Fighting Words!

ISBN-13: 9781032130545 / Twarda / 2024 / 184 str.

Eric Louis Russell

Opis

Fighting Words! is a critical exploration of all kinds of “bad language” and how that language shapes, reinforces, or subverts identity, ideology, and power.

Recenzje

“In a single accessible, readable, and relevant volume infused with wry humor and keen insights, Fighting Words! offers readers an indispensable primer on topics ranging from linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics to political correctness and cancel culture. Beginning with a focus on “bad” language, the volume invites the reader to question, reexamine, and reimagine the very construct of what language is, imploring us to consider language as a verb: to language. To help his readers question the language that permeates the contemporary sociopolitical space, Russell skillfully embeds his analysis of transgressive languaging acts in engaging, relevant contexts: the Trump years, overheard conversations, rap music, and the ubiquitous “Karens” who dominate social media. Via these rich and provocative examples, Russell encourages the reader to examine these linguistic transgressions more thoughtfully and critically. Discussion Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading are provided at the end of each chapter, providing not simply “food for thought,” but rather provocative and insightful stimuli for difficult conversations. Fighting Words! is essential reading for a divided nation of people struggling, but often failing, to understand each other.” Thomas Jesús Garza, The University of Texas at Austin, USA

Spis treści

Prologue – On Never Looking Away   Chapter One – Rethinking Language: Foundations for Critique   Chapter Two – Languaging Transgression: “Grabbing pussy” and “locker room talk”   Chapter Three – Languaging Meaning: “Rolling Coal” and “Having Balls”   Chapter Four – Languaging Worldview: Ideology and mythology   Chapter Five – Languaging Authority and Power: Karens in the Wild   Chapter Six – Languaging Consequence: Linguistic performativity and hate speech   Chapter Seven – Languaging Cancellation: The ecology of discourse and hegemony   Chapter Eight – Languaging Rebellion: When Pussy Grabs Back 

O autorze

Eric Louis Russell is Professor of French & Italian at the University of California at Davis, with affiliations in the Linguistics Department and the Program in Gender, Sexualities & Women’s Studies. He is the author of Alpha Masculinity: Hegemony in Language and Discourse and The Discursive Ecology of Homophobia: Unraveling Anti-LGBTQ Speech on the European Far Right.