IGALA Advisory Council elections: Voting (polls closing by the end of today)

Fri Oct 28 13:01:51 UTC 2011

Apologies for cross-postings.
This is a final reminder for IGALA members to vote for both categories of advisory council posts, by following each of the two links in 'How to Vote' below. You need to include your name, or your vote won't count.
PLEASE NOTE THAT POLLS ARE CLOSING BY THE END OF TODAY (FRIDAY 28TH).
Thank you to those of you who have cast their votes already.
Lia Litosseliti (for IGALA)

________________________________

International Gender and Language Association (IGALA)

Advisory Council elections

The call for nominations for IGALA Advisory Council membership (7 ordinary members and 1 Graduate Student Representative member) is now closed. Thank you for your nominations (15 in total). Paid up IGALA members can vote for 1 ordinary member and 1 graduate student representative member between September 29th and October 28th. Information on how to do this is given below.

Some useful reminders:

1.
- Ordinary members take responsibility for a key task (to be agreed at the next committee meeting). To date, such tasks have included liaising with the Association's journal (Gender and Language), organising local IGALA branches/ events/ book prize, communicating with the media, running elections etc; they may also include supporting members and the Association with conference/ travel grant applications for members to attend IGALA conferences, participating in student bursaries allocation committees, and other tasks that may become necessary as the Association grows.

- The Graduate Student Representative is responsible for
* bringing issues to IGALA that are of concern and importance to graduate students
* working with other IGALA members and the Executive Committee to make graduate students an active and visible presence within IGALA
* facilitating graduate contributions to and representation at the IGALA conferences and their involvement in other professional activities
* in coordination with the conference organizers and other members of the IGALA executive committee and membership, developing one graduate student workshop at each IGALA conference on a topic or topics relevant to the professional and intellectual development of graduate students and junior academic staff/faculty
* being a member of the committee in charge of the IGALA Graduate Student Essay Competition

2.

- Information on IGALA can be found at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/organisations/igala/Index.html or via the Secretary. In addition to being able to be elected/ involved in the association's activities, being a member of IGALA includes a subscription to the Gender and Language journal, and allows you to submit abstracts and present at IGALA conferences, so we would encourage colleagues and graduate students to become members if not already.
Information on the next IGALA conference (20-22 June 2012) can be found at http://www.unisinos.br/eventos/igala/

HOW TO VOTE:

1. Read the candidates’ statements (found at the bottom of this message)

2. Visit http://doodle.com/4g9dtgfhe63uc5f5 to vote for your preferred Ordinary member

3. Visit http://doodle.com/tec43fss87e3s88a to vote for your preferred Graduate Student Representative member

Each member can vote once for each of the above two roles, between September 29th and October 28th. In the unlikely event that you have problems with the electronic voting system, please contact Michelle Lazar, IGALA Secretary (ellmml at nus.edu.sg<mailto:ellmml at nus.edu.sg>) using email subject header 'IGALA AC Voting'.

Thank you.

Lia Litosseliti

IGALA Vice President

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Candidates’ statements

(1) Ordinary Members

1. Fabienne Baider
I was granted in 1999 the first PhD in Gender Studies and Linguistics at the University of Toronto and have been teaching linguistic courses, feminist theory and language and gender at the University of Cyprus since the year 2000.  Being the Vice-President of the Modern Languages department since 2010,  and the Graduate coordinator since 2010, I also undertook the position of convenor in Cyprus for the French speaking Graduate School in the Near and Middle-East (CODFRAMO) since April 2010 (Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan).

