Research

Language and environmental conservation

My primary research interest is in the relationship of language and identity to environmental conservation. I believe environmental issues are social and interactional as well as material phenomena. To that end, my research attempts to understand the relationship of language and identity to discourses of conservation. Within this realm, some of the projects I’m working on include:

A sociophonetic analysis of the interaction of environmental stances and speakers’ identities.

The use of chronotopes in environmental media created by hunters and fishers.

Language and identity

I’m also interested in language and identity in areas such as international development, media personae, and language and education. A few projects I’m currently working on are:

Community members’ mobilization of agency in interactions with development organizations in Nicaragua.

Teachers’ perception of racialized student language and discourses of appropriateness.

With Morgan Sleeper, country musicians’ use of chronotopes to create authentic country singer personae.

The use of country talk in the construction of authentic hunter personae.