Dr Korina Giaxoglou

Professional biography

My research interests lie at the intersections of linguistic anthropology, the sociolinguistics of narrative, and (mediated) discourse analysis with a special focus on the following areas: 

• oral poetics and performance: mourning  
• narrative analysis: small stories and affective positioning 
• health communication: small stories of illness on social media 
• social media sharing of stories and emotions 
• linguistic landscapes: affective landscapes, mourning and memory-scapes 

My research monograph on social media mourning was published in July 2020 from Routledge Research (Series: Narrative, Interaction and Discourse).

Based on the insights of this research, we have created with Open Learn this interactive experience (10 min) on how social media has changed the way we share grief. 

Research Groups

Member of CREET and Applied Linguistics and English Language Research Group. 

Projects​

Post.stories Collective (with Alex Georgakopoulou and Philip Seargeant): this collective explores how the use of storytelling and issues such as voice, visibility and value have an impact on society, and how both theoretical and practice-based insights can help us both better understand and shape the culture we live in. 

​TRACE: Tracing Racism in Anti-Racist Discourse: A critical approach to European public speech on the migrant and refugee crisis (Led by Professor A. Archakis, University of Patras; Funded by ELIDEK): This project focuses on institutionalized/official anti-racism discourse of the European public sphere, which refers to the migration and refugee crisis. 

New visibilities of dying, death, and mourning: this project examines the changing place of dying, death, and mourning in contemporary networked societies and critically revisits the popular thesis that 'death is taboo'.  

Creativity and Politics in the Linguistic Landscape (with Philip Seargeant and Frank Monaghan): this project explores the linguistic landscape in relation to creativity in political expression and grassroots activism. 

I am currently member of the team redesigning the module Children's Literature (EA300), having chaired its pre-production phase. 

I have contributed to the redesign of the Level 2 module Worlds of English (U214) and the Level 1 module Introducing English Language Studies (L101). As part of L101, we have co-edited with Philip Seargeant Book 1: What is Language? and Book 3: Language and Creativity.

I have been involved in the module presentation teams for Worlds of English (U214) and  Investigating Language in Action (E854). I have co-chaired the presentation of Exploring Languages and Cultures (L161) and chaired the first presentation of the postgraduate module Applied Linguistics and English Language (EE817).

Keynote lectures

Participation online as affective positioning: the case of a YouTube cancer vlog. Postgraduate Workshop on Networked publics in an age of sharing, University of Lausanne, 5-6 December 2019. 

​Sharing small stories of illness online: modes of affective positioning. Programme Doctorale en Sciences du Language. "Analyzing Discourse & Interaction in Social Media: new methodological challenges?". Conferene Universitaire de Suisse Occidentale, Leysin, May 19-21 2019. 

Sharing life and death online as small stories of the moment. Postgraduate Workshop on Digital Practices, Platforms, Affordances and Ideologies. University of Lausanne, 14 December 2017.

 #JeSuisCharlie?: hashtags as narrative resources in contexts of ecstatic sharing, Postgraduate Workshop on Digital Literacies in Digital Communication, University of Lausanne, 14 December 2016.

Invited lectures

 Small stories of death, dying & mourning on social media: tellers, co-tellers and witnesses, Georgetown University, March 2021

(with A. Georgakopoulou and P. Seargeant) Stories in Everyday Life: From electoral politics to Instagram, The Personal As Political Series, Contemporary Cultures of Writing, The Open University, March 2021

(with Alexandra Georgakopoulou) Memes, tweets and other small stories: on the social-mediatization of the Greek economy, University of Oxford, Department of Modern Greek Studies, May 2017.

Lament as narrative and as social critique. Workshop on Music and Language in Greece in times of crisis. Sounds of the Hellenic World: Ancient and Modern. Hosted by the Department of Classics, the Centre for Hellenic Studies and the Department of Music, with the collaboration of the Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, and the Athens Conservatoire. King’s College London, 4-5 July 2016.

#JeSuisCharlie: hashtag mourning as ecstatic story-making. Applied Linguistics Circle Research Seminar, University of Reading, May 2016.

Invited panel participation

​(with Tereza Spilioti) "Weird Languaging in Hip Hop: 'mumble rap' and the case of Sin Boy's viral single MAMA". Part of Invited colloquium on Multilanguaging in the 'global village': Digital dis/parities and dis/connections. Convened by Alex Georgakopouloum, [Virtual] GURT (Georgetown University Round Table), March 13-15 2020. 

Panel on Death, Dying and Digital. Wellcome Collection. Part of Misbehaving Bodies: events with Oreet Ashery. 7 November 2019. 

Panel on Death affairs: the political and the personal in a digital age. Applied Sociology and Social Work Group. University of Greenwich. 21 June 2019. 

Panel on Digital Life, Legacy and Afterlife. Marie Curie and Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief. Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, 19 June 2019. 

Panel on Ego-Media: Networked Media and Small Stories. University of Oxford, Wolfson College, 31 May 2019. 

Panel on Online Memorial Practices. Dialogues of the Dead: Life Writing and Death. King's College London. 24 May 2018.

Panel on Digital Grief. Edinburgh International Science Festival. 4 April 2018.  

Roundtable discussion on digital surveillance. LDC Research Seminar: (Un)doing digital surveillance: Discourses & Practices. King's College London. May 2016.

