Papers by Mariza Georgalou
Γλωσσολογία / Glossologia, 2021
The recent financial, institutional, political, cultural and ideological crisis has intensified x... more The recent financial, institutional, political, cultural and ideological crisis has intensified xenophobic and racist discourse in Greece. At the same time, the European Union seems unable to cope with the evolving migration crisis within its borders. The development of digital technology and the emergence of new means of communication and information have led to the rise of a radical right-wing rhetoric, which, by targeting immigrants, has legalized fake narratives concerning the Other. The adoption and reproduction of this rhetoric by the dominant political discourse has normalized these hostile narratives in the public sphere. This paper critically analyzes online texts (news articles and reader comments), which either fabricate or attempt to deconstruct fake news about the Other, in order to explore the degree of integration and naturalization of xenophobic and racist discourse in these texts. The analysis reveals the ideological division of the Greek society, which consists of opposing parties constructing their own reality. In this reality, the presence of the Other is used as a means of evaluating the ideological dimension regarding the political practices of opposing parties, which do not seem to be concerned with immigrants' actual needs, reproducing thus power relations and social injustice.
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 2021
Since the eruption of the Greek crisis in 2010, thousands of highly educated and skilled Greeks h... more Since the eruption of the Greek crisis in 2010, thousands of highly educated and skilled Greeks have chosen or have been forced to migrate abroad in pursuit of better career prospects and living standards. This recent migratory wave has been termed 'new' Greek migration (Panagiotopoulou et al., 2019). Considering the transformative impact of social media on the lives and experiences of migrants as well as the pivotal role of social media in (dis)identification and identity construction processes, this paper aims at exploring the ways in which new Greek migrants construct their identities in their social media discourse. Based on a synergy between the constructionist approach to identity, discourse studies, and online ethnography, the paper presents and discusses empirical data (social media content and interviews) from five selected new Greek migrants settled in the UK and Germany, who write about and capture their migration experiences on their blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. As shown in the analysis, new Greek migrant identities are hybrid and multifaceted, constructed and negotiated through a gamut of discursive means, including stance-taking, intertextuality, entextualization, and coupling. Having the migrants' own voice and perspective at the heart of the analysis brings to the forefront significant socio-cultural dimensions of new Greek migration, often downplayed in economic and political analyses of the phenomenon. In this fashion, the potential of social media to heighten awareness of new Greek migrants' (dis)identification processes is verified.
Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 2019
Since the onset of the Greek crisis, thousands of -mainly young- highly educated and skilled Gree... more Since the onset of the Greek crisis, thousands of -mainly young- highly educated and skilled Greeks have chosen or/and have been forced to migrate in search of better career prospects and living standards. This neomigratory wave is broadly known with the neologism ‘brain drain’. The present study focuses on the ways in which selected Greek neomigrants present in their discourse their incentives to leave Greece as well as the ways in which they use social media projecting specific migrant identities (micro-level). It also examines the ways in which brain drain is discussed and constructed as discourse in infotainment media (macro-level). Drawing on insights from discourse-centred online ethnography, the Foucauldian perspective on discourse and Systemic Functional Linguistics, we present and discuss ethnographic data (interviews and social media posts) from selected Greek neomigrants settled in the UK and Germany, and media data from well-known infotainment websites. Our analysis demonstrates that the micro- and the macro-level are intertwined. Moreover, it indicates that the construction of brain drain amalgamates features of economic migration with features of lifestyle migration. In so doing, it sheds light on the broader socio-cultural and psychological impact of brain drain on neomigrants themselves and the Greek society.
