Research

In my research I qualitatively analyze the intersections of language, identity, and power in face-to-face and mediated contexts. I explore race, gender, humor, social media discourse, and institutional discourses in higher education through transdisciplinary perspectives. I’m particularly focused on the language, culture, and experiences of Black individuals and communities in the U.S.

Below is a selection of publications and research talks. A complete list of theses, publications, research presentations, and works-in-progress can be found on my CV.

Social media discourse and digital culture

I’m interested in how digital technologies shape language and interaction, including how different social media platforms afford different forms of communication and how social media users make use of digital technology for community-specific social goals. I’ve previously analyzed digital discourse and digital culture on Vine, Tumblr, and Twitter, and my current research is focused on the video-sharing platform TikTok.

“Vine Racial Comedy as Anti-Hegemonic Humor: Linguistic Performance and Generic Innovation,” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 29(1), 27-49 (2019)

“Blackout, Black Excellence, Black Power: Strategies of Everyday Online Activism on Black Tumblr.” In Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein and Indira Neill Hoch (eds.), a tumblr book: platform and cultures, University of Michigan Press (2020)

“They edited out her nip nops”: Linguistic Innovation as Textual Censorship Avoidance on TikTok” (with Alexia Fawcett). Language@Internet, Vol. 23, article 1 (2023)

Language, race, and gender

I examine how racialized and gendered identities – and ideologies about them – are articulated through discourse in both online and offline contexts. I’ve explored how language can be used to construct, challenge, and reimagine the relationship between race, gender, and other social identities and the power structures that shape them.

“The Discursive Construction of ‘Straight White Boys’ on Social Media as Social Critique,” Department of English, West Chester University, 2021

“Expanding Notions of “Black Language” through Representations of Black Linguistic Diversity on TikTok.” Department of Anthropology & Linguistics Program, University of South Carolina, 2023

“African American English, Racialized Femininities, and Asian American Identity in Ali Wong’s Baby Cobra” (with Joyhanna Yoo). Journal of Sociolinguistics 28(4), 64-84 (2024)

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in U.S. higher education

I’ve analyzed diversity discourses, ideologies, and practices in U.S. colleges and universities and their impacts on the experiences of graduate students of color. Specifically, I’ve examined how conceptualizations of diversity were discursively constructed and operationalized at two Minority Serving Institutions and how university websites (re)produce ideologies and reflect both hegemonic and institution-specific understandings of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

I’m part of an inter-institutional Black research team documenting the academic experiences, challenges, and motivations of Black faculty in linguistics and related fields. Our multi-method study humanizes Black faculty, reveals mechanisms of anti-Blackness that hinder success at different stages of Black faculty’s careers, and exposes the ‘hidden curriculum’ that impacts scholars across academia.

“Competing Discourses of Diversity and Inclusion: Institutional Rhetoric and Graduate Student Narratives at Two Minority Serving Institutions.” Doctoral dissertation, 2021 (abstract and table of contents)

Lifting as We Climb: How Black Faculty Make Professional and Linguistic Choices to Thrive in Higher Education ( with Aris Clemons, Joy Peltier, Kahdeidra Martin, and Anne Charity Hudley). Teacher’s College Press, April 2026

Methods

Drawing on both humanities and social science approaches to data collection and analysis, I use a variety of qualitative methods in my research, including:

  • Multimodal discourse analysis
  • Semiotic analysis
  • Digital ethnography
  • Institutional ethnography
  • Ethnographic and semi-structured interviews
  • Focus groups

“Conducting digital ethnography on social media” [Video]. SAGE Research Methods. (2022)

“Social Media.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. (2023)