My work (such as my thesis Hommes galants, femmes faciles 2004) uses discourse analysis and semantic theory (Rastier) to show from a lexical semantic point of view how the signifier homme (man) and femme (woman) had been constructed in the dominant discourse (mainly literary and lexicographical discourses) from the time we have access to written texts (Middle Ages). I use in some of my research computerized data analysed with software to expose patterns of discriminatory discourse (see 2009 my chapters in Language Variation European Perspectives II and in Feminism, Femininity and Gendered Discourse 2010 as well as my article in Modern and contemporary France 2010). My work has been published in top French feminist journals such as Nouvelles questions feminists (founded by Beauvoir and now based in Switzerland) and I am a regular reviewer for Recherches féministes (based in Quebec). Lately I have been working on Interactions within language classes in the context of Cypriot schools and power relation in institutional settings (Cahiers pédagogiques 2011).

Involved in the Minor in Gender Studies at the University of Cyprus since its approval in 2008, I co-organised two international and interdisciplinary conferences in Language and Gender (among the four international conferences I organized since 2001). These are The Languages of Gender, 2003 (with Jennifer Coates and Sara Ahmed as keynote speakers) and InterSexion, 2009, focusing on Language and Gender in Romance languages (with Elizabeth Burr as keynote speaker), the proceedings of which will appear in December 2011. I was also on the organising committees of a week-long celebration of Gender Studies within Cyprus in October 2010 (which included 12 different speakers in Greek and in English), and a one day event to happen in October 2011 (with Karen Offen from Stanford University).
I have been participating in the IGALA conferences since IGALA started and actually was a graduate student at UC Berkeley when the Berkeley Women and Language Conference started in the 90’s (the ancestor of IGALA). I would gladly contribute to the advertising in the Romance - speaking world of IGALA; and make Romance languages an active and visible presence within IGALA (possibly to have a  session or a workshop focusing on issues specific to Romance Languages or cultures at each IGALA conference). Based in Cyprus and in regular contact with the Near / Middle-East, I would also promote IGALA issues and events in that region, especially via the CODFRAMO graduate school. I work well in a team and look forward to learning from other Executive members and as well sharing my professional experience such as organizing events and publications.

2. Mercedes Bengoechea
I am Professor of Sociolinguistics and have been Dean of the Faculty of Filosofía y Letras (Universidad de Alcalá, Spain) for six years.

I have been member of the IGALA Advisory Council; member of the Advisory Language Committee of the Instituto de la Mujer, NOMBRA (Ministry of Social Affairs); member of the Experts Committee on Gender and Childhood for the Institute of the National Spanish Televisión (Instituto Oficial de Radio Televisión Española); and member of the National Committee for the Modernization of Legal Language. I was also the first co-ordinator of the Annual Report of the Spanish National Observatory on Gender Violence.

My research on language and gender has focused mainly on denouncing, on the one hand, the sexist usage of the language in the Spanish media and, on the other hand, normative linguistic policies and dictionaries of Spanish. I have also led proposals for non-sexist use of Spanish and analysed media discourse. I am now interested in feminist translation.

3. Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard

I have been an active member of the IGALA Board, participating actively in most of the events promoted by the association. I have a long career in the areas of Critical Discourse Analysis, with particular emphasis on the issues of Language and Gender. Given my present role in the next IGALA conference (as the Book Prize manager and as part of the local team in Brazil), I think my continuation as a member of the Advisory Council is appropriate and I am very willing to run for re-election.

4. Holly R. Cashman

I am an Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures at the University of New Hampshire, USA. My research focuses on Spanish in the U.S., bilingual discourse, impoliteness, and gender & sexuality in interaction. My work has been published in journals including Multilingua, Journal of Politeness Research, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development and Spanish in Context. I am currently preparing to begin a new data collection project funded by the National Science Foundation (USA) to examine language, identity and community among gay and lesbian Latinos and Latinas in the U.S. Southwest (Phoenix, Arizona). I am enthusiastic about getting involved with IGALA, and I would happily contribute to any of the key tasks of the Advisory Council. I am particularly interested in participating in review committees or grant writing to support conferences and travel, liaising with other entities and any other tasks that will help the association to grow.

