open a space for dialogue across different areas of the human and social sciences, to examine the role that language, thought, mental states and actions play in the construction of social institutions, both morally and politically. It is open to topics of interest such as: problems concerning social institutions; analysis of hate speech; discursive gender gaps; institutional rules and norms; language and social movements; relationships between language, mind and action in the social world; language and public virtues; Americanist glottopolitics; critical thinking for social change; among others closely related to the general line of work marked by the categories expressed in the symposium’s title. The symposium is thus expected to be an interdisciplinary reflection, presenting problems and discussions from philosophy, sociolinguistics, glottopolitics, sociology, etc.
