Dr Alon Lischinsky

PhD

Senior Lecturer in Communication and Discourse

School of Education, Humanities and Languages

Role

I teach about semiotics and discourse theory; research methodology in the social sciences; design for computer-mediated communication; and critical approaches to the persuasion industries.

My work focuses on the use of linguistic techniques (especially computational techniques using large corpora) for the critical analysis of environmental, social and political issues. I am especially interested in how business organisations conceive their relations with the natural environment and how they present themselves as working towards a sustainable society.

A separate strand of my research focuses on cultural constructions of sexuality, especially scripts for sexual behaviour and standards of deviance.

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Communication, Media and Culture (BA (Hons))

Modules taught

CMC4007 Producing & Editing Text for Publication
CMC5004 Design for Online Communication
CMC5007 Persuasive Communication
CMC6002 Special Topics in Communication, Media & Culture
CMC6003 Branded Communication
CMC6005/CMC6006 Dissertation

In the past I have taught in the following modules:

Understanding Communication
Understanding Culture
Culture, Gender and Sexuality
Research Methods
Group Dynamics
Video Planning and Production
Psychology of Communication

Supervision

I am currently supervising the work of the following doctoral candidates:

Katerina Kosta, UK university sustainability reports: an exploratory analysis of an emerging practice
Edwina Kinsella, Architects’ Performative Identity: The Unutterability of ‘Initiative Architectural Practice’

Research Students

Name	Thesis title	Completed
Katerina Kosta	UK university sustainability reports: an exploratory analysis of an emerging practice	Active

Research

One of my main lines of research addresses questions of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility reporting, environmentally-themed public relations and advertising, and greenwash.

A separate strand of research (in collaboration with Dr Kat Gupta (Royal Holloway) looks into the cultural construction of sexual norms and scripts, through the exploration of the fantasies and desires expressed in user-generated online erotica.

More broadly, I am interested in using critical discourse analysis to investigate shifts in social relations of production, especially the social impact of managerialism as an "expert system"; societal representations of labour; and the managerialisation of the self, personal life and the environment.

My research takes a Digital Humanities approach, using computer-aided methods to examine large datsets of text-based communication in order to model the social and cultural dynamics that motivate it.

Groups

Publications

Lischinsky A, 'Doing the naughty or having it done to you? Agent roles in erotic writing'
Porn Studies 5 (2) (2017) pp.156-174

ISSN: 2326-8743 eISSN: 2326-8751
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Lischinsky A, 'What Is the Environment Doing in My Report? Analyzing the Environment-as-Stakeholder Thesis through Corpus Linguistics'
Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture 9 (4) (2015) pp.539-559

ISSN: 1752-4032 eISSN: 1752-4040
Abstract
This paper seeks to explore whether business organizations' claims to regard the natural environment as a stakeholder are consistent with the way in which the environment is represented in their corporate social responsibility reporting. It applies corpus linguistic methods to analyze statistical regularities and differences in the discursive construction of core stakeholders, such as customers and employees, and that of the natural environment. Results show that the representation of the environment is not characterized by the agency and capacity for engagement that characterizes other stakeholders. While organizations overtly acknowledge a duty toward the environment, the dominant lexical and grammatical patterns in which it is represented tend to obscure the organization's responsibilities and emphasize its mitigating actions instead. Although the argument for regarding the environment as a stakeholder is based on the fact that it places objective and compelling demands on our actions, we look in vain for recognition of such demands in organizational reporting.
Published here Open Access on RADAR

Lischinsky A, Gupta K, 'Erotic representations of gender diversity: a computer-assisted linguistic analysis of online erotica' in Aggleton, Peter & Cover, Rob (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights, Routledge (2023)

ISBN: 9781032243986 eISBN: 9781003278405
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Lischinsky A, 'Overlooked text types: From fictional texts to real-world discourses' in Taylor C, Marchi A (ed.), Corpus Approaches To Discourse: A critical review, Routledge (2018)

ISBN: 9781138895782
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Lischinsky A, 'Critical Discourse Studies and Branding' in Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Analysis, Routledge (2018)

ISBN: 978-1138826403

Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

Founding co-editor of the Journal of Corpora and Discourse Studies.
On the editorial board of Critical Discourse Studies, Asparkía and the International Journal of Marketing Semiotics.