5. Grace Diabah (nee Bota)

I am a Lecturer at the University of Ghana, but currently finishing my PhD in Applied Linguistics (Gender and Language) at the Lancaster University. My PhD research has been on 'constructions of gender identities in the discourses of Ghanaians in the UK Diaspora', through the application of FCDA, DP and cognitive linguistics approaches to discourse. I therefore work in a wide range of linguistic fields, including Gender and Language, Critical Discourse Analysis, Discursive Psychology, Sociolinguistics and Cognitive linguistics. As part of my research interests, I have also worked on gender, media and politics (see publications below). For future research, I plan to work on Ghanaian media discourses on domestic violence and sexual assault, and constructions of gender identity in the classroom. With my interest in research in non-dominant and under-represented contexts (Ghanaian/African), I hope to contribute to the international nature of IGALA.

Regarding my experience with conference planning and organisation, I worked as an Abstract Co-ordinator and a Reviewer for the Linguistics and English Language (Lancaster University) Postgraduate Conference in 2009. I also worked as a co-editor for the conference proceedings.

Selected publications

Anderson, J., Diabah, G. and hMensa, P. A. (2011). Powerful women in powerless language: Media representation of African women in politics; The case of Liberia. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(10), 2509-2518.

Diabah, G. (2011). Gendered discourses: Liberia's 'Iron Lady' vs. George Weah. In Majstorovic, D. and Inger, L. (eds.), Living with Patriarchy: Discursive constructions of gendered subjects across cultures (pp. 169-194). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Diabah, G. (forthcoming). 'I cannot be blamed for my own assault': Ghanaian media discourses on the context of blame in Mzbel's sexual assaults. In Atanga, L., Ellece, S., Litosseliti, L. and Sunderland, J. (eds.), Gender and language in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tradition, struggle and change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Diabah, G. (accepted for publication). SEX FOR GENDER metonymy?: A consideration of three expressions from Akan. Metaphor and the Social World.

 6.  Allyson Jule
Currently Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Gender Studies Institute at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada, I spent many years of study in the UK. I earned my PhD in London at the Roehampton Institute/Froebel College and then taught in Wales at the University of Glamorgan for several years before returning home to Canada in 2008. My particular research interests are in the area of gender in the classroom and gender alongside religious identity. My publications include A Beginner’s Guide to Language and Gender and Gender, Participation and Silence in the Language Classroom: Sh-shushing the Girls. As editor, I have produced of two collections of sociolinguistic research: Gender and the Language of Religion and Language and Religious Identity. Along with Bettina Tate Pedersen, I also edited Being Feminist, Being Christian: Essays from Academia, and am the current media reviews editor for Women and Language journal. I have served on the advisory council for IGALA since 2008 and am also the conference organizer for IGALA 2014 in Vancouver.

7.  Laurel Kamada
I have been working in the field of gender and language for much of my career, producing such publications as “Hybrid Identities and Adolescent Girls” (Multilingual Matters, 2010) about mixed-race and gender in Japan. I have also examined masculinity in mixed-ethnic adolescent boys (Discourse Studies, 2009, 11:3) and have numerous book chapters on topics such as theoretical and methodological approaches to gender research (2008), the ethno-gendered position of English in Japan for a new sector of society (2011) and ‘glocal’ hybrid and gendered identities in Japan (forthcoming). Having served on the Advisory Council since 2008 and having attended and participated in IGALA conferences in New Zealand and Japan, I have made contacts, gained experience, learned how IGALA functions and undertaken responsibilities required of the AC members. Living in Japan, I helped with the IGALA event in Tokyo particularly by preparing local web information, organizing a Japan-based panel, recruiting local participants, and helping coordinate the book prize. If re-elected to the AC, I would like to further contribute by helping again with elections, ‘communicating with the world’ and stimulating more local participation in IGALA. Laurel Kamada (Tohoku University: Sendai, Japan)

8. Brian King
My research interests are centred on language and gender/sexuality. My MA dissertation project investigated the gendered use of language in online chat-rooms for gay men, and my PhD dissertation focused on language, gender and sexuality in a secondary school sexuality education classroom. I have presented conference papers on the subject at numerous important international conferences, and published articles and book reviews in Gender and Language, the Journal of Language, Identity and Education, Discourse and Society, and in an edited collection.

