Month: December 2020

Stellenbosch U: Postdoc in Linguistics & Identity (South Africa)

PostdocsPostdoctoral Fellowship in General Linguistics for the project Politics of the Belly: Language, Food, and Memory in the (Re)Construction of South African Identity, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, 2021-23. Deadline: 31 December 2020.

The grantholder of the above project, Dr. Marcelyn Oostendorp, invites applications from suitably qualified doctorate graduates for a postdoctoral fellowship valued at R220 000 per annum. The postdoctoral fellowship is based at Stellenbosch University and is available for two (2) years. The fellowship is only available to one individual who has obtained their doctorate degree within the past five (5) years, who has not attained their doctoral degree at Stellenbosch University, and whose degree was in the area of (applied) linguistics, literature, communication/rhetoric, or another language-related discipline.

This project will investigate the construction of identity and memory in discourses on food, and will employ multimodal discourse analysis as the main theoretical framework and analytical tool. The aim of the project is to shed light on how semiotic resources are used to (re)construct memory, identity, and place in our discursive engagements with food.

Applicants must: a) be available to start the fellowship on 1 April 2021; b) be willing to work full time; c) be competent and experienced in discourse/multimodal analysis and/or in experimental methods (such as eye-tracking); d) hold a PhD and must have graduated within the past five (5) years; e) be able to work in a team environment; f) have experience in writing academic articles; and g) be able to articulately communicate academic findings to disseminate results.

Interculturing Cinema

“Book Notes

Mukherjee, I., & Williams, M. G. (2020). Migration, mobility and sojourning in cross-cultural films: Interculturing cinema. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Ishani Mukherjee and Maggie Griffith Williams analyze six cross-cultural films through an intercultural communication lens and argue that their depictions of migration, mobility, and the resulting intercultural communications are complex and stressful moments of conflict, with mixed outcomes ranging from productive personal growth to endless oppression, familial or social separation, and loss of identity.

Global movements and intercultural communication are oft-explored themes in popular cinema from Hollywood and beyond. The authors pay homage to this cinematic trend by locating transnational films within key themes that tie into global movements, their complexities, and implications. While some films focus on migrants’ experiences of culture-shock, cultural assimilation and/or integration, some cinematic texts focus on cultural identities that are in transition within contexts of social mobility and movements. Other films explore the short-term intercultural impact that sojourners experience in unfamiliar cultural spaces and different social positions.

Dialogic & Collaborative Practices in Challenging Times (Zoom Seminar)

EventsDialogic and Collaborative Practices in Challenging Times, offered by Harlene Anderson and Sheila McNamee, Taos Institute, January 28-30, 2021,12-3pm each day, Zoom seminar.

In this intensive, 9-hour Zoom seminar spread over 3 days (3 hours each day), Harlene and Sheila will introduce, discuss, and provide opportunities to put constructionist theory to practice. Given the challenges we confront globally, discussion will center on exploring the practical implications of social construction while giving ample space for us to collaborate in an effort to put these ideas into practice. Special attention will be given to participants’ own projects and professional contexts. We will provide ample time for sharing and interacting.

This workshop will be useful for those familiar with social construction and relational practice as well as those new or unfamiliar with these ideas. This is an opportunity to be in conversation with others who are working in or who want to work in relational ways. It is a chance to forge connections that might help us sustain relational practices.

Readings and other resource materials will be provided prior to the course.