Research projects
Queer Latinidad in US media
The 2016 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, in which 50 people were killed, mostly LGBT/queer Latinx young adults, was described at the time by media outlets around the world as the deadliest shooting in American history. Working with Alexandra Lawson (Rochester Institute of Technology), we ask, how are queer Latinx identities and bias-motivated violence represented in media discourse in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting? We explore how discourses of solidarity are twinned with discourses which exceptionalize the shooting and erase a long history of resistance to racial violence, and how that discursive juxtaposition can construct a purportedly "post-racial" unity which obscures injustices experienced by multiply marginalized communities, and shifts responsibility for bias-motivated violence from the perpetrator onto multiply marginalized populations.
Related talks/papers
| In preparation. | Gay equality, Hispanic votes, and Queer grief: Queer identities in media representations of bias-motivated violence. |
| 2019. | Queer Latinidad in media responses to Orlando’s Pulse nightclub shooting. Texas Linguistics Society 2019 (TLS 2019). 22-24 Feb 2019. With Alexandra Lawson. |
| 2018. | Gay equality, Hispanic votes, and Queer grief: Queer identities in media representations of bias-motivated violence. IGALA 10. 20-22 June 2018. With Alexandra Lawson. |
| 2018. | Gun violence as media-mediated and media-constructed events. Sociolinguistics Lab, University at Buffalo. 14 March 2018. |
Sexual violence prevention and survivor support in institutional discourse
Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council UK, International Gender and Language Association, Sociological Review Foundation, and the Queen Mary Postgraduate Research Fund.
My research looks at the construction of sexual consent in guidance produced by British institutions for different sectors of the British public. By looking at presuppositions, pronouns, and modal auxiliaries, I examine the beliefs and experiences that institutions project onto their target audiences.
I argue that institutions use conflicting discourses about consent. When defining consent, institutions present valid consent as free and affirmative. But when giving advice about abuse, institutions advise readers to avoid risk and resist pressure by saying no clearly and directly to avoid supposedly-unintentional assaults. These conflicting messages undermine the message of consent as free and affirmative, and shift responsibility away from perpetrators and onto victims.
I suggest ways that consent guidance for the public, and support resources for survivors, can be improved.
Related talks/papers
| In translation. | "Habla, escucha, piensa": Discursos de agencia y violencia no intencionada en textos de consejo sobre el consentimiento para hombres gays, bisexuales, y trans. For Discurso & Sociedad. |
| 2019. | Candelas de la Ossa, Abigaël, 2019. Exceptionalizing intersectionality: a corpus study of implied readership in guidance for survivors of domestic abuse. Gender & Language 13(2): 224–250. |
| 2016. | Candelas de la Ossa, Abigaël. 2016."Talk, listen, think": Discourses of agency and unintentional violence in consent guidance for gay, bisexual, and trans men. Discourse & Society 27(4): 365-382. |
| 2015. | Written evidence submission to the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee on the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill. [pdf] |
| 2015. | Scottish Government Consultation: Equally Safe -- Reforming the criminal law to address domestic abuse and sexual offenses. |
| 2014. | UK Home Office Consultation: Strengthening the law on domestic abuse: a consultation. |
| 2014. | UK Ministry of Justice Consultation: What type of support would best help men who've suffered rape or sexual abuse and how would they want to access that support? |
Illegitimation and resistance
Funded by the Queen Mary Postgraduate Research Fund.
In collaboration with Kaitlyn Smith (Université de Perpignan), we identify similarities in how marginalised groups are represented and illegitimised in institutional discourse, and the strategies that members of these marginalised groups use to resist that illegitimation. We focus particularly on "gatekeeping" interactions within institutions -- that is, interactions in which someone must prove their identity as a member of a particular group in order to access institutional support or redress.
Related talks/papers
| 2015. | Superpowers and vigilantes: affect and expertise in discourses of institutional injustice. i-mean 4. 9-11 April. With Kaitlyn Smith. |