I have made a contribution to the field of Gender and Language, both within the field and in the community of Wellington, where I livs and wors.  For example, I played a key role in assisting with the organisation of the IGALA 5 conference in Wellington in 2008 and acted as a peer reviewer of abstracts for both the IGALA 5 & IGALA 6 conferences.  I have also frequently been a blind reviewer for the journal Gender and Language.

In the Wellington community I have taken an active role in representing the field of Gender and Language in diverse settings. For example, I am a trustee of the Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand (ITANZ), acting as a consultant in relation to gender and language, and in that capacity aim to support the organisation’s goal of increasing awareness in broader society of the existence of intersex people. In addition to this, I founded the Sexuality Education Roundtable of New Zealand in 2009, with the aim of fostering research into sexuality education by bringing together researchers, educators, government policy makers, and activists to engage in discussion.

9. Joanne McDowell
I am extremely interested and excited in undertaking this role for several reasons.  First and foremost is my passion for the study of gender and language.  This is my specialist area, and I have been deeply involved in researching this area for over 9 years now, undertaking my PhD in the area of gendered language and workplace discourse (male nurses), from which I am working on several research papers and a monograph of my thesis (to be published with Cambridge in 2013), and am currently examining male and female primary school teachers’ teaching methods and classroom discourse.

My main interests concern, but are certainly not limited to, sociolinguistics; the notion of ‘gendered’ language; discourse analysis; workplace discourse; community of practice and the expression of one’s group identity; pragmatics; and the ethnographic study of communication.  I have lectured in Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading and the University of Ulster in areas such as interactional and variationist sociolinguistics, research methods, and analytical techniques in linguistics, providing me with a great amount of knowledge of the many different areas of linguistics outside that of my own special interest.  My role at Queen’s involves research on gender and language focusing on educational linguistics and classroom discourse using discourse analysis and corpus linguistics.  So as well as writing my own book and journal articles on language and gender, I am still actively involved in researching this area.

I have experience in organizing a variety of conferences to disseminate both my own and others’ research findings, have chaired several conference sessions, and helped to organize key streams in several conferences over the last 5 years.  I also ran the sociolinguistic working group at the University of Reading, which involved organizing speakers to come and talk about their linguistic research, and recruiting new members.  This has enabled me to create a large network with fellow linguists across the UK within various Universities, with which I have regular communication.   I understand the time commitment necessary to dedicating oneself to a role such as this, but I have so much enthusiasm, passion and excitement about all aspects of the field of gender and language and where it is going, so I would really love to be involved in the advisory council to help bring the IGALA association to the general public as well as an academic audience.

10. Bróna Murphy
My name is Dr Bróna Murphy and I have worked as a lecturer, in English language education and linguistics, at the University of Edinburgh since 2008. My research, to-date, has used small corpora to explore gender alongside other sociolinguistic variables such as age (Murphy, 2010; Murphy, 2011, forthcoming) and across a variety of contexts from intimate casual conversation, business discourse, educational talk as well as soap opera discourse (Farr and Murphy, 2009; Murphy and Farr, 2011, forthcoming). In particular, I have focused on the construction of gender identities in an Irish English context, a context which has been investigated to a lesser extent than other varieties (British and American English, for instance).  More recently, my work has involved me in the exploration of discourse collected from young and middle-aged Muslim men and women living in the UK. Funded by the British Academy (2010-2012) and using corpus-based tools and methodologies combined with insights from critical discourse analysis, the study aims to uncover insights into the gender identities which surround the groups.

