Gender, language, & global processes

[Marisol del-Teso-Craviotto]

One area that may be interesting for you is the Internet. In my own 
research on chat rooms I have observed conversational practices that 
differ from room to room, but I have also found that some strategies 
are present in US and Spanish chats, even if the language of 
interaction is different. There seems to be an "Internet culture" 
that goes beyond geographical and cultural boundaries, although the 
existence of such "trans-culture" has been mostly explored in the 
communication literature, and not so much in the linguistic arena, so 
there are more questions to be asked than answers I can point you to. 
If you're interested, I could send you the part of my dissertation 
that deals with gender and sexual identity performances in dating 
chats and shows that local and global cultures coexist in chat 
interactions.
Hope this helps,
Marisol



>Dear all
>
>I want to initiate a new thread on the topic of gender, language, & 
>global processes.  The self-serving reason being that I am working 
>on my little contribution for the first issue of our journal, Gender 
>& Language, focusing on this topic.  If you remember, the articles 
>in the first issue focus on important and under-explored issues in 
>language & gender, so that's the background I'm working with.  Under 
>the label "global processes" I want to include transnationalism in 
>its different forms (e.g., migrations, remittances, seasonal labour, 
>multiple allegiances), as well as more canonical global processes. 
>I also want to emphasize the local experience of global processes, 
>e.g., that of call-center workers in Bangalore who are expected to 
>learn American or British accents as a condition for employment in 
>the global service industry, even though they may never have the 
>first-hand experience of moving.
>
>As you may know, anthropologists have long been concerned with these 
>processes and experiences, but linguistic anthropologists and 
>sociolinguists have been slower at catching on to the wealth of 
>insights that one can gain about (a) gender, (b) language, and (c) 
>globality from a focus on the intersection of the three.
>
>What works have you found useful at this intersection?
>
>Looking forward to hearing about works I may not know.
>
>Niko
>
>Niko Besnier
>Professor of Cultural Anthropology, University of Amsterdam
>Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawai'i at Manoa


-- 

Marisol del-Teso-Craviotto
Assistant Professor
253 Irvin Hall
Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056

Tel: (513) 529-4519