As my view of linguistic phenomena involved in the formation of subjectivity has expanded, I have turned more attention to the role of embodiment in everyday interaction. My interest in the body鈥檚 potential for producing social meaning has existed since my early work with hijras, who are known throughout India for a system of handclaps that carry referential as well as indexical meaning. I discuss this system in a 2010 article , coauthored with and published in Watt and Llamas鈥檚 Language and Identities.
My most recent work in this area appears in Coupland鈥檚 Sociolinguistics: Theoretical Debates, again coauthored with Mary Bucholtz. Our 2016 article considers how a focus on bodies broadens sociocultural linguists鈥 understanding of the key concepts of indexicality, discourse, and agency. Mary Bucholtz and I are currently engaged in a book project to advance this idea: Parsing the Body: Language and the Social Life of Embodiment. In this volume, 35 scholars in linguistic anthropology analyze the centrality of a 鈥榖ody part鈥 (e.g., The Wrist, The Finger, The Head, The Chin) to the production, perception, and interpretation of language and social life.
A prominent example of my work in embodied sociolinguistics is my 2016 publication with and titled 鈥.鈥 This article was published in HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory shortly before the November presidential election. Bringing together linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology, and rhetorical theory, we examine the ways that Trump鈥檚 unconventional political style, particularly his use of gesture to critique the political system and caricature his opponents, brought momentum to his campaign by creating spectacle. More information regarding our findings can be heard in my with Nathan Heffel of Colorado Public Radio, which aired ten days after the election.