If I were to be elected on to the IGALA advisory committee which works with the executive committee, I would bring to the table knowledge and understanding of my gender-related work which is informed by a mixed methods approach and spans a range of areas. I would bring my interest in the gender issues which surround ethnic group identity, especially groups residing in the UK. I would bring my experience of working on committees and research groups as well as my involvement in the organisation of small and larger research events over the past ten years. Finally, I would bring plans for the future which encourages gender-related research on minority groups as well as lesser-known language varieties.

References
Murphy, B. 2011 (forthcoming, expected in December 2011). Gender, Discourse and Identity. In: Aijmer, K. and Andersen, G. (eds), Pragmatics of Society. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Murphy, B. and Farr, F. 2011 (forthcoming, expected in December 2011). “I’m fine girl, and how are you?”: The Use of Vocatives in Spoken Irish-English. English World Wide (Special Issue).
Murphy, B. 2010. Corpus and Sociolinguistics: Examining Age in All-female Talk. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Farr, F. and Murphy, B., 2009. Religious references in contemporary Irish English: ‘for the love of God almighty….I’m a holy terror for turf’. Journal of Intercultural Pragmatics 6 (4): 535-559.

11. Joana Plaza Pinto

I am currently an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Goiás, in central Brazil. I took a Master’s degree (1998) and a Ph.D. (2002) in Linguistics at Unicamp (University of Campinas). I also took part of my doctoral studies at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris, 1999-2000), under the supervision of Jacques Derrida. I conduct research in pragmatics, gender and feminism, with a multidisciplinary approach, mainly in the following issues: speech acts, body, performativity, linguistic theory and epistemic decolonization. My interest in these issues started early (1993) when I joined a feminist group in Goiás, founded in 1987 and still active, Grupo Transas do Corpo (www.transadocorpo.org.br<http://www.transadocorpo.org.br>). Recently, I represented my faculty at the Workshop “Gender, Multiculturalism and Human Rights”, organized by the Brazil-Europe Studies Institute, a partnership between Brazilian and European universities, funded by European Union. Currently, I coordinate the research group "Identities Practices in Applied Linguistics" in the National Association of Literature and Linguistics Postgraduate Studies.

As an IGALA member, I hope I can contribute to increase interested in local language and gender issues and to stimulate local IGALA branches or events, especially in Latin America. I have a strong interest in the political and research interrelation between language and gender studies and postcolonial studies.

12. Denise Troutman
I have attended the plurality of IGALA conferences and have introduced graduate students to the organization. It would be my pleasure to serve in the capacity of an AC member. Below, I have outlined my research interests, key publications, and the contribution that I could make to the executive committee.

Research interests: discourse analysis; linguistic politeness; African American women and language practices, linguistic politeness in the African American speech community; Ebonics

Some publications that function as earmarks in my career:
Attitude and Its Situatedness in Linguistic Politeness. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics. 46(1), 2010, pp. 85–109.  [entrée into linguistic politeness as displayed in some contexts within African American women's speech communities]

“’They Say It’s a Man’s World, but You Can’t Prove that by Me’: African American Comediennes’ Construction of Voice in Public Space.” In Judith Baxter, ed., Speaking Out: The Female Voice in Public Contexts. Hampshire, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006: 217-239.  [coining & interrogation of "bawdy language" as a vehicle to broadening constructions of language and woman's place]

Culturally Toned Diminutives within the Speech Community of African American Women. Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies. Vol. 4 No. 1, Fall 1996: 65-76.  [coining & description of culturally toned diminutives, a common practice in various contexts]

"Tongue and Sword: Which is to be Master?" In Geneva Smitherman, ed., African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas. Wayne State University Press, 1995, 208-223. [a contribution to the bravery & historic struggle of Anita Hill through discourse analysis of Hill and Arlen Spector exchanges]

Contribution to IGALA:  I am willing to serve the organization in the capacity most needed, for example, as a liaison to Gender and Language.

