Karen L. Adams

Gang Graffiti as a Discourse Genre

This paper seeks to present a new understanding of the nature of gang graffiti. Through the analysis of 1522 utterances found on 107 surfaces in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, we argue against the commonly held notion that the major function of gang graffiti is to mark territory. A careful consideration of the variety of utterance types, their interactive nature and their location reveals a more complex discourse system reflecting the social structure of the gang subculture. Gang graffiti serves to advertise individual members and gangs, indicate social networks within and between gangs, represent members’ views of gang life and honor the dead. While gang graffiti is an antilanguage, often antagonistic in its nature, it functions as cooperative discourse following explicit norms and conventions.

Creating Inequality: Breaking the Rules in Debates

As both unabashed contests for power and forums for political candidates who, presumably, already have relatively substantial societal power, political debates offer a site for investigating the creation of more powerful language use for some, less powerful for others. Since the canonical debate form promises an equal distribution of turns and topic control to all debators through prespecification of practically everything that might vary in conversation (Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson, 1974), the instances within actual debate which violate rules for prespecification are prime sites for revealing gender issues. The out of order and oddly functioning talk in six televised political debates was analysed, holding the promise of fairness of canonical debates as a yardstick. Un-rule-y talk violated rules for who was to speak (uninvited and out of turn order UNs) and what was to be happening (unexpected and oddly functioning MOVEs). UNs and MOVEs were categorised, sorted, and analysed as to where they occurred, who did them, what special features they had, and what consequences they had for subsequent topics, turns, and event structuring. The analysis has implications for the study of gender and language as well as the study and conduct of political debates.

Surviving Katrina and its aftermath: Evacuation and community mobilization by Vietnamese Americans and African Americans

The flooding of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005 uncovered critical issues in local, state, and national strategies for emergency preparedness and disaster relief. The Katrina disaster reveals the persistent racial inequality and economic disparities in American society. This paper examines the pre-Katrina socio-spatial configuration of the African-American and Vietnamese-American communities in an eastern New Orleans suburb. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data and compare the two groups, our study reveals media are the first and foremost information sources for both groups. Many Katrina victims evacuated more than once, some not with their families during their first and subsequent relocations. However, the communities mobilized to provide intra- and inter-group self-help among families and relatives, friends and neighbors, while receiving assistance from community organizations, religious institutions, and the government. Compared to African Americans, there were higher percentages of Vietnamese Americans learning about Katrinas impending landfall from government sources, evacuating before Katrinas landfall, and being more satisfied with assistance provided by the government. Those who are lacking in English skills reported more difficulties compared to their co-ethnics. These findings lead to several policy recommendations.

Conceptual metaphors of family in political debates in the USA

‘Family’ is an important part of any campaign for office in the United States, and candidates for office can expect discourse surrounding the campaign and their term in office to include mention of their own family. In addition, policies affecting the family and views on the nature of family are also central to political ideology. See, for example, Lakoff (2002) and Cienki (2005). In the campaign process, debate-type events are part of the canonical campaign landscape in the United States, forming an important part of what the voting public uses for evaluating candidates. Candidates participating in these debates make numerous references to their own families and to families in general. This study will compare conceptual metaphors associated with reference to the candidates’ own family members and consider possible differences in usage related to office, political party and gender.