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Northern America

February 2025: Language, Discourse, and Media Literacy: Building Resilience in the Age of Misinformation

This month’s Spotlight was contributed by Alireza Salhi-Nejad. He is a multidisciplinary researcher affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. Prior to this, he was involved in research, teaching, and executive roles at the University of Tehran for over nine years. Mass media is a cornerstone of…
Alireza Salehi-Nejad

Affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Australia Email: Alireza.SalehiNejad@uts.edu.au Bio: I am a multidisciplinary researcher affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. Prior to this, I was involved in research, teaching, and executive roles at the University of Tehran for over nine years. Currently, I am a…
Paul J. Meighan

Critical Sociolinguist Chair (2024-2025), TESOL International Bilingual-Multilingual Interest Section Member, Belonging, Identity, Language, and Diversity (BILD) Research Group, McGill University paul.meighan@mail.mcgill.ca I am a Scottish Gaelic critical sociolinguist. As a first-generation scholar and speaker of English, French, Italian, Spanish, and the endangered Indigenous language Scottish Gaelic, I advocate for more inclusive and equitable multilingual education,…
Edith Muleiro

University of Texas Austin, Texas, USA edithmuleiro@utexas.edu Read Edith’s April 2021 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a dual B.A. in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, Plan II Honors and a minor in Arabic. I have been working with migrant communities from the Middle East…
Lissie Wahl-Kleiser

Independent Researcher Medical Anthropologist and Nationally Certified Medical Interpreter Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health Social Medicine Boston, Massachusetts Elizabeth_Wahl@hms.harvard.edu Communicative justice is at the core of my research and practice as medical interpreter in the Greater Boston area. For the last 15 years I have observed, participated and struggled against the silencing of…
Toni Shapiro-Phim

Associate Professor, Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts tonishapiro@brandeis.edu Read Toni’s April 2020 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I’m a cultural anthropologist and dance ethnologist whose work has focused on the relationship between the arts and migration, violence (including war and genocide) and other oppressions. I have spent time with artists…
Shawna Shapiro

Associate Professor Middlebury College Middlebury, Vermont, USA sshapiro@middlebury.edu Read Shawna’s March 2022 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I am an associate professor of writing and linguistics at Middlebury College. My research focuses on the transition to higher education for immigrant and refugee students, and on innovative approaches to teaching linguistically diverse groups of writers. Much of my work…
Rajesh Sampath

Associate Professor, Philosophy of Justice, Rights and Social Change Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts rsampath@brandeis.edu Read Raj’s March 2020 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I am currently the lead investigator of the Program on Social Exclusion at Brandeis University’s Heller School Center for Global Development and Sustainability. In April…
Vijay Ramjattan

Instructor International Foundation Program University of Toronto Toronto, Canada vijay.ramjattan@mail.utoronto.ca I recently received my PhD in adult education and community development, with a specialization in workplace learning and social change, from the University of Toronto. My research interests revolve around the intersection of language and race in the workplace. These interests particularly concern the everyday…
Hillary Mellinger

Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice and Criminology Washington State University Pullman, Washington, USA hillary.mellinger@wsu.edu Read Hillary’s September 2022 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I received my PhD in justice, law and criminology from American University in May 2020, and am currently an assistant professor at Washington State University. Prior to pursuing my PhD, I worked as a…
Marguerite Lukes

Director of Research and Innovation Internationals Network of Public Schools Affiliated Faculty, International Education and Development Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science and Humanities Steinhardt School of Education, Culture and Human Development New York University New York City marguerite.lukes@nyu.edu I am a researcher / practitioner with my academic roots in applied linguistics and education. My…
Mingyi Li

PhD student, Language and Literacies Education Fellow Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada mingyi.li@mail.utoronto.ca Read Mingyi’s November 2022 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice. I am a first-year PhD student in the Language and Literacies Education program at OISE/UofT. During my MA degree at OISE, I explored how Western influence…
Molly Hamm-Rodríguez

Assistant Professor, Social Foundations of Education University of South Florida mhammrodriguez@usf.edu I am a linguistic anthropologist of education broadly interested in the relationships between language, race, migration, labor, and schooling as they shape the social futures of youth and young adults in global school-to-work, college and career readiness, and workforce development programs. I use ethnography,…
Tatiana Grieshofer

Reader in Language and Law School of English Birmingham Institute of Media and English Birmingham City University, UK tatiana.grieshofer@bcu.ac.uk I am Reader in Language and Law with an interdisciplinary research profile in several areas of forensic linguistics (courtroom discourse, language and law) and socio-legal studies (procedural justice, self-represented litigants). My research expertise draws on combining…
Irene Gotera

Linguistic Justice® Founder Washington, D.C. ireneg@linguisticjustice.com I’m a social entrepreneur passionate about language, justice, and equality. Born in Venezuela, I’m a prospective Asylee in the U.S. and a TPS holder, as well as a former attorney with a master’s degree in Civil Procedural Law. Upon relocating to the U.S., I pursued my linguist training and national…
Marie-Hélène Girard

Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator Graduate Legal Translation Program Translation Studies Unit, School of Continuing Studies McGill University Montréal, Canada marie-helene.girard2@mcgill.ca Certified Translator (Canada) I am an assistant professor and academic coordinator for the Graduate Diploma in Legal Translation at the Translation Studies Unit of McGill University’s School of Continuing Studies in Montréal. Prior to…
Reinmar Fries-Beattie

Sociologist University of New Hampshire Durham, New Hampshire rcf11@wildcats.unh.edu I graduated with a PhD in sociology from the University of New Hampshire, where my dissertation work examined how those perceived as foreign, Middle Eastern and/or Muslims are disproportionately labeled as terrorists in U.S. news media and the effect that this has on the public’s perceptions…
Stephanie Feyne

Independent Researcher Sign Language Interpreter in Community, Arts and Educational Settings New York City stefeyne@gmail.com My working languages are American Sign Language and English, and I am conversant in International Sign. I am also an interpreter educator. My research on how the discursive choices of interpreters affect listeners’ understanding of the situated identity of interpreted…