‘Bitch I’m back, by popular demand’
agency and structure in a study abroad setting
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.39399Keywords:
Gender and sexual identities, ideology, agency, structure, study abroadAbstract
This paper explores the gender order and heteronormativity as salient ideologicalstructures affecting identity construction and agency in a study abroadcontext. Drawing on a multi-layered case study of Hugo (a French universityexchange student in New Zealand), I examine interactional and ethnographicdata to shine light on processes involved in negotiating sexuality and genderidentities in both the host and home contexts. Specifically, the analysis allowsinsights into the development of agency within changing structural environmentsduring and after study abroad, and makes the case for a recognitionof the force of ideological constraints. At the same time, I show that 'seeds ofagency', sparked by a destabilisation of habitus, are planted in the study abroadcontext and argue that crossing borders can be the impetus for a liberatingontological excavation of what might be possible.
References
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Ehrlich, S., Meyerhoff, M. and Holmes, J. (eds) (2014) The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, 2nd edition. Oxford: John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584248
Foucault, M. (1978) History of Sexuality (Vol. 1). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Gee, J. P. (1990) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. London: Taylor and Francis.
Gee, J. P. (2015) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses, 5th edition. Florence: Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315722511
Holmes, J. (2007) Social constructionism, postmodernism and feminist sociolinguistics. Gender and Language 1(1): 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.2007.1.1.51
Jaffe, A. (2009) Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. New York ; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kiesling, S. (2013) Flirting and ‘normative’ sexualities. Journal of Language and Sexuality 2(1): 101–21. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.2.1.04kie
Menard-Warwick, J. (2014) English Language Teachers on the Discursive Faultlines: Identities, Ideologies and Pedagogies. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783091119
Mills, S. and Mullany, L. (2011) Language, Gender and Feminism. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203814666
Norton, B. (2000) Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. New York: Longman.
Norton, B. (2013) Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation, 2nd edition. Bristol, New York, Ontario: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090563
Pascale, C.-M. (2011) Cartographies of Knowledge: Exploring Qualitative Epistemologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230368
RuPaul (Undated) RuPaul’s Drag Race dictionary. Retrieved from https://rupaulsdragrace.fandom.com/wiki/RuPaul’s_Drag_Race_Dictionary#B
Sauntson, H. (2008) The contribution of queer theory to gender and language research. In K. Harrington, L. Litosseliti, H. Sauntson and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender and Language Research Methodologies 271–82. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schilling, N. (2013) Sociolinguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511980541
van de Mieroop, D. and Schnurr, S. (eds) (2017) Identity Struggles: Evidence from Workplaces around the World. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69
Warner, M. (1991) Introduction: fear of a queer planet. Social Text 29: 3–17.
Baker, P. (2008) Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality. London: Equinox.
Bakewell, O. (2010) Some reflections on structure and agency in migration theory. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(10): 1689–1708. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2010.489382
Bakhtin, M. M. (1992) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Barrett, R. (1997) The ‘homo-genius’ speech community. In A. Livia and K. Hall (eds) Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality 181–202. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barrett, R. (2017) From Drag Queens to Leathermen: Language, Gender, and Gay Male Subcultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390179.001.0001
Berlant, L. and Warner, M. (1998) Sex in public. Critical Inquiry 24(2): 547–66. https://doi.org/10.1086/448884
Blackledge, A. and Pavlenko, A. (2001) Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts. International Journal of Bilingualism 5(3): 243–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069010050030101
Block, D. (2007) The rise of identity in SLA research, post Firth and Wagner (1997). The Modern Language Journal 91(s1): 863–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00674.x
Block, D. (2013a) Issues in language and identity research in Applied Linguistics. ELIA 13: 11–46.
Block, D. (2013b) The structure and agency dilemma in identity and intercultural communication research. Language and Intercultural Communication 13(2): 126–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2013.770863
Blommaert, J. (2005) Bourdieu the ethnographer. The Translator 11(2): 219–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2005.10799199
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812507
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bucholtz, M. (2014) The feminist foundations of language, gender, and sexuality research. In M. Meyerhoff, J. Holmes and S. Ehrlich (eds) The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, 2nd edition, 23–47. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584248.ch1
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble. New York and London: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. New York: Routledge.
Cameron, D. (2009) Theoretical issues for the study of gender and spoken interaction. In P. Pichler and E. Eppler (eds) Gender and Spoken Interaction 1–17. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230280748_1
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2003) Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791178
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (eds) (2006) The Language and Sexuality Reader. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203013373
Canagarajah, S. (2004) Subversive identities, pedagogical safe houses, and critical learning. In B. Norton and K. Toohey (eds) Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning 116–37. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524834.007
Coates, J. (1996) Women Talk: Conversation between Women Friends. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Coates, J. (2003) Men Talk: Stories in the Making of Masculinities. Malden, MA: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470755617
Coates, J. (2013a) The discursive production of everyday heterosexualities. Discourse and Society 24(5): 536–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486070
Coates, J. (2013b) Women, Men and Everyday Talk. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137314949
Connell, R. (1987) Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Duff, P. (2012) Identity, agency, and second language acquisition. In A. Mackey and S. M. Gass (eds) Handbook of Second Language Acquisition 410–26. London: Routledge.
Eckert, P. and McConnell-Ginet, S. (2003) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791147
Eckert, P. and McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013) Language and Gender, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139245883
Ehrlich, S. (2008) Sexual assault trials, discursive identities and institutional change. In R. Dolon and J. Todoli (eds) Analysing Identities in Discourse 159–77. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.28.11ehr
Ehrlich, S., Meyerhoff, M. and Holmes, J. (eds) (2014) The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, 2nd edition. Oxford: John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584248
Foucault, M. (1978) History of Sexuality (Vol. 1). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Gee, J. P. (1990) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. London: Taylor and Francis.
Gee, J. P. (2015) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses, 5th edition. Florence: Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315722511
Holmes, J. (2007) Social constructionism, postmodernism and feminist sociolinguistics. Gender and Language 1(1): 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.2007.1.1.51
Jaffe, A. (2009) Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. New York ; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kiesling, S. (2013) Flirting and ‘normative’ sexualities. Journal of Language and Sexuality 2(1): 101–21. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.2.1.04kie
Menard-Warwick, J. (2014) English Language Teachers on the Discursive Faultlines: Identities, Ideologies and Pedagogies. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783091119
Mills, S. and Mullany, L. (2011) Language, Gender and Feminism. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203814666
Norton, B. (2000) Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. New York: Longman.
Norton, B. (2013) Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation, 2nd edition. Bristol, New York, Ontario: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090563
Pascale, C.-M. (2011) Cartographies of Knowledge: Exploring Qualitative Epistemologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230368
RuPaul (Undated) RuPaul’s Drag Race dictionary. Retrieved from https://rupaulsdragrace.fandom.com/wiki/RuPaul’s_Drag_Race_Dictionary#B
Sauntson, H. (2008) The contribution of queer theory to gender and language research. In K. Harrington, L. Litosseliti, H. Sauntson and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender and Language Research Methodologies 271–82. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schilling, N. (2013) Sociolinguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511980541
van de Mieroop, D. and Schnurr, S. (eds) (2017) Identity Struggles: Evidence from Workplaces around the World. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69
Warner, M. (1991) Introduction: fear of a queer planet. Social Text 29: 3–17.
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2019-11-21
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How to Cite
Dawson, S. (2019). ‘Bitch I’m back, by popular demand’: agency and structure in a study abroad setting. Gender and Language, 13(4), 449-468. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.39399
