37.1864, Confs: Performing Identity: Semiotic Representation(s) and the Making of Meaning (Italy)

Fri May 22 10:05:02 UTC 2026

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1864. Fri May 22 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1864, Confs: Performing Identity: Semiotic Representation(s) and the Making of Meaning (Italy)

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Date: 20-May-2026
From: Antonio Fruttaldo [iland at unior.it]
Subject: Performing Identity: Semiotic Representation(s) and the Making of Meaning

Performing Identity: Semiotic Representation(s) and the Making of
Meaning
Short Title: PERFORMID2026

Date: 03-Dec-2026 - 04-Dec-2026
Location: Naples, Italy
Contact: PERFORMID International Conference
Contact Email: performid2026 at gmail.com
Meeting URL:
https://i-land-researchcentre.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CfP_Performing-Identity-2026.pdf

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

Submission Deadline: 15-Jul-2026

Identity is not something we have, it is something we do. It emerges
in discourse, takes shape through interaction and becomes legible
through the semiotic resources we bring into play across contexts.
>From everyday conversation to institutional communication, from
digital platforms to embodied practices, identity is continuously
performed, negotiated and contested.
In contemporary societies marked by mobility, digital mediation and
ecological crisis, identity is increasingly fluid, relational and
multimodal. Language is no longer the sole site of meaning-making:
images, sounds, spaces, algorithms and bodies all participate in the
production of identities. These processes are never neutral. They are
embedded in relations of power, shaping who can speak, how they are
represented and whose voices are legitimised or marginalised.
At the same time, identities are constituted through intersecting and
shifting dimensions, including gender, sexuality, race, class, age and
ability, which are not fixed categories but positions continuously
reconfigured in discourse. In this sense, identity is always situated:
it is produced within specific socio-cultural, political and
ecological conditions, and it remains open to transformation,
resistance and re-articulation.
This conference invites contributions that explore how identities are
constructed, performed and reimagined in and through English, across a
wide range of contexts and modalities. We are particularly interested
in work that pushes beyond established frameworks, interrogates
dominant assumption and engages critically with the relationship
between language, meaning and power.
Rather than treating identity as a stable object of analysis, we
encourage approaches that foreground its processual, performative and
semiotic nature, as well as its entanglement with material, digital
and ecological realities.
Possible areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to:
- discourse and the construction of self and other in media,
institutional and public communication
- gender, sexuality and intersectional identities as discursive and
embodied practices
- multimodal and visual representations of identity across digital and
non-digital environments
- identity work in English language teaching and learning contexts
- translation, subtitling and dubbing as sites of identity mediation
and transformation
- language variation, attitudes and ideologies in relation to
belonging and social positioning
- corpus-based approaches to identity in authentic and digitally
mediated data
- online identities and digital practices across social media, gaming
and virtual spaces
- ecocritical discourse analysis and ecolinguistic perspectives on
identity and the more-than-human world
Conference venue and date: The conference will be hosted by the
University of Naples Federico II and will take place on 3–4 December
2026. The exact venue will be communicated in the coming weeks.
Abstract submission: To contribute to the conference as a speaker,
please submit an abstract to the following email addresses:
fcavalie at unina.it; aureliana.natale at unina.it; fabio.cangero at unina.it;
and performid2026 at gmail.com
Abstracts should not exceed 300 words and should include a maximum of
5 references in APA style. The deadline for abstract submission is 15
July 2026.
Conference fee and social dinner:
- €100 for senior scholars (RTDB, RTT, Associate Professor and Full
Professor)
- €80 for junior scholars (PhD student, Research Fellow, Adjunct
Professor and RTDA)
- €45 for participation in the social dinner.
The conference fee should be paid using the following link:
https://www.frcongressi.it/pay/user/areapersonale.php?token=5c23b24205a6acf83e2915485bd4226d
Payment for the social dinner will instead be made on site.
Keynote Speakers:
 - Giuseppe Balirano (University of Naples L’Orientale)
 - Encarnación Hidalgo Tenorio (University of Granada)
Scientific Committee:
Giuseppe Balirano (University of Naples L’Orientale)
Fabio Cangero (University of Naples Federico II)
Flavia Cavaliere (University of Naples Federico II)
Paolo Donadio (University of Naples Federico II)
Antonio Fruttaldo (University of Sannio)
Encarnación Hidalgo Tenorio (University of Granada)
Aureliana Natale (University of Naples Federico II)
Katherine E. Russo (University of Naples L’Orientale)
Organising Committee:
Fabio Cangero (University of Naples Federico II)
Flavia Cavaliere (University of Naples Federico II)
Paolo Donadio (University of Naples Federico II)
Aureliana Natale (University of Naples Federico II)

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