32.2943, Calls: Discourse Analysis/Belgium

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2943. Thu Sep 16 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.2943, Calls: Discourse Analysis/Belgium

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Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2021 20:42:58
From: Najma Al Zidjaly [najmaz at gmail.com]
Subject: Panel: The Secret Lives of Emojis, Stickers, Memes and Gifs: Inside and Beyond the Binaries of Context, Culture and Playfulness

 
Full Title: Panel: The Secret Lives of Emojis, Stickers, Memes and Gifs: Inside and Beyond the Binaries of Context, Culture and Playfulness 

Date: 13-Jul-2022 - 16-Jul-2022
Location: Ghent, Belgium 
Contact Person: Najma Al Zidjaly
Meeting Email: najmaz at gmail.com

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis 

Call Deadline: 16-Sep-2021 

Meeting Description:

In everyday interactions across cultures, we are frequently faced with binary
constructions through which to communicate. Political and gender binaries, for
example, play a profound role in both the production and interpretation of
discourse in multiple countries and languages. This is true at all levels of
language, from grammatically-encoded binary gender to socially-constructed
political/social membership. In many cases, images allow users to indicate
alignment or resist these imposed binary structures. Multimodal resources such
as memes, emojis, gifs and stickers (MEGS) are frequently used to break free
of these binary constraints. 

Since the advent of digital interaction, images have been used for a variety
of purposes: to support ludic play, to simplify and streamline messages, and
to clarify speaker intent, among others, While initially they served as
keyboard-based simplistic renditions, modern technology offers a plethora of
both still and animated images to serve these purposes. This panel critically
explores and uncovers the complexity of image-based digital resources  on
digital platforms from across the globe as they interact within and around
socially and culturally embedded binary structures. 

While there has been a notable surge in recent research on the phatic roles
MEGS play (e.g. Giannoulis and Wilde 2021), there remains questions of how and
why visual image-based media perform relational work and construct
interpersonal connection. Most importantly, research has noted the existence
of much more complexity beneath the veneer of playfulness often ascribed to
non-verbal communicative digital tools, and it is the goal of this panel to
continue to expand our understanding of these complex multimodal forms.  

Here, we will critically examine the (sometimes clandestine) functions memes,
emojis, gifs and stickers construct, including (but not limited to): signaling
dissent (Al Zidjaly 2017, Denisova 2018), creating gendered roles (Graham
2019) subverting authority (Zhang et al 2019), acting as public signs (Al
Zidjaly and Al Barhi 2022), mapping cultures (Abdullah 2021, Dynel and Thomas
2020), responding to daily actions (Ahmadi et al. 2020), communicating about
Covid-19 (Anapol 2020, Dynel 2020),  and many more.   

Expanding the analytical and methodological lens through which MEGS have been
examined, we can further explore the agency and creativity of social media
users in subverting social realities and imposed binary structures (especially
in cultures with limited freedom of expression). 

The panel advocates research into a variety of non-interpersonal or
non-emotional forms and functions of non-verbal communicative tools (e.g.
memes, emoji, gifs and stickers) across the globe (with a focus on
underexamined contexts and cultures, including the Middle East, Asia and
Africa). Thus, this panel is interested in the multimodal practices of digital
media users, exploring how individuals use image-based digital resources (e.g.
emojis, GIFs, memes, stickers, etc.) both as a stand-alone resource and as a
supplement to text as a way to challenge the binaries encoded in digital
interaction. In this way, we can gain a greater understanding of imposed
cultural and social expectations on multiple platforms, including but not
limited to WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, WeChat, etc.


Call for Papers:

We invite research on the complex usage of image-based digital resources,
including memes, emojis, gifs and WhatsApp stickers on different digital
platforms from across the globe, with a highlight on functions they perform
which go beyond the playful facilitation of communication. 

If you would like to participate in the panel (with a 20 minute paper
presentation), please send an email immediately with an idea, your name,
contact details and affiliation to both organizers: Sage Graham
(sgraham2 at memphis.edu) and Najma Al Zidjaly (najmaz at gmail.com) 

Don't hesitate to contact us at the above email addresses if you have further
questions. We are looking forward to your contributions!

This is an Invited Panel at Sociolinguistics Symposium 24 (13-16 July 2022).




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LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2943	
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