AESLA 2024

Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (Doctora per la Universitat de València) és catedràtica de Filologia anglesa a la Universitat de Carolina del Nord a Charlotte, on imparteix cursos de postgrau i en la llicenciatura en Lingüística. S'interessa per la im/politeness, els models de gènere, la construcció de la identitat, els mitjans de comunicació tradicionals i digitals, temes sobre els quals ha publicat i pronunciat nombroses conferències. Forma part del consell de diverses revistes internacionals, és coeditora en cap del Journal of Language of Aggression and Conflict i de la sèrie de llibres Routledge Focus on (Im)politeness.

Unlocking Cancel Culture and Intergroup Communication: Pragmatic Outlook

In this lecture, I propose a paradigmatic shift in the study of pragmatics and (im)politeness towards an intergroup-oriented framework, aimed at illuminating the dynamics of interactions characterized by the salience of social identities. My focus centers on the contemporary phenomenon of Cancel Culture (CC), a collective form of ostracism wherein individuals perceived to have violated societal norms face widespread social condemnation and exclusion. To comprehensively analyze CC, I introduce a three-layered model that probes its manifestations at the macro, meso, and micro levels. Contrary to prevailing perspectives that primarily scrutinize CC at the macro level, I explore CC's macro, meso, and micro level practices: as a big C conversation, a genre-ecology, and online comments wherein factors such as identity reduction, (im)politeness, and moral emotions converge to shape light group entitativity and agency. By unpacking the intricate interplay between language use, social identities, and collective behaviors, this lecture challenges conventional conceptualizations of CC and sheds light on its underlying mechanisms.