21 February 2018

Speaker: Jo Angouri (The University of Warwick)

Title: Researching workplace discourse: a political act?

Venue and Time: room 3.58 (John Percival Building), 12.10

Abstract:

The study of the workplace has attracted significant interest since the 70s and 80s, typically associated with work under the socio/applied end of the linguistic disciplinary spectrum. There is by now a strong body of research addressing workplace discourse as a site and focus. There is however also a disconnect between studies and scholars despite shared research interests, influences by the same paradigm shifts, complementary methodological traditions and so on. In this talk, I aim to problematize established traditions for the linguistic study of the workplace and dominant assumptions that underpin our research designs as well as inferencing processes. I probe the politics of research (Angouri, 2018) and make a case for moving towards multidisciplinary holistic enquiry. I draw on ongoing and completed projects and reflect on what this may mean in practice.

Jo Angouri is Reader and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, UK and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Aalto University, School of Business. Her research expertise is in sociolinguistics, pragmatics and discourse analysis. She has carried out research in a range of corporate and institutional contexts and her work concerns both online and face-to-face interaction. She has published work on language and identity as well as teamwork and leadership in medical settings. Jo has recently completed a monograph on Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace (Routledge, 2018) and has co-edited a volume on Negotiating Boundaries at Work (2017, EUP). Her work also includes a multidisciplinary project on migration and access to the labour market.