Close

Dr Alon Lischinsky

PhD

Senior Lecturer in Communication and Discourse School of Education, Humanities and Languages

Role
Teaching and supervision
Research
Publications
Professional information
next or previous

Role

(they/them, elle/le, זיי/זייער)

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.

I trained as a linguist, and I specialise in using computational techniques and large corpora to analyse critically how people engage with social and political issues.

One of my main areas of research is how people talk about sexual attraction and desire, and how that plays into our sense of who we are.

I am also interested in how we think and talk about the natural environment, especially how we understand the role of businesses in environmental change and work towards sustainability.

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Modules taught

  • CMC4007 Producing & Editing Text for Publication
  • CMC5004 Accessible Web Design
  • CMC5007 Persuasive Communication
  • CMC6002 Culture Wars: Power and Exclusion
  • CMC6003 Branded Communication
  • CMC6005/CMC6006 Dissertation

In the past I have also 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 happy to supervise postgraduate research on language and sexuality; queer issues in culture and representation, especially regarding trans participation; language and the environment equality, diversity and inclusion in communication.

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’
  • Rachel Pearson,  Unveiling the Politics of A-Level Business Studies Curricula:  Exploring the Potential for Ecological Justice Education
  • Sarah Tudor, The experiences of transgender and non-binary degree apprentices in their degree apprenticeship journey

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 (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.

A separate strand of research addresses questions of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility reporting, environmentally-themed public relations and advertising, and greenwash.

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.

Groups

Publications

slide 1 of 6

Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

Conferences

  • Lischinsky, A. (2024, August). “I wanna be feminine but in a masculine way”: identity management in femboy life narratives. [Paper presentation]. Lavender Languages &
    Linguistics 30 Conference, Brighton, UK.
  • Lischinsky, A. (2024, July). “But what about jealousy?” Emotion talk in news discourse
    about polyamory. [Paper presentation]. 7th Corpora & Discourse International Conference, Innsbrück, Austria.
  • Lischinsky, A. (2024, July). “Sordid details” and “saucy secrets”: sensationalism in news
    discourse about polyamory. [Paper presentation]. Sex, Scandal & Sensation Conference,
    Falmouth, UK.
  • 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