Conference presentations (select) 

Led by Donkeys: Linguistic Landscapes and Cross-media Rebellion (with Frank Monaghan and Philip Seargeant), 12th Linguistic Landscape Workshop: The Political Economy of language and space/place, 1-3 September 2021, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Chronotopic affect in collective memorialization online (with Tereza Spilioti). Colloquium organized by Caroline Tagg and Agnieszka Lyons: Re-framing the past: The semiotics of time and space in languaging around significant events. TLANG2: Languaging in Times of Change. University of Stirling. 26-27 September 2019. 

(with Tereza Spilioti) "I’m an Aθenian too": διαγραφηματικές πρακτικές στο αστικό γλωσσικό τοπίο της Αθήνας. ICGL14. 14th International Conference on Greek Linguistics. University of Patras. 5-8 September 2019.

Vlogging on dying as small stories: the potential and limits of online storying and participation. BAAL Language and New Media Seminar: A force for good? Digital media, positive social change and transformative practice. University of Nottingham, 2nd May 2019. 

(with Tereza Spilioti) 'I’m an Aθenian too’: trans-scripting practices in the urban landscape of Athens. TLANG Conference: Communication in the Multilingual City, Birmingham, 28^th-29^th March 2018.

(with Tereza Spilioti) Mediatizing death and suffering: narrative stancetaking in the rescripting of the refugee crisis. International Pragmatics Association Conference (Special Theme: Pragmatics in the Real World), Belfast, July 2017.

Sharing life and death as small stories: curating last(ing) moments online. IABA Europe 2017 - Life Writing, Europe and New Media, King's College London, June 7-9 2017.

"Dying to live”: storying the everyday experience of illness and dying on b(v)logs, BAAL SIG Health and Science Communication, “Experiences of illness and death: learning from the discourses of realities and fictions”, The Open University, Milton Keynes, 28 November 2016.

Sharing leaks on Twitter as breaking news stories: the case of the “Moscovici draft” leak. Europe in Discourse: Identity, Diversity, Borders, Hellenic American University Athens, 23-25 September 2016.

(with Alexandra Georgakopoulou) Digital biographing in the mediatization of the economy: the case of Yanis Varoufakis Presented as part of panel on ‘Mediatizing the economy: shifting registers, styles and contexts’ organised by Cedric Deschrijver and Alexandra Georgakopoulou at the Sociolinguistics Symposium 21,  University of Murcia, 15-18 June 2016.

Genderfluid identity performances online. Presented as part of panel on ‘Transgressive interactions on social media’ organised by Sirpa Leppanen and Piia Varis, IGaLa 9 (International Gender and Language Association), City University of Hong Kong, 19-21 May 2016.

Conference/Seminar/Panel organisation

(with Frank Monaghan and Karina von Lindeiner-Stráský) Thematic Stream on: Applied Linguistic perspectives on memorialisation. LAL Research Festival, The Open University, 17 May 2021. 

(with Caroline Tagg, Kristina Hultgren, Laura Paterson, Philip Seargeant, and Frank Monaghan) BAAL Special Interest Group Seminar on: Changing language and communication practices in networked societies, The Open University, Milton Keynes, 27 April 2018.  

(with Philip Seargeant) Contemporary Cultures of Writing Writing Autumn Seminar series in collaboration with the Institute of English Studies on Creativity, Language, and Creative Writing, Senate House, University of London, October - December 2017.

(with Marjut Johansson) Confernece Panel on: Mediatizing emotion in reactions to global events and crises, International Pragmatics Association Conference (Special Theme: Pragmatics in the Real World), Belfast, July 2017.  

(with Mikka Pers-Hojholt and Charlotte Webb) Panel on: Sharing, participation, and mash-up in digital storytelling, IABA Europe 2017 - Life Writing, Europe and New Media, King’s College London, June 7-9, 2017

(with Philip Seargeant) Seminar convenor of research seminars on Narrative as Research Method (April, 2016) and Digital Literacies (July, 2016), Language and Communication Research Cluster, Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET).

(with Stacey Pitsillides) 2nd International Death Online Research Symposium, Kingston University London, August 2015.

(with Sharon Young) Research Day on Interpretations of Death and Dying, Kingston University London, November 2014.

Public engagement events

Death Café Organiser and Facilitator, Stanley Picker Gallery (with Oreet Ashery, Stanley Picker artist-in-residence), June 2015.

Death Café Organiser and Facilitator, Kingston University London (with Josefine Speyer, Psychotherapist and Co-Director, Natural Death Centre & Sharon Young), November 2014.

Death Café Organiser and Facilitator, Rose Theatre, Kingston University (with Sharon Young, Department of Politics, Kingston University London), May 2014.

Public engagement writing

​​Public health communication during a pandemic. Open Learn, 5 June 2020. 

What effect is social media having on the way we mourn global tragedies? (with Philip Seargeant) Open Learn, 28 March 2017.

How sexist is the urban environment? (with Philip Seargeant) OpenDemocracy, 31 May 2017.

Statue Wars: Competing Narratives in the Public Landscape (with Philip Seargeant) The Sociological Review, 24 August 2017.

Academic consultation

Oreet Ashery (Goldsmiths University), 'Revisiting Genesis' web series and film, Wellcome Trust Small Arts Awards  

Steering Group Member, International Death Online Research Network

Editorial Board Member, Discourse, Context and Media