[Linganth] Last minute opening: "Professional Divides" roundtable on language, gender, representation

[Colleen Cotter]

Hello colleagues,

I realize the deadline is nigh, but if anyone with a research interest/focus in media representation, gender, or politics is still keen to come to AAA, there is an open "presenter" space on the Professional Divides roundtable. It's a continuation of what I have organized for previous conferences, bringing local journalists and linguists/anthropologists together to talk about language and social justice issues in the media. All details below.


The theme this year is gender, with case studies on the representation of transgender issues in the media; and politics, what has been coming out of the presidential campaign and its impact on public discourse about gender. People who are conditionally on board include Minneapolis Star-Tribune journalists, a young gender activist, and, I hope, someone from Sen. Amy Klobuchar's staff or WomenWinning (the Minnesota version of EMILY's List).


Please email me ASAP if you are available. And thanks.

Colleen


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Dr. Colleen Cotter

Reader in Media Linguistics

Linguistics Department

School of Languages, Linguistics and Film

Queen Mary, University of London

Mile End Road

London E1 4NS

UK

email: c.m.cotter at qmul.ac.uk

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ABSTRACT

Professional Divides IV: Journalists and Anthropologists in Conversation about Language, Gender, and Representation


This roundtable series, designed to take advantage of regional media knowledge and participation, brings together journalists, linguists, and anthropologists to discuss timely issues of language, representation, public discourse, social responsibility, and critique. Key themes include the roles of the news media and the academy in the production of public discourse, the extent to which academics can influence journalistic practice, identification of knowledge gaps in the two professions, and discussion of “representation politics” regarding particular communities. The topic for 2016 is gender and its representation, case examples including the growing visibility of transgender issues, social support, backlash, and how the media has responded; and this year’s presidential race, which has made evident a range of mainstream attitudes about gender in the public sphere, both progressive and pejorative, as well as critiques about the media’s role in allowing the dissemination of sexism. The intersection of local politics and social media, the extent to which journalism education and hiring reframes gender assumptions and what that means for public discourse, and the role of the linguist in contexts in which language or reference underscores social attitudes and assumptions are part of the conversation.



The roundtable will include Twin Cities journalists, young “gender activists” who have been trying to change the public narrative, and a representative from the local office of a Minnesota state senator for whom issues of gender in politics is a factor of everyday practice. They will participate, in effect, as ethnographic informants who can speak directly to issues of education, local demographics, policy, politics, language, practice, professional responsibility, and the effects of social change. The linguists and anthropologists on the roundtable are similarly placed, and have done research involving news media (print, broadcast, and online) across disciplinary frameworks. Unlike the standard panel format, this roundtable encourages active participation from audience members throughout the discussion. This is an opportunity for journalists, community members, and anthropologists from all subdisciplines to talk to each other about complementary and divergent objectives within the professions, as well as to better understand the constraints of the other's occupations and the opportunity for joint engagement. Professional Divides IV continues previous discussions in San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, DC, in which academics, area journalists, and community activists addressed race and reporting, the efforts to reshape immigration discourse and terminology, the larger role of journalism in social justice issues, and applied cross-cultural case studies of anthropologists working with local media – in the process problematizing the practices of anthropology alongside journalism and identifying loci for responsibility and impact for both professions.

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