(2) Graduate Student Representative

1.  Clare Anderson
I have a strong academic and personal interest in language and gender. Inspired by my experience of being a women working in business, often navigating traditionally male interactional environments, in 2009 I completed a Master’s degree at the University of Birmingham in Applied Linguistics, specialising in a comparative analysis of the spoken discourse of women and men. I am now in the second year of my PhD, looking at public discourses of ageing and their impact on female identity.

In addition I am working with Dr. Caldas-Coulthard to organise the 2012 IGALA Book Prize. This role has entailed mobilising, coordinating and organising resources both within the IGALA organisation and externally. I feel that this has given me a good understanding of the workings of IGALA and an insight into the principles and philosophy upon which it is based.  My business background means that I have a broad range of experience to offer in terms of working effectively and sensitively with different communities of stakeholders within an organisation, and in dealing with the challenges of deadlines and complex logistics.

On a personal level I feel passionately about the importance of language and gender as an academic, professional and social area of focus and study and I enthusiastically support the prominence the IGALA organisation is trying to bring to this sometimes neglected area. I am actively involved in various gender -related networks and discussion groups, and I believe I have a good sense of the issues which are a focus of debate in this area. I am most interested in working with other graduates and members of IGALA to continue to raise the presence of these issues both in the academic and wider communities. I believe I have much to contribute in terms of energy, creativity and commitment and I would relish the opportunity to be further involved with IGALA.

2. Ksenija Bogetic
I obtained a BA in English at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Currently, I am a PhD student in English and Applied Linguistics at the same university, funded by the Serbian Ministry of Culture. My research interests concern language, gender and sexuality, with a focus on sexually marginalized youth. I am especially interested in the negotiation of hegemonic masculinity within gay male youth groups, and how the tensions between the culturally prescribed and the intimately erotic are played out in their language use. My most recent work explores the construction of masculinity in personal ads of Serbian gay teenagers, showing how their representations of desire intersect with the cultural norms of manhood in Serbia (initial part presented at IGALA 2010). I completed some of this work during my stay as a Visiting Scholar at the linguistics department at UC Santa Barbara in the past winter/spring term. Given my interests and familiarity with IGALA's activities, I would be happy to serve as the student representative, and also bring forward issues concerning the academic study of gender in parts of the world where this area is grossly underrepresented. I can also assist with the development of IGALA's gender and language blog, as I feel this could increase IGALA's visibility and engage more contributors in the discussions regardless of geographical location.

3. Kristine KØhler Mortensen
I’m a Ph.D. student in the Department of Scandinavian Research at the University of Copenhagen. My research interests lie within the fields of feminist linguistics and sociocultural linguistics, focusing on gendering as a performative process that emerges in the interface between micro-level interactional practices and macro-level structures of community ideologies. By studying interactional and linguistic strategies, my research sets out to problematize and destabilize essentialized discourses about gender and sexuality. With a focus on the interplay between gender and sexuality and an ongoing critical study of heternormativity, my research further connects to the rather new field of queer linguistics.

During my undergraduate studies, I worked on the use of sexist language and face-threatening-acts among young women, developing an analysis which demonstrated how this particular community of practice subversively created a new system of interpretation in which a word like ’hooker’ was given an empowering social meaning rather than the common derogatory meaning (Mortensen 2010a). Through the demonstration of how derogatory terms are interactively invested with positive meanings, this study connects up with previous language and gender studies on the reclaiming of negatively connoted words by women and other minority groups. Building on third wave feminist linguistics, the study focuses on the community of practice and thereby shows how global gender stereotypes are conflicted and managed at a local level.

