CfP (AIA 32 Seminar): Reframing human(e) voices: Exploring contemporary British identities through cultural studies and the multimodal toolkit

Seminar n. 20. Reframing human(e) voices: Exploring contemporary British identities through cultural studies and the multimodal toolkit

Convenors
Ester Gendusa (Università degli Studi di Palermo) ester.gendusa@unipa.it
Emanuele Monegato (Università degli Studi di Milano) emanuele.monegato@unimi.it
Anna Pasolini (Università degli Studi di Milano) anna.pasolini@unimi.it

Abstract
Drawing on a theoretical paradigm integrating the interpretative tenets of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Cultural Studies, this seminar investigates the complex identity negotiations that permeate the (re)configurations of contemporary Britishness as portrayed in cultural products of the first decades of the new millennium which converse with multimodal textualities and cross-digital platforms (such as TV adaptations, theatre transpositions, song playlists, podcasts, blogs, etc). More specifically, the seminar aims to disclose the transformative role of storytelling in constructing, challenging, and re-signifying British cultural identities within a conflictual glocal sphere so as to foster possibilities for social justice and renewed human(e) relationships.

In this context, the investigation of the interplay of the inherent affordances of the cultural texts under scrutiny through the analytical lens of MCDA reveals how their sociopolitical constructs evolve, are shaped, challenged, and redefined across different media and over time, reflecting broader shifts in the understanding of Britishness in contemporary society. Inasmuch as the multimodal analytical perspective enables the examination of meaning-making practices within complex intertextual and cross-media networks, the critical framework adopted here helps interrogate how cultural products engage with and reframe key concepts such as language, (classed/racialized/gendered) identity, community and belonging. Thus, this seminar explores how the theoretical porosity between the culturalist and the multimodal paradigms provides new opportunities to scrutinize the complexity of today’s British meaning-poietic arenas. Against this backdrop, the English language is viewed as a carrier of (oppositional) semiotic resources and a vehicle for decentred/excentric discursive practices, interwoven with performances of cultural identity.

Aiming to reflect on the perceptions and self-perceptions of an ever-evolving Britishness in the context of
contemporary socio-political events and historical/cultural shifts, the convenors welcome abstract proposals centred around (but not necessarily limited to):
- revisited perspectives on and intersections of class, race/ethnicity, gender, etc., in contemporary British (multimodal) storytelling, particularly within urban and suburban settings
- the analysis of hybrid narratives and storytelling across transmedial circuits
- the (problematized) depiction of migration, cultural relocation, and multiculturalism in contemporary British cultural products
- the engagement of artistic expressions, such as Artivism, with political and social discourses surrounding British cultural identities.

References
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Di Martino, E. (2022). Indexing ‘chav’ on social media: Transmodal performances of working-class subcultures. Palgrave Macmillan.
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Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2021). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2020). Introduction to multimodal analysis (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury.
Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2012). How to do critical discourse analysis: A multimodal introduction. Sage.
Vallorani, N. (Ed.). (2016). Introduzione ai Cultural studies. UK, USA e Paesi anglofoni. Carocci.
Williams, R. (1985). Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society. Oxford University Press.