This two-three page assignment is your first writing assignment of the quarter and will be a reflection on a social media excerpt that demonstrates a connection between language and the body in the negotiation of gender/sexuality. Utilize Bucholtz & Hall’s (2016) embodied sociolinguistics paper to brainstorm ideas on the wide range of ways that meaning-making/semiotic practices get tied to the body. You are required to choose a social media clip or picture that demonstrates how the body is involved in the negotiation of meaning related to gender/sexuality. You could (but are not limited to) analyze how a gesture is interpreted to have gendered/sexuality-related meaning, note observations social media users make about patterns of embodied language related to gender/sexuality, describe voice/phonetic patterns that you argue may have gendered/sexuality-related meaning, etc. Claims you make in the paper must be backed with academic citation from the Bucholtz & Hall text or other academic papers in linguistics you find that may help build your argument. This is a research assignment so treat each example as “data” that you argue as having particular linguistic/semiotic meaning rather than an open opinion text.
12-pt font, Times New Roman
Double-spaced
2-3 pages (excluding screenshots or any visual material added for reference)
Screenshots and citation of your original social media source and academic resources are required
Citation styles accepted include: APA or Chicago style
Structure Guidance:
Intro – Give the background for your social media example (e.g. how did you find it, what did you observe that made it interesting in relation to the assignment topic, what is the sociological aspect of gender/sexuality framing your analysis, etc.)
Analysis – Provide detail about the linguistic/semiotic feature/context that you are providing as the “data” for your analysis — how does it match academic scholarship on how this particular facet of language/semiosis has (potential) meaning related to gender/sexuality? Include citational backing to your claims in this section! Make sure to also give an ethnographic-style description of the social media text itself (context on social media platform).
Outro – Summarize your findings and linguistic analysis and describe how your example contributes to the study of language, gender, and sexuality. Give recommendations for what further study might be needed to bolster your claims made in the paper.
Bibliography – Provide citations here (along with in-text if appropriate)
Guidance on (Digital) Ethnographic Writing:
Some helpful writing prompt questions (adapted from “Alive in the Writing”, Narayan (2016)
Sketch out what first brought you to this post — mention specific ideas that came to mind (5 minutes)
Describe the setting of the post (the social media platform, when it was posted, vibe of the comments section, etc.) and the reason it might have been posted, write down all the details — does something seem out of place or stand out to you? (10 minutes)
Describe your first impressions of the person/people in your social media clip: what are they wearing? What’s the color, texture of the outfit? Describe their habits, interactions, appearance, etc. (5 minutes)
Transcribe the conversation/interaction in the post — imagine what types of questions you might want to ask the social media poster/user about their gestures, word usage, grammatical constructions, etc.
