Anastasia Karakitsou was born in Athens, Greece. She has an MA in Professional Language and Intercultural Studies from the University of Leeds, UK (Distinction, 2017), and a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens, Greece (2012). She speaks Greek, English, German and Turkish.
During her 2010 Fall semester she took part in the Erasmus exchange program by attending the İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi (Turkey), where she had a first-hand experience of the problems of ‘inappropriate’ as well as the potential of ‘appropriate’ intercultural communication. Then, she fell in love with observing and studying issues of language, culture and identity.
Anastasia is interested in linguistics, more specifically in the interdisciplinary domains of sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and anthropological linguistics. She focuses on how language is strategically used to shape our thoughts and actions, e.g. through racist and xenophobic rhetoric in politics and the media, and how intercultural differences are managed, e.g. in translation. What is more, she is fascinated by how the ‘language police’ works, for instance by how certain dialects and accents are functionalized to categorize people into upper and lower social classes. Her goal is to contribute to the formation of an open and diverse society by critically thinking about and resisting the linguistic and cultural status quo.
She has actively taken part in the research project The challenges in dealing with cultural practices that differ from one’s own in the intercultural communication exchange among individuals from diverse cultures managed by the University of Leeds, UK and the University of Guanajuato, Mexico (November 2017-February 2018). She has also worked as a Research Assistant for the research project The Anthropology of Swimming: Exploring Communication, Identity and Inclusivity in British Swimming Pools (University of Leeds, UK, July 2017).
She has worked mainly in the education and translation sector: as a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher, a Greek language teacher, an English language exams preparation coach, a student education service assistant, an EN>GR/GR>EN translator and proofreader.
Work for CID:
Anastasia Karakitsou wrote KC89: Xenophobia, as well as a guest post on Xenophobia vs. intercultural dialogue, and was interviewed about xenophobia. She has translated KC2: Cosmopolitanism, KC6: Intercultural Capital, KC8: Public Dialogue, KC14: Dialogue, KC15: Cultural Pluralism, KC16: Migration, KC19: Multiculturalism, KC25: Metacommunication, KC27: Globalization, KC33: Moral Conflict, KC34: World Englishes, KC38: Boundary Objects, KC40: English as a Lingua Franca, KC46: Politeness, KC51: Critical Discourse Analysis, KC52: Harmony, KC53: Conflict Management, KC54: Critical Moments, KC55: Stereotypes, KC76: Intercultural Sustainability, KC77: Negotiation and KC89: Xenophobia into Greek. She also serves as a reviewer for Greek.
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