This dissertation takes a discursive approach to Hawai'i stand-up comedy, which is a highly dramaturgical genre, and it examines the cultural specificity of Hawaii comedy in an explicitly interactional context. This culturally-specific performative genre is a discursive site where comedians and their audiences jointly construct multivocal humor…

The aim of this paper is to examine the increased potential for language change from the micro-level, given the new domains in which minority languages are present in the global era. Drawing on the theoretical notion of sociolinguistic scales this paper presents a comparative account of the changing positions of the Irish and Inari Sami languages.…

The challenges of teaching introductory-level U.S. politics to reluctant audiences are well known and widely lamented. This article investigates the pedagogical potential of political satire, specifically "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", in engaging students in this tough-to-teach course. Based on a review of available literature and…

My dissertation, "Erotic Love and the Development of Proto-Capitalist Ideology in Early Modern Comedy" demonstrates how increased crown authority, and an expanded market combine with the mixed agency of the romantic comedy daughter to further encourage early modern economic growth. The triumph of rebelling daughter over blocking father has…

The reported study follows the footsteps of Heider, and Simmel (1944) [Heider, F., & Simmel, M. (1944). An experimental study of apparent behavior. "American Journal of Psychology," 57, 243-249] and Michotte (1946/1963) [Michotte, A. (1963). "The perception of causality" (T.R. Miles & E. Miles, Trans.). London: Methuen (Original work published…

During these unprecedented complicated times, there is an equally unprecedented need for an informed citizenry. Many of us watch democracy get played out on the 24-hour news networks. Still others bear witness to it in the social commentaries embedded in the entertainment provided by late night comedians like Jon Stewart. Humor provides a largely…

Plato's "Symposium" is a significant but neglected part of his elaborate and complex attitude toward rhetoric. Unlike the intellectual discussion of the "Gorgias" or the unscripted conversation of the "Phaedrus," the "Symposium" stages a feast celebrating and driven by the forces of "Eros." A luxuriously stylish performance rather than a rational…

Supported by critical theoretical frameworks, this book is a purposeful engagement with bodies of knowledge rooted in popular culture, yet routinely excluded from "common sense" visions of curriculum. Aimed at teachers as well as teacher-educators, the book examines areas such as Disney, African American stand-up comedy, intersections of…

After initial instruction in written and spoken Tiwa, young adult participants in the summer language program at San Antonio Pueblo began authoring their own pedagogical materials as a learning activity. Charged with writing pedagogical dialogues to aid in language learning, the students created "the first Native soap opera," as the…

Environmentalists are accustomed to using the rhetorical appeals of guilt and sacrifice to advocate their agendas. I argue that the motivations of guilt and sacrifice do not mirror the goals of sustainability, and are easy for anthropocentric-resourcist ideology (ARI) agendas to counter. When it comes to actual environmental policy change,…

Erving Goffman was a crossover writer. His work, even simply his name, had significance for people who worked in literature, in history, in media studies, in political science, in psychology, in law schools and business schools--and, of course, in anthropology and linguistics. There is no indication that Goffman ever sought such a role. He was a…

This article provides a theoretical framework for a pedagogy of comedy that aids evaluation or instruction of the linguistic and social literacies that are part of speech act implicature and context. By understanding comedy's embeddedness in (an incongruence with) social and linguistic relationships and expectations, comedic texts and episodes can…

Though classroom time is an adventure of its own, it is when working with the Carlisle High School Shakespeare Troupe, an extracurricular acting company, that the author most consistently and happily experiences this illusion of indefinite time. She has been working steadily with the troupe since the fall of 1984, and the troupe has produced a…

This study aims to provide a perspective which allows honorifics to be seen beyond the frame of politeness and/or formality in social structures. Korean school grammar explains honorifics as linguistic forms that reflect relative social positional difference (e.g., K-H. Lee, 2010), and has assumed that social structure and language use have a…

Given that feature films can enhance the teaching of intercultural communication, this article describes in detail how the 2006 comedy film, "Outsourced," can be integrated into a course. The article relates the film to four different functions of film and shows how "Outsourced" can help create an intercultural experience for…