The First International Symposium on Discourse Studies, Multimodality and Semiotics
第一届话语研究、多模态与符号学国际论坛
16-17 October, 2021
Zhejiang University
Discourse studies, multimodality, semiotics: applying tools and concepts to real world issues
There is a growing community of scholars working in the areas of discourse studies, multimodality, and semiotics in China. This is exciting and has huge potential. At Zhejiang University we will hold a two-day symposium where colleagues can present and share their work. This is with a view to building and establishing a network of scholars, holding future events and facilitating collaborations. This is an event for scholars of all levels.
As well as simply sharing our research and meeting-up, we also want to think about the role of discourse studies, multimodality, and semiotics, in respect to producing knowledge, in contributing to fields beyond linguistics and placing our work across a range of scholarly journals. Scholars working in discourse studies, multimodality, and semiotics, tend to be trained linguistics. While this equips us with unique and powerful skills, this may not especially prepare us for carrying out more applied work, for using tools and concepts to contribute to wider academic debates about social, political and cultural issues. Yet this is often a requirement for academic publishing beyond more specific and localized linguistics journals. Indeed, our tools, concepts and research skills, have huge potential to allow us to contribute to a huge range of academic fields. At this event we want scholars to present their work in this sense of how we apply our work to such concrete issues. What problems are we helping to solve? How are we contributing insights into processes, institutions, media communication, which throw light on them? What do our tools and concepts do that allows us to make that contribution? What kinds of topics and formulations of topics are most advantageous to pursue?
We invite abstracts that cover any topic, but which fall within the realms of discourse studies, multimodality, and semiotics. The symposium will run over two days. The event is intended for Chinese scholars but there will be several short Zoom presentations by established international scholars who are editors of leading international journals in the field.
Confirmed Speakers
Teun Van Dijk, Discourse & Society
John Richardson, Critical Discourse Studies
Gunhild Kvale, Visual Communication
Goran Eriksson, Discourse, Media and Context
David Machin, Social Semiotics
Massimo Leone, Semiotica
Le Cheng, Social Semiotics/International Journal of Legal Discourse
Please send your abstract (within 500 words) to Dr Sun Yuxiu (11805004@zju.edu.cn) before 31 July 2021.