Conferences

Lischinsky, A, Capewell, C. & Missero, D. (2023). Understanding femboy identities: a participatory approach [Paper presentation]. 7th UCU LGBT+ Research Conference, Manchester, UK.
Lischinsky, A. (2023). “This is a fun level of gender”: expression, perception and provocation in femboy identities [Paper presentation]. 14 BAAL Language, Gender and Sexuality Special Interest Group Meeting, Brighton, UK.
Lischinsky, A. & Gupta, K. (2022, May 23). 'Tell me you want it, sissy': shame, desire and the troubling of agency in sissy porn [Paper presentation]. Lavender Languages & Linguistics 28 Conference, Catania, Italy
Lischinsky, A. & Gupta, K. (2021, July 16). Transgressive pleasures: the discursive construction of (trans and) gender-nonconforming characters in porn writing [Paper presentation]. 2021 Corpus Linguistics International Conference, Limerick, Ireland
Lischinsky, A. & Gupta, K. (2021, February 16). Transgressive pleasures: the discursive construction of (trans and) gender-nonconforming characters in porn writing [Paper presentation]. LGBTQ+ History Month Brookes Research Showcase, Oxford, UK
Lischinsky, A. & Gupta, K. (2019, May 2). Eroticising the trans body: patterns of labelling and description in porn featuring queer characters [Paper presentation]. Lavender Languages & Linguistics 26 Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden
Gupta, K. & Lischinsky, A. (2018). No means no is not enough: representations of consent in erotic writing [Paper presentation]. 2018 Corpora and Discourse International Conference, Lancaster, UK.
Lischinsky, A., & Gupta, K. (2017). Distant reading intimate encounters: a big data approach to online erotica [Paper presentation]. 2017 Corpus Linguistics International Conference, Birmingham, UK.
Lischinsky, A. (2016). Textual constructions of desire: the body in online erotica [Paper presentation]. CADAAD’16 Conference, Catania, Italy.
Lischinsky, A. (2015) ‘Modelling interpersonal dimensions in presidential discourse’. Paper presented to the iMean 4 Conference, Warwick
Lischinsky, A. (2015) ‘Doing the naughty or having it done to you: agent roles in erotic writing’. Paper presented to the Corpus Linguistics 2015 Conference, Lancaster
Lischinsky, A. (2014) ‘Modelling Argentine presidential discourse (2007–2014): a computational approach’. Paper presented to the CADAAD’14 Conference, Budapest
Lischinsky, A. and Egan Sjölander, A. (2013) ‘Corporate voices in the public sphere: PR and the environment’. Paper presented to the 2013 Conference on Communication and Environment, Uppsala
Lischinsky, A. (2013) ‘What’s the environment doing in my report?’. Paper presented to the Corpus Linguistics 2013 Conference, Lancaster
Lischinsky, A. (2012) ‘Misinformed participation: corporate greenwash and the exclusion of consumers from environmental decision-making’. Paper presented to the 2nd ISA Forum, Buenos Aires
Lischinsky, A. (2012) ‘Framing analysis across the disciplines? (critical) discourse studies in interdisciplinary research projects’. Paper presented to the CADAAD’12 Conference, Braga
Lischinsky, A. (2011) ‘‘We believe we are a constructive partner in society’: A corpus perspective on the discursive construction of a corporate self in annual reports’. Paper presented to the Rhetoric in Society III Conference, Antwerp
Lischinsky, A. (2010) ‘‘Our business acumen has proved to be invaluable in times of crisis’: A corpus perspective on the discursive construction of critical events in annual reports’. Paper presented to the 9th International Conference on Organizational Discourse, Amsterdam
Lischinsky, A. (2010) ‘The struggle over sustainability: a corpus approach to managerial conceptions of sustainable development’. Paper presented to the CADAAD’10 Conference “Ideology, identity and interaction”, Łódź
Lischinsky, A. (2010) ‘The business conception of sustainable development: a view from corpus linguistics’. Paper presented to the IAMCR 2010 Conference “Communication and citizenship”, Braga
Lischinsky, A. (2009) ‘The narrative construction of managerial expertise. Storytelling in popular management books’. Paper presented to the International Conference on Narrative, Birmingham
Lischinsky, A. (2009) ‘Talking like you mean business. Metadiscourse in popular books on management’. Paper presented to the XXVII AESLA International Conference, Ciudad Real, Spain
Coromines, D., Lischinsky, A. and Valls, M. (2009) ‘La redacció del Treball de Fi de Grau: Proposta didàctica per superar les mancances de la competència escrita acadèmica dels estudiants’ [Writing final year projects: a pedagogic proposal to improve the teaching of academic writing]. Paper presented to the Jornades de Docència 2009, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Lischinsky, A. (2008) ‘Titling practices in popular management books’. Paper presented to the Interpersonality in Written Academic Discourse Conference: Perspective across Languages and Cultures, Jaca, Spain
Lischinsky, A. (2008) ‘Lo que el dinero no puede comprar. Higiene verbal en la recepción de la jerga gerencial’ [What money can’t buy: verbal hygiene in the public understanding of managerial jargon]. Paper presented to the XII Jornadas Nacionales de Investigadores en Comunicación, Rosario, Argentina
Lischinsky, A. (2008) ‘At the crossroads of language, class and culture: Responses to managerial jargon in Spanish’. Paper presented to the 4th International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics & 2nd Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society “Spanish at work”, Swansea
Lischinsky, A. and Antonini, C. (2008) ‘Dollars are green too. A discourse-based approach to the analysis of corporate social responsibility reports’. Paper presented to the II European Communication Conference “Communication Policies and Culture in Europe”, Barcelona
Lischinsky, A. (2007) ‘“Show, don’t tell”. Racism in the visual depiction of the other in high school textbooks’. Paper presented to the II Language Ideologies and Media Discourse Conference, Leeds
Lischinsky, A. (2007) ‘Examples as persuasive communication in popular management literature’. Paper presented to the XIV Susanne Hübner International Seminar, Zaragoza