Presentations

Community Organising and the Social Gospel (Invited talk) St George’s Edgbaston, Birmingham (12 January 2024)

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Religious Identity in Personal Narrative Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference; Bertinoro, Italy (13 July 2023)

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Language and Religion in the Superdiverse City Social Justice – Capturing the Individual Conference; Birmingham Newman University (6 June 2023)

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How to talk about your faith: using personal narratives to increase religious understanding Association of University Lecturers in Religious Education; Birmingham Newman University (18 May 2023)

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Born and raised in Birmingham: the role of personal narrative in religious and national identity Applied Stylistics Symposium; Aston University (5 May 2023)

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Narrative Constructions in Talk about Religious Identity and Experience (Invited Talk) English Language and Linguistics Research Seminar; University of Birmingham (26 April 2023)

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‘In a bit of a muddle’: Positioning and storylines in talk about religious identity (Invited Talk) Aston Stylistics Research Group Seminar Series; Aston University (1 December 2022)

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Community organising for Social Justice: Citizens UK and community engagement Beyond Inclusivity: Higher Education for Social Justice; Birmingham Newman University (9 September 2022)

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‘A racist person would never differentiate’: storytelling, abstraction, and moral reasoning in narratives of personal experience Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference; Aix-Marseille Université, France (6 July 2022)

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Storytelling, self-interest, and the greater good: Using discourse analysis to equip and inform community organising (with Celine Quinn) Applied Stylistics Symposium; Aston University (27 May 2022)

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Language and Religion in the Superdiverse City British Sociological Association Annual Conference Online (22 April 2022)

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Informed Consent and Participant Observation in Community Organising AHRC Network for Rethinking Research Ethics Frameworks and Processes in the Humanities, University of Manchester (21 April 2022)

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Research Language and Religion in Different Contexts (Invited Talk) Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK (27 Oct 2021)

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‘As a Muslim person…’: Categories and Blending in Parent Discourse about Church of English Primary Education Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference; University of Nottingham (Online Only) (9 July 2021)

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Panellist for workshop on Researching Representations of Nonreligion in Media, Nonreligion in a Complex Future, University of Ottawa and Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society, Uppsala University (6 May 2021) 

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Emergent Metaphor Use in YouTube Drama (Invited Talk) Centrum für Religionswissenschaftliche Studien (CERES), Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany (8 February 2021)

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Analysing Religious Discourse Online: Theories, Methods, and Challenges (Invited Talk) Digitalization and Religious Contact Workshop, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany (14-15 November 2019)

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Metaphor and religion in the ESOL classroom
West Tokyo Japanese Association of Language Teachers (JALT); Tokyo, Japan (14 September 2019)

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Metaphor and Religion (Invited talk)
International Christian University; Tokyo