For my M.A. research, I studied flirtatious interaction among young heterosexuals in Denmark. With a unique collection of intimate face-to-face interactions, my research examined how flirtation and desire are commonly established and negotiated in interaction, with both women and men constructing their gender identities strategically and agentively. This project contributed to the expansion of studies of sexuality within language and gender studies by focusing on heterosexuality as an object of analytic concern rather than a taken-for-granted norm. In addition, I presented my work at conferences in Copenhagen, Colorado and Hawaii and published an article on developmental structures and teasing practices in flirtatious interaction (Mortensen 2010b). With a focus on the refusal of sexual invitations, my work links up with feminist research on sexual violence and rape – a field which has drawn attention to the way in which a widespread discourse of ‘gender difference’ and ‘miscommunication’ enables and justifies the ignorance of female responses to aggressive male sexual behavior. Previous work within the field has primarily been based on reported data and my work therefore adds a refreshing new aspect through the use of naturally occurring data. By carefully analyzing the turn-by-turn interaction, I draw attention to the agency of the female participant, expressed through the deployment of multiple and subtle interactive strategies.

Following up on my thesis work, I was a visiting scholar in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Working with Professor Mary Bucholtz, I focused on the negotiation of sexual invitations in heterosexual interaction and presented my findings at IGALA 6 in Tokyo.

My present Ph.D. research builds on my M.A. project but also moves in a new direction. The project, an ethnographic sociolinguistic study of heterosexual dating interaction, both online and face-to-face, will add to my exciting findings and also introduce the role of the Internet – a key social context for young people seeking a romantic partner – in shaping dating discourse between heterosexuals. This aspect of the project works to add to the field of sociocultural linguistics’ understanding of online discourse and its relation to offline practices.

In an activist sense, my work on flirtatious interaction and the refusal of sexual invitations has the potential to help reduce sexual violence and rape.  I’m actively seeking to share my findings, most recently through collaboration with Danish high school teachers. By illustrating and discussing micro-level intimate interaction in class, I hope to make young men and women reflect upon their own flirtatious and sexual behavior and facilitate a shared cross-gendered discussion of what is acceptable intimate behavior in the young people’s own everyday life.

Furthermore, I’ve decided to create a simple website to publicize the findings of my Ph.D. research in a non-academic way. With a potential audience of students and media journalists, I hope to be able to disseminate information generally about the field of critical language and gender studies and more specifically about how gender stereotypes are both strategically reproduced and challenged in heterosexual dating discourse.

As a professional service I’m beginning an interdisciplinary group of researchers at the Faculty of Humanities who will work on a set of common ethical guidelines for graduate research on intimate data. Working within the field of language and sexuality, I’ve experienced the extensive challenges of collecting and handling sensitive data and I’m eager to engage fellow researchers in an ethical and methodological discussion. Moreover, my professional engagement in language and gender studies shows in my involvement in the Nordic Conference on Language and Gender where I’m eager to engage a young generation of Scandinavian graduate students in the development and organization.

I’m convinced that I could make a valuable contribution to the executive committee of IGALA in several ways. Living in a small European country, I have unique access to the Scandinavian community, and I’m passionate about drawing attention to the field of language and gender studies in this local area. Not only will I help to expand the international profile of IGALA, I’ve also built a strong international network of graduate students working in the field, and will thus readily be able to gather their interests and bring them to IGALA. Alongside pushing forward the boundaries of the field in my own work, I’m energetic about furthering other cutting edge work done by a new generation of language and gender scholars that builds on the work of previous generations.

References
Mortensen, Kristine Køhler (2010a): ”Kan I kende dem drenge?”: Sexistisk sprogbrug og kønsidentitet blandt fire unge kvinder. Koebenhavnerstudier i Tosprogethed 56:61-81.
Mortensen, Kristine Køhler (2010b): Seductive Conversations. In: Love Ya Hate Ya: The Sociolinguistic Study of Youth Language and Youth Identities. Normann Jørgensen, J. (ed.). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 151-170.

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Dr Lia Litosseliti
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Senior Lecturer in Linguistics & Programme Director for BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy
Department of Language and Communication Science
City University London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
UK

l.litosseliti at city.ac.uk
http://www.city.ac.uk/lcs/biographies/llitosseliti.html

For the International Gender and Language Association (IGALA), see http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/organisations/igala/Index.html

For the Gender and Language journal (details and subscriptions), see http://www.equinoxjournals.com/GL/index

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