The phenomenon of brain drain migration from Greece, also known as Greek neomigration, has acquir... more The phenomenon of brain drain migration from Greece, also known as Greek neomigration, has acquired an astoundingly massive character due to the ongoing economic crisis in the country. Considering that a migrant's identity is defined by a physical move from one place to another, this paper aims at exploring the discourse practices of place-making by Greek neomigrants, focusing on the role of social media in this endeavour. Drawing on discourse analysis (Myers 2010; Aguirre and Graham Davies 2015), identity construction theories (Blommaert 2005; Benwell and Stokoe 2006), environmental psychology (Proshansky, Fabian and Kaminoff 1983) and discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos 2008), this study presents and discusses empirical data from a Greek neosmigrant settled in the UK, who writes about his migration experience on his blog as well as on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. The analysis demonstrates that the Greek neomigrant place identity construction can be realized through a complex of linguistic and discourse strategies, including comparison and evaluation, construction of in-groups and out-groups, language and script alternations, entextualisation of other voices, and visual connotations. It is shown that, for migrants, social media constitute significant outlets for place-making, constructing place identity and asserting (or eschewing) belonging. In so doing, it also brings to the surface crucial social, cultural and psychological aspects of the current Greek neomigration phenomenon and confirms the potential of social media discourses to heighten 2 awareness of neomigrants' dis/integrating processes, placing discourse analysis at the service of global mobility phenomena.
Theoretical and Applied Linguistics: Proceedings of the 3rd Patras International Conference of Graduate students in Linguistics (PICGL3) Patras, 23-25 May 2014
Apart from an active conduit for relationships, communication and information, Facebook can also ... more Apart from an active conduit for relationships, communication and information, Facebook can also function as a significant basis for public expressions of individual and collective professional identity (cf. Gilpin, 2010:247). Seeing professional identity as being constituted by three core facets, namely
actions, knowledge, and relations, the objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which individuals utilise Facebook with a view to sharing their expertise, seeking professional advice, and buttressing solidarity among colleagues. I draw on findings from a larger discourse-centred online ethnographic study in which I combined the systematic and longitudinal observation of Facebook profiles with online interviews with the owners of these profiles. In my analysis I consider such features as pronouns, questions, directives, and evaluation. I argue that Facebook can serve as an arena for fruitful exchange of expert opinions framed in informal, interpersonal discourse styles that enhance and smooth out collaboration.
Since it erupted in 2009, the Greek debt crisis has disrupted Greek people’s quotidian life both ... more Since it erupted in 2009, the Greek debt crisis has disrupted Greek people’s quotidian life both at a socio-political and at a personal level. In the contemporary social media ecosystem, with the massive bulk of user-produced and user-consumed content, narratives that concern this critical turning point in Greek modern history have found fertile soil to thrive. In this article, having enmeshed discourse-centered online ethnography (Androutsopoulos, 2008) with small stories research (Georgakopoulou, 2007), the dimensional approach to narratives (Ochs & Capps, 2001), and stance-taking (Du Bois, 2007), I look at how a Greek Facebook user has recounted her emotions, thoughts, opinions, and assessments toward the Greek crisis. In doing so, I point to the intertextual, multimodal, and synergetic nature of these narratives. The article argues that Facebook can function as a powerful grassroots channel for expressive storytelling within a period of major socio-political upheaval. It also shows how Facebook has stretched our conception of what (digital) storytelling is as different Facebook affordances propel into different ways of narrating within the medium.
There is more to place on the social network site of Facebook than its software configurati... more There is more to place on the social network site of Facebook than its software configurations that allow seamless location sharing and tracking. Users do much more complex linguistic and multimodal work to give meaning to specific places foregrounding them as geographical but also as social, political, cultural, and emotional entities. This paper draws on insights from discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, semiotics, and online ethnography to explore the ways in which two Greek female Facebook participants talk about and represent places in their postings. The analysis shows
that, by means of the place, the users communicate
something about themselves: they confirm belonging,
they communicate respect to other cultures, they use
different languages to affiliate with certain places, they make political statements, they disidentify with the stressful aspects of a place in crisis, and they raise awareness about local and national issues.
