‘Super disabilities’ vs ‘Disabilities’?:Theorizing the role of ableism in (mis)representational mythology of disability in the marketplace

People with disabilities (PWD) constitute one of the largest minority groups with one in five people worldwide having a disability. While recognition and inclusion of this group in the marketplace has seen improvement, the effects of (mis)representation of PWD in shaping the discourse on fostering marketplace inclusion of socially marginalized consumers remain little understood. Although effects of misrepresentation (e.g., idealized, exoticized or selective representation) on inclusion/exclusion perceptions and cognitions has received attention in the context of ethnic/racial groups, the world of disability has been largely neglected. By extending the theory of ableism into the context of PWD representation and applying it to the analysis of the We’re the Superhumans advertisement developed for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, this paper examines the relationship between the (mis)representation and the inclusion/exclusion discourse. By uncovering that PWD misrepresentations can partially mask and/or redress the root causes of exclusion experienced by PWD in their lived realities, it contributes to the research agenda on the transformative role of consumption cultures perpetuating harmful, exclusionary social perceptions of marginalized groups versus contributing to advancement of their inclusion

Touching the void: affective history and the impossible

In order to understand the persistence of History, we need to understand the appeal of historical work, its pleasures. Without such an understanding, theory and research will continue to talk at cross purposes, the one insisting that the past is unknowable; the other unable to ignore the vitality of its sources. The contention of this essay is that historical research is an affective experience of such intensity that it has been able to withstand the challenges of post-structuralism and postmodernism and so continue with ‘business as usual’ (Jenkins 2003, 15). While the intensity of the archival encounter is not often admitted in print, it continues to motivate the efforts of individual historians. The abstractions of theory cannot intrude upon the physical experience of holding a piece of the past. It demands our attention. But the intellectual consequences of the physicality of the archival encounter need to be effectively theorised: what is the role of touching and feeling in the pursuit of knowing? The archive is the place where historians can literally touch the past, but in doing so are simultaneously made aware of its unreachability. In a maddening paradox, concrete presence conveys unfathomable absence. In the archive, researchers are both confronted with the absolute alterity of the past and tempted by the challenge of trying to overcome it. It is suggested that this impossibility underpins the powerful attraction of the historical endeavour

Sand in the wheels, or oiling the wheels, of international finance? : New Labour's appeal to a 'new Bretton Woods'

Tony Blair’s political instinct typically is to associate himself only with the future. As such, his explicit appeal to ‘the past’ in his references to New Labour’s desire to establish a “new Bretton Woods” is sufficient in itself to arouse some degree of analytical curiosity (see Blair 1998a). The fact that this appeal was made specifically in relation to Bretton Woods is even more interesting. The resonant image of the international economic context established by the original Bretton Woods agreements invokes a style and content of policy-making which Tony Blair typically dismisses as neither economically nor politically consistent with his preferred vision of the future (see Blair 2000c, 2001b)

Computational Sociolinguistics: A Survey

Language is a social phenomenon and variation is inherent to its social nature. Recently, there has been a surge of interest within the computational linguistics (CL) community in the social dimension of language. In this article we present a survey of the emerging field of "Computational Sociolinguistics" that reflects this increased interest. We aim to provide a comprehensive overview of CL research on sociolinguistic themes, featuring topics such as the relation between language and social identity, language use in social interaction and multilingual communication. Moreover, we demonstrate the potential for synergy between the research communities involved, by showing how the large-scale data-driven methods that are widely used in CL can complement existing sociolinguistic studies, and how sociolinguistics can inform and challenge the methods and assumptions employed in CL studies. We hope to convey the possible benefits of a closer collaboration between the two communities and conclude with a discussion of open challenges.Comment: To appear in Computational Linguistics. Accepted for publication: 18th February, 201

Commonplaces in risk talk: Face threats and forms of interaction.

Talk about risk is problematic for interaction; it can involve the speaker or hearer saying things that threaten participants' 'face', the ways they want themselves to be seen by others. One way of dealing with these threats to face, and to keep the conversation going, is the use of commonplaces. Commonplaces, generally applicable and generally known arguments, play an important role in interaction, invoking shared, taken-for-granted perspectives embedded in familiar roles and everyday practices. They are similar to some of the frames discussed in risk communication, but they focus our attention on rhetoric and interaction rather than cognition. In this paper, I show how commonplaces are used in focus group discussions of public choices involving dangers to life or health. They tend to be used in response to dilemmas, when a speaker is put on the spot, and they tend to lead to other commonplaces. Analysis of commonplaces supports those who argue that studies of public perception of risks and programmes of communication about risks need to be sensitive to the personal interactions, rhetorical strategies, and cultural embeddedness of any risk talk

METAPHORICAL SWITCHING: A LINGUISTIC REPERTOIRE OF MUSLIM JAVANESE PRIESTS

Metaphorical switching is one of study in sociolinguistic. This term refers to a speaker that has no obvious explanatory factors for using more than one languages in his utterance. It is mostly done by skilled bilingual. Linguistic repertoire refers to the use of language by a speaker from one variety of languages to other varieties during the utterance events. This term is commonly found where the speaker considers the appropriate setting, topic, addressee and other social factors. The metaphorical switching in linguistic repertoire can be identified by using code switching and code mixing analysis. These kind of analysis used in a sermon is interesting to explore since there is only sole speaker that fully dominates the whole speaking. A sermon is a monologue, where the audience

Constructing meaning in the service of power : an analysis of the typical modes of ideology in accounting textbooks

This paper provides an analysis of the typical modes of ideology in introductory financial accounting textbooks and training materials. Drawing on Thompson's (1990) schema concerning the typical linguistic modes through which ideology operates, this research suggests that the operation of ideology is apparent within educational accounting texts, with particular strategies being more evident than others: in particular, the strategies of universalization, narrativization, rationalization and naturalization. Given the predominantly technical nature of introductory financial accounting textbooks and training manuals, the modes of ideology identified in the texts were often quite subtle; more specifically, the ideological characteristics displayed in each of the six texts analysed were often expressions of implicit or taken-for-granted assumptions

The experiential nature of ELF reformulations in the multimodal representations of modern and ancient sea-odysseys

This chapter explores the latest stage of a research project carried out at the University of Salento, which aims to investigate the effects of emotions on the positive reconsideration of mass migrations and intercultural socialization. In particular, this study illustrates the linguistic and multimodal strategies of production of four videos that are informed by an unbiased discursive frame for the multimedia representations of sea-journeys. In these clips, the linguistic and audiovisual associations between samples of Western and Non-Western migration narratives are meant to assist viewers in acknowledging that travelers from past and present times experience shared emotions and feelings when leaving their native countries in search for better life conditions. The activation of this perlocutionary effect is pursued by means of hybridizations between written and oral accounts of sea-voyages and between ‘epic movie’, ‘mockumentary’ and ‘journalistic interview’ genres. Narrations are retextualized into ‘experiential reformulations’ that resort to modern variations of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in order to underline, through their structural and phonetic characteristics, the dramatic and life-threatening nature of migrations. The audiovisual composition mixes factual and cinematic properties so as to attract envisaged viewers’ attention and then induce, in them, the positive reconsideration of the objects of representation. After detailing the main phases of experiential reformulation and illustrating the multimodal composition of the four videos, this chapter comments on the results of a reception study of the multimedia research products, in order to enquire into the empirical reception of genre and text hybridization, as well as into the accessibility level of the ELF variations that represent the verbal dimension of the videos

Translation and Community in the work of Elizabeth Cary

Explores the role of female community within Elizabeth Cary\u27s translations and her play, The Tragedy of Mariam