36.35, Engaging Communities in Environmental and Climate In/Action: Narratives, Discursive Practices, and Transdisciplinary Approaches

Thu Jan 9 00:05:05 UTC 2025

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-35. Thu Jan 09 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.35, Engaging Communities in Environmental and Climate In/Action: Narratives, Discursive Practices, and Transdisciplinary Approaches

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Date: 08-Jan-2025
From: Denise Milizia [denise.milizia at uniba.it]
Subject: Engaging Communities in Environmental and Climate In/Action: Narratives, Discursive Practices, and Transdisciplinary Approaches

Engaging Communities in Environmental and Climate In/Action:
Narratives, Discursive Practices, and Transdisciplinary Approaches
Short Title: Dis4Change

Date: 23-Jun-2025 - 25-Jun-2025
Location: Bari, Italy, Italy
Contact: Denise Milizia
Contact Email: denise.milizia at uniba.it

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; General Linguistics;
Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s): English (eng)

Meeting Description:
The Conference aims to explore the dynamics of community engagement in
the face of environmental and climate challenges, highlighting the
ways storytelling, discourses, and collaborative efforts shape both
action and inaction. We invite scholars to contribute their insights
on how communities engage with (or disengage from) pressing
environmental and climate issues, what narratives drive their
responses, and how transdisciplinary strategies can foster
transformative action.
As Fløttum (2017) notes in “Willingness of Action”, the public opinion
debate on the environmental and climate change crisis has, to a large
extent, shifted its focus from causes attribution to the measures that
must be taken to meet its many predicted challenges at different
levels (local, national, and global). Yet, mobilizing action entails
knowledge about how social actors and the public view climate change
solutions and what they think needs to be done. Action/inaction
necessarily involves different beliefs, values and ideologies which
lie at the basis of the discursive struggle inherent in communication,
engagement and dis/alignment. Hence, we believe that the investigation
of engagement and in/action needs to be critical as it may involve
antagonistic calls for action, manipulation, the silencing of
alternative courses of action, perpetuation of underlying ideologies
of global growth and development etc.
As several studies have found, social actors involved in communicative
events are actively engaged in the production of frames to legitimize
their interpretations of knowledge, circumstances and events
(Charteris Black 2005) which may influence reception, ground decisions
and provide reasons for/against action (Fairclough and Fairclough
2012). For instance, the use of climate change crisis frames has
recently been discussed in terms of problem definition and
argumentation strategies (Cap 2017; Chilton 2004; Augè 2023; Russo and
Bevitori 2024). Yet, strategies of legitimation invoke publicly shared
and publicly justifiable, even highly formalized, codified,
institutional systems of beliefs, values and norms, in virtue of which
the action proposed is considered legitimate (Fairclough and
Fairclough 2012). Moreover, engagement strategies in narrative may be
a fruitful point of departure for studies interested in claims of
truth (Reisigl 2021), epistemic and deontic perspectives,
perspectivization, etc. (Cap 2017; Chilton 2004; Reisigl and Wodak
2016). Most of all, they may propel action and social movements (Van
Dijk 2024) guided by alternative and counter-discourses and
imaginaries shaping new ways of being and identities (Iovino and
Oppermann 2012; Haraway 2016), together with new ways of
conceptualizing the present and future (Russo 2019).
Action and inaction are critical in understanding how communication,
narratives and language shape, maintain, and challenge social
structures, and in turn how social structures determine language and
narrative choices (Buell 2005; Zapf 2016). Action may refer to the
ways in which language is used to accomplish tasks, assert power, or
influence social dynamics. In contrast, inaction may reflect silence,
omission, or hesitation, which can also carry significant meaning,
revealing implicit biases, power imbalances, or resistance. Studies
have highlighted that action-oriented language is used to rally
support or legitimize authority, while inaction or ambiguous language
may be strategically employed to avoid accountability or maintain the
new capitalist and neocolonial status quo (Fairclough 2002; Jessop
2000; Huggan and Tiffin 2010). Moreover, critical thinkers such as
Butler (1997) have examined how language acts may injure and
perpetuate marginalization by rendering certain voices invisible. This
may lead to a discussion of the nuanced interplay between action and
inaction in discourse, suggesting that inaction can be just as
powerful as explicit language in constructing societal narratives.
The Conference will take place at the Department of Political Science
at the University of Bari Aldo Moro.
Keynote Speakers:
Jonathan Charteris-Black – UWE Bristol
Roberta Sassatelli – University of Bologna Alma Mater
Alexa Weik von Mossner – University of Klagenfurt
Submission Guidelines:
We welcome submissions from a wide range of disciplines with a focus
on how climate change and the environment are communicated, narrated,
and socially constructed to identify its linguistic, discursive,
narrative and multimodal strategies in dialogue with other related
studies and disciplines in the humanities and social studies. Both
empirical and theoretical contributions are encouraged, as well as
transdisciplinary projects.
We invite proposals for individual papers, panels and posters that
align with the conference themes.
Conference languages: English and Italian.
 Submissions should include:
 ● Author(s) name(s), affiliation(s), and contact information
 ● Title of the presentation
 ● Abstract using APA style for references (350 words, including
references)
 ● Short bio-note (150 words)
 ● Preferred presentation format (individual paper, panel, poster)
Panel proposals: 30 January 2025.
Abstracts Submission deadline: 30 January 2025.
Posters Submission deadline: 30 January 2025.
Notification of Acceptance: 15 February 2025.
Registration Fee: Early bird: €110 (before April 30), Late bird: €130.
Payment procedure: details on the payment method will be made
available on the conference website
For inquiries and submissions, please write to: dis4change at uniba.it

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