Human actions and activities take place on some timescale (Lemke, 2000). Within the context of Fa... more Human actions and activities take place on some timescale (Lemke, 2000). Within the context of Facebook, all kinds of material posted on one׳s profile, be that photos, stories and experiences, are organised in the form of a Timeline with time-stamps being appended automatically. Yet, the sense of identity linked to time is actively constructed in the posts, and is done in interaction with other people. Viewing time as a polysemous entity (Evans, 2005) and as a significant orientation device for the self (Georgakopoulou, 2003), this paper examines the ways in which Facebook users position themselves in time as well as the different ways in which they conceive and value age. Drawing on insights from discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos, 2008), the frameworks of age-categorisation and temporal framing on identity marking (Coupland et al., 1991) and research on small stories (31 and 49), I present and discuss empirical data from a Greek female user׳s Timeline. Focusing on instances of explicit and implicit references to age and ageing, I argue that age identity is an interactive and collaborative process both facilitated and hindered by certain Facebook configurations. The findings also show that Facebook can be divorced from its orientation to the present as participants utilise the medium to evoke certain periods of life, recycle memories, appeal to experiences and recall past tastes.
Much significant work on the topic of privacy and identity on social network sites (SNSs) stems f... more Much significant work on the topic of privacy and identity on social network sites (SNSs) stems from the realms of media, information and cultural studies, and sociology (e.g. boyd and Marwick, 2011; Papacharissi and Gibson, 2011; Tufekci, 2008) eschewing language-based disciplines almost entirely. To redress the balance, this paper draws on discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos, 2008), an approach which blends online ethnography with discourse analysis, to explore how self-presentation on Facebook is regulated by means of privacy. To this end, I analyse a dataset of statuses, comments, links, photographs, and interviews from five Greek users. The findings highlight users’ creativity and criticality in combining software affordances with linguistic signals and textual practices to manage their privacy and hence their identity.
Occurring both at a personal and a socio-political level, crisis has disrupted Greeks’ daily life... more Occurring both at a personal and a socio-political level, crisis has disrupted Greeks’ daily life. In this paper I look at the means by which Facebook participants communicate emotions, thoughts, opinions and assessments towards the Greek crisis and its concomitants: unemployment, austerity, governmental instability, riots, uncertainty and pessimism. Adopting a discourse-centered online ethnographic approach (Androutsopoulos 2008), I focus on the expression of stances through affective and epistemic markers, pronouns, rhetorical questions, commonplaces, and irony. One of the reasons to use Facebook is to position one’s self within the current crisis context and convey stances with a view to influencing, informing, claiming or disclaiming. Different Facebook affordances lead to different ways of developing stances within the medium. These stances can be interactional, multimodal, and/or intertextual ranging from the most to the least obvious. As public performances of identity, crisis stances on Facebook are not posted to the void but are co-constructed, enforced, aligned and disaligned by a viewing audience.
igi-global.com
It has been argued that social network sites (SNSs) constitute a cultural arena which gives rise ... more It has been argued that social network sites (SNSs) constitute a cultural arena which gives rise to the processes of self-presentation, impression management and friendship performance (boyd & Ellison, 2007). Based on the tenets of discourse-centered online ethnography, this study investigates how identity can be discursively generated, reproduced and co-constructed within the genre of SNSs, taking as a case in point Pathfinder, a Greek portal which incorporates social networking features. The tendencies suggested by interviewing a Pathfinder web developer as well as by a pilot survey on social networking are traced in a popular Pathfinder networker’s profile. Adopting Zhao et al.’s (2008) sociological model of implicit and explicit identity claims on SNSs and leaning on critical discourse analytical tools (Fairclough, 2003; Reisigl & Wodak, 2001), the chapter explores how the online self can be cemented and disseminated in narrative, enumerative and visual terms via an armory of linguistic and multimodal strategies. In this fashion, SNSs should not be approached as a sheer technological artefact, but as a “space for growth” (Turkle, 1997) that encourages users to have agency shaping collaboratively their own linguistic, social and psychological development
Talks by Mariza Georgalou
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Papers by Mariza Georgalou
actions, knowledge, and relations, the objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which individuals utilise Facebook with a view to sharing their expertise, seeking professional advice, and buttressing solidarity among colleagues. I draw on findings from a larger discourse-centred online ethnographic study in which I combined the systematic and longitudinal observation of Facebook profiles with online interviews with the owners of these profiles. In my analysis I consider such features as pronouns, questions, directives, and evaluation. I argue that Facebook can serve as an arena for fruitful exchange of expert opinions framed in informal, interpersonal discourse styles that enhance and smooth out collaboration.
