I am a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at Penn State. I am a sociolinguist and a linguistic anthropologist broadly interested in the nexus of communication technology (i.e., social media), ideology, and the discursive construction of race, gender, and nation. My work examines how internet users interact with each other on social media, particularly for banal and "non-political" reasons, and how this usage creates, reinforces, and challenges hegemonic power relations. My research also aims to develop conceptual and analytical approaches to social media studies, considering how aspects of the internet challenge traditional assumptions in domains like critical discourse studies and narrative inquiry.
My dissertation project is a multi-site analysis of gender-related stance-taking interactions in "non-political" Facebook Groups. Drawing on polysemiotic discourse analysis and social media conversation analytic approaches, I examine
In doing so, I aim to advance the theorization and analytical model of stance-taking and social media interaction by further incorporating concepts from linguistic anthropology and the work of Michel Foucault.
to explain why stance-taking is occurring at all and why this stance-taking matters: as a technology of self and a technology of power
examine interactive and discursive moments, mediated by Facebook’s sociotechnological infrastructure, wherein users take stances to (1) evoke scientific discourses during epistemic contestations about gender and biological sex; (2) digitally embody, manifest, and challenge trans subject positions; and (3) manifest and mobilize a problematic white woman figure of personhood to enact particular subject positions while punishing others. Through doing so, these users come to understand their own subjectivities, become subjected to domination and discipline, and reinforce or challenge dominant norms, ideologies, and power relations.
Rampton (2016) argued that linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics can “provide the Foucauldian agenda [(e.g., as discussed in Foucault, 1980)] with a microscope” to empirically observe how power manifests in individuals, discourses, and practices (p. 6). Both linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics provide practical means for the fine-grained analyses of the situated, moment-to-moment, interactive practices that contribute to subject formation and other matters of power.
At Penn State, I have taught English language classes and content courses at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. My experience
transformational power of applied linguistics education and commitment to a responsive
MA TESL student mentoring
I have frequently engaged in research projects and instructional material development with colleagues, particularly my long-term collaborators Merve Özçelik and Hannah Lukow.
Educator
I received a BA in Linguistics from the University of California Santa Cruz (2018) and an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from Northern Arizona University (2022).
Beyond academia, I am a bluegrass banjo player active in the central Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. I play periodically with regional bluegrass bands such as Seneca Creek, Greenwood Furnace Stokers, and the River Band, and have appeared on some Arizona-based projects, including Red McAdam's debut album and opening the 2024 Pickin' in the Pines Bluegrass Festival with the Mountain Time Ramblers.
My dissertation project is a multi-site analysis of gender-related stance-taking interactions in "non-political" Facebook Groups. Drawing on polysemiotic discourse analysis and social media conversation analytic approaches, I examine
In doing so, I aim to advance the theorization and analytical model of stance-taking and social media interaction by further incorporating concepts from linguistic anthropology and the work of Michel Foucault.
to explain why stance-taking is occurring at all and why this stance-taking matters: as a technology of self and a technology of power
examine interactive and discursive moments, mediated by Facebook’s sociotechnological infrastructure, wherein users take stances to (1) evoke scientific discourses during epistemic contestations about gender and biological sex; (2) digitally embody, manifest, and challenge trans subject positions; and (3) manifest and mobilize a problematic white woman figure of personhood to enact particular subject positions while punishing others. Through doing so, these users come to understand their own subjectivities, become subjected to domination and discipline, and reinforce or challenge dominant norms, ideologies, and power relations.
Rampton (2016) argued that linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics can “provide the Foucauldian agenda [(e.g., as discussed in Foucault, 1980)] with a microscope” to empirically observe how power manifests in individuals, discourses, and practices (p. 6). Both linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics provide practical means for the fine-grained analyses of the situated, moment-to-moment, interactive practices that contribute to subject formation and other matters of power.
At Penn State, I have taught English language classes and content courses at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. My experience
transformational power of applied linguistics education and commitment to a responsive
MA TESL student mentoring
I have frequently engaged in research projects and instructional material development with colleagues, particularly my long-term collaborators Merve Özçelik and Hannah Lukow.
Educator
I received a BA in Linguistics from the University of California Santa Cruz (2018) and an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from Northern Arizona University (2022).
Beyond academia, I am a bluegrass banjo player active in the central Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. I play periodically with regional bluegrass bands such as Seneca Creek, Greenwood Furnace Stokers, and the River Band, and have appeared on some Arizona-based projects, including Red McAdam's debut album and opening the 2024 Pickin' in the Pines Bluegrass Festival with the Mountain Time Ramblers.