Call for papers - Face and identity on and off-line -5th International Symposium on Politeness

[Pilar Garces Blitvich]

Full Title: Face and identity on and off-line panel contributions. 5th International Symposium on Politeness

Date: June 30th to July 2nd, 2010
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Contact Person: Pilar Garces Blitvich
Meeting Email: pgblitvi at uncc.edu
Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Anthropological linguistics
Subject Language(s): English 

Call Deadline: October 15, 2009

Meeting Description: 
The aim of this panel is to bring together scholars of varied disciplines to explore the interconnections between face and identity in on/off line situations.

Call for Papers 
The studies of face and identity have formed the cornerstones of im-politeness theories and modern sociological thought respectively. However, despite their obvious conceptual proximity, little consideration has been given to the interrelation between face and identity (Spencer-Oatey 2007), at least within those approaches to the study of im-politeness phenomena derived from Brown and Levinson’s (1987) formative model (but see the work of scholars working within the North American School of Communication studies, among others (Ting-Toomey and Kurogi 2005; Domenici and Littlejohn 2006). 
 
However, the field of politeness research has of late experienced a shift towards discursive (Eelen 2001; Mills 2003; Watts 2003; Locher and Watts 2005) and face-constituting (Arundale 1999, 2006) approaches which allow for a dynamic construction of im-politeness while delving into the relationship between im-politeness and appropriate or politic behavior (Watts 2003; Locher and Watts 2005) in specific contexts. 
 
The emphasis on im-politeness as a social, discursive phenomenon has led scholars (see Lambert-Graham 2007; Spencer-Oatey 2007; Locher 2008; Garces-Conejos Blitvich 2009; among others) to look for alternative ways to conceptualize and describe im-politeness. Identity theory (Joseph 2004; Bucholtz and Hall 2005; de Fina et al 2006; Benwell and Stokoe 2006) presents itself as a useful, alternative analytical tool.
 
This panel aims to further this discussion by including original papers that bring together notions of face and identity and apply them to the analysis of situated im-politeness.
 
Paper proposals dealing with, but not limited to, the following topics are welcome:
 
Face and identity in web 2.0 sites
Face and identity in traditional media
Face and identity in professional settings
Face, identity and gender
Face, identity and bilingualism
 
Those scholars interested in contributing a paper to this panel are kindly requested to send a 400 
word abstract to Pilar Garces Blitvich (pgblitvi at uncc.edu) by October 15th, 2009. 


References:
 
Arundale, Robert B. (1999). An alternative model and ideology of communication for an alternative to politeness theory. Pragmatics 9, 1: 119-153.
Arundale, Robert B. (2006). Face as relational and interactional: A communication framework for research on face, facework and politeness. Journal of Politeness Research 2: 193-216.
Benwell, Bethan and Elizabeth Stokoe (2006). Discourse and Identity. Edinburgh: EdinburghUniversityPress.
Brown, Penelope and Levinson, Steven (1987). Politeness: Some Universals of Language Usage. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress.
Bucholtz, Mary and Kira Hall (2005). Identity and interaction: a socio-cultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies 7, 4-5: 585-614.
de Fina, Anna, Schiffrin, Deborah, Bamberg, Michael (eds.) (2006). Discourse and Identity. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress. 
Domenici, Kathy and Littlejohn, Stephen. (2006). Facework: Bridging Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA; Sage.
Eelen, Gino. (2001). A critique of politeness theories. Manchester: St. JeromePublishing. 
Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar. Impoliteness and identity in the American news media: The “Culture Wars”. Journal of Politeness Research 5, 2: 273-304.
Lambert-Graham, Sage. (2007). Disagreeing to agree: Conflict, (im)politeness and identity in a computer-mediated community. Journal of Pragmatics 39: 742-759.
Locher, Miriam (2008). Relational work, politeness and identity construction. In Antos Gerd, Eija Ventola and Tilo Weber (eds.) Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Volume 2: Interpersonal Communication. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 509-540.
Locher, Miriam A. and Watts, Richard J. (2005). Politeness theory and relational work. Journal of Politeness Research 1: 9-13.
Joseph, John. (2004). Language and Identity: National, Ethnic, Religious.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 
Mills, Sarah. (2003). Gender and Politeness. Cambridge, UK: CambridgeUniversityPress.
Spencer-Oatey, Helen (2007). Theories of identity and the analysis of face. Journal of Pragmatics 39: 639-656.
Ting-Toomey, Stella and Kurogi, Atsuko (2005). Facework competence in intercultural conflict: An updated face-negotiation theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 22: 187-225.
Watts, Richard. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge, UK: CambridgeUniversityPress, Cambridge.
 Pilar G. Blitvich, Ph.D. | Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics 
UNC Charlotte | Department of English
9201 University City Blvd. | Charlotte, NC 28223
Phone: 704- 687 2126 | Fax: 704-687-3961
pgblitvi at uncc.edu | http://www.english.uncc.edu/blitvich.html