that, by means of the place, the users communicate
something about themselves: they confirm belonging,
they communicate respect to other cultures, they use
different languages to affiliate with certain places, they make political statements, they disidentify with the stressful aspects of a place in crisis, and they raise awareness about local and national issues.
Talks by Mariza Georgalou
actions, knowledge, and relations, the objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which individuals utilise Facebook with a view to sharing their expertise, seeking professional advice, and buttressing solidarity among colleagues. I draw on findings from a larger discourse-centred online ethnographic study in which I combined the systematic and longitudinal observation of Facebook profiles with online interviews with the owners of these profiles. In my analysis I consider such features as pronouns, questions, directives, and evaluation. I argue that Facebook can serve as an arena for fruitful exchange of expert opinions framed in informal, interpersonal discourse styles that enhance and smooth out collaboration.
that, by means of the place, the users communicate
something about themselves: they confirm belonging,
they communicate respect to other cultures, they use
different languages to affiliate with certain places, they make political statements, they disidentify with the stressful aspects of a place in crisis, and they raise awareness about local and national issues.
Drawing on discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos 2008), a research paradigm which combines online ethnography with discourse analysis, I present and discuss a set of data from five Greek users, which comprises: 1) Facebook posts with photographs (either shot by users themselves or found elsewhere in the internet), 2) Facebook posts with music video links, 3) comments that may have accompanied these posts, and 4) interview extracts in which the users elaborate on their multimodal practices.
The analysis shows that Facebook participants do versatile things with visual and music posts such as validating their experiences, invoking regional identities, paying respect to other cultures, exercising citizen journalism, making ‘safe’ and witty statements, reconstructing memories, evaluating situations, and relaying covert messages. Altogether, multimodal means enable them to articulate facets of their identity more forcefully, convincingly, creatively and indirectly. Crucially, the spectacle as such, be that visual or aural, can trigger and spur rich interactions and collaborative identity constructions in ways that the initial poster could not have foreseen or expected.
References
Androutsopoulos, J. (2008). Potentials and limitations of discourse-centered online ethnography. Language@Internet 5, article 8. Retrieved from: <http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2008/1610> (accessed 8 April 2014).
Androutsopoulos, J. (2013). Online data collection. In C. Mallinson, B. Childs and G. V. Herk (eds.) Data collection in sociolinguistics: Methods and applications. London: Routledge. 236–249.
Herring, S. C. (2013). Discourse in Web 2.0: Familiar, reconfigured, and emergent. In D. Tannen and A. M. Trester (eds.) Discourse 2.0: Language and new media. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. 1–25.
Page, R. (2012). Stories and social media: Identities and interaction. London: Routledge.
that, by means of the place, the users communicate
something about themselves: they confirm belonging,
they communicate respect to other cultures, they use
different languages to affiliate with certain places, they make political statements, they disidentify with the stressful aspects of a place in crisis, and they raise awareness about local and national issues.
For the purposes of this paper, I draw on findings from a larger discourse-centred online ethnographic study on the construction of identities on Facebook, conducted during 2010–2013 (Georgalou 2014). Discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos 2008) is a research paradigm which combines the systematic, longitudinal and repeated observation of online discourse (Facebook profiles in my study) with the direct (face-to-face and/or mediated) engagement with the producers of this online discourse (Facebook profile owners in my study), and is complementary to the textual analysis of online data. The data I have selected to present and discuss here are comprised of status updates, comments, video links, photographs, and interviews from two Greek users: Alkis, an MA student in Services Management, and Gabriel, an MA student in European and International Economics. In my discussion, I focus on three core facets of their educational identities: (1) actions and activities, (2) knowledge construction, and (3) peer relations. I look at such features as operative verbs, directives, inclusive pronouns, assessments, and role categorisation together with textual practices like entextualisation, recurrent posting, embedding URLs, tagging, and drawing visual parallels.
The analysis reveals how these users draw on Facebook affordances to announce and inform about undertaken tasks, complain and chat about study topics, design their research, publicise achievements, organise and promote student events, share expertise, and bolster solidarity and collegiality with fellow students through endorsing, extolling, giving credit, and constructing collectives. I argue that Facebook provides a friendly and supportive environment that enables and invites students’ socialisation in the process of learning and the formation of identities.
References
Androutsopoulos, J. (2008). Potentials and limitations of discourse-centered online ethnogra¬phy. Language@Internet 5, article 8. Retrieved from: <http://www.language
atinternet.org/articles/2008/1610> (accessed 8 October 2014).
English, R. M. and Duncan-Howell, J. A. (2008). Facebook goes to college: Using social networking tools to support students undertaking teaching practicum. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching 4(4): 596–601.
Georgalou, M. (2014). Constructions of identity on Facebook: A discourse-centred online ethnographic study of Greek users. PhD thesis. Lancaster University, UK.
Moore, E. (2006). Educational identities of adult university graduates. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 50(2): 149–163.
Papacharissi, Z. (ed.) (2011). A networked self: Identity, community and culture on social network sites. New York: Routledge.
Drawing on discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos 2008), a research paradigm which combines online ethnography with discourse analysis, I present and discuss a multimodal dataset of status updates, comments, video links, photographs, and interviews from five Greek users. In my analysis I consider such strategies as ambiguity, vagueness, presupposition, common ground assertion, impersonalisation, in-group language, code-switching, social steganography, self- and other-censoring.
By valuing privacy, both personally and socially, Facebook participants value their face. Protecting their informational privacy is equal to asserting control over their self- and other-presentation, that is control of how they wish to present, stage and craft themselves and others, to whom they want to do so, to what extent, in which contexts and under which circumstances (cf. Ellison et al. 2011). The findings provide insights not only on how Facebook participants see their faces but most importantly how and by whom they want to be seen, recognised and validated.
References
Androutsopoulos, J. (2008). Potentials and limitations of discourse-centered online ethnography. Language@Internet 5, article 8. Retrieved from: <http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2008/1610> (accessed 8 December 2014).
Brown, P. and Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goffman, E. (1955). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry: Journal of Interpersonal Relations 18(3): 213–231.
Ellison, N. B., Vitak, J., Steinfield, C., Gray, R. and Lampe, C. (2011). Negotiating privacy concerns and social capital needs in a social media environment. In S. Trepte and L. Reinecke (eds.) Privacy online: Perspectives on privacy and self-disclosure in the social web. New York: Springer. 19–32.
Marwick, A. and boyd, d. (2014). Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media. New Media & Society 16(7): 1051-1067.
Drawing on discourse-centred online ethnography (Androutsopoulos 2008), a research paradigm which combines online ethnography with discourse analysis, I present and discuss a multimodal dataset of status updates, comments, video links, photographs, and interviews from five Greek users. In my analysis I consider such practices as entextualisation, mashupability, resemiotisation, recurrent posting, social steganography, self- and other-censoring, and tagging.
The adoption of these textual practices has major implications for users’ identity facilitating them to show identification with a given group of people, take social action, imply a situation they are into, display their linguistic and cultural capital, show competence in textual manipulation, offer the audience the potential of playful engagement, flag the importance of an event to them, issue audience reminders, perform emotive actions, offer support, and secure their privacy.
To this end, I have adopted a discourse-centered online ethnographic approach (Androutsopoulos 2008), which combines the systematic and longitudinal observation of Facebook profiles with the direct engagement with their owners. I present and discuss a Facebook post, comprised of a status update, a video link and 11 comments from a Greek female user’s Timeline, complemented with her own interpretation of the interaction. In my analysis, informed by Coupland et al. (1991), I focus on age as a subjective and emotional way of perceiving time looking at instances of explicit and implicit references to ageing and age labeling.
The stability of identity depends partly on having a working interactional space of the present in which to be stable (Jenkins 2002). For many, Facebook can undertake the role of this interactional space. Through posting songs, writing comments and liking, Facebook participants appeal to shared experiences, recollect memories and feel nostalgia, recall past tastes and habits, generate individual and collective present, past and future identities, and evoke certain periods of life through a gamut
of intertextual references. Age identities are projected, challenged, endorsed, and collaboratively negotiated in front of a viewing Facebook audience. As such, they should not be considered as mere chronological facts but as socially established processes, as contextualized interactional accomplishments (Poulios 2009)."
For most people, work amounts to a pervasive life domain and a funda-mental source of meaning which allows them to form, transform, and modify how they define themselves and others within the framework of work-based situations and activities (Dutton et al. 2010; Gini 1998). In this light, professional identity can be seen as a constellation of activities, tasks, roles, groups, interactions, motives, goals, orientations, attributes, beliefs, values and experiences in terms of which individuals define themselves in a professional role (Drew and Heritage 1992; Dutton et al. 2010).
In this paper I draw on findings from a larger discourse-centered online ethnographic study (cf. Androutsopoulos 2008) in which I combined the systematic and longitudinal observation of Facebook profiles with online interviews with the owners of these profiles. The study explored three core facets of professional identity: (1) actions, (2) knowledge, and (3) relations. Here I focus on the second facet, knowledge, presenting and discussing a series of Facebook posts. In my analysis I consider such features as pronouns, questions, directives, and evaluation.
I argue that Facebook can serve as an arena for fruitful exchange of opinions framed in informal, interpersonal discourse styles that enhance and smooth out collaboration.
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Funded by CIMO — Finnish National Agency for Education
Principal investigator: Professor Sirpa Leppänen.
Funded by the Department of Linguistics & English Language, Lancaster University, UK
Principal investigator: Professor Greg Myers.
-An introduction to the linguistic frameworks currently used to analyse language found in social media contexts
-An outline of the practical steps and ethical guidelines entailed when gathering linguistic data from social media sites and platforms
-A range of illustrative case studies, which cover different approaches, linguistic topics, digital platforms, and national contexts
Each chapter begins with a clear summary of the topics covered and also suggests sources for further reading to supplement the initial discussion and case studies. Written with an international outlook,Researching Language and Social Media is an essential book for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Linguistics, Media Studies and Communication Studies.
The book features a discourse-centred online ethnography that provides authentic verbal and multimodal Facebook posts in both Greek and English. These are complemented with insights from interviews with Facebook participants. The examples bring to life various engaging instances of self- and other-presentation on Facebook identifying the ways in which users can:
-locate themselves in terms of place and time;
-announce activities, share and broaden their expertise and buttress -solidarity among colleagues and fellow students;
-communicate emotions, tastes, thoughts, opinions and assessments;
-control the flow of textual information on their Facebook profiles to secure their privacy.
Focusing on discourse manifestations of identity, this book also shows how Facebook can function as a space for vernacular literacy practices, a cilo of relationships, a digital memory bank, a research tool, a knowledge forum, a cardiograph of a society, and a grassroots channel.
Features include:
-Chapter overviews outlining the key areas covered
-A chapter on methodology with practical information
-Activities, discussion tasks and ideas for mini-projects
-Suggestions for further reading
-Links to further resources such as useful websites and videos
-A glossary of technical terms
-A companion website providing supplementary material
The book will be a useful resource for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers working with new media in the fields of language and linguistics, media and communication studies, sociology,
anthropology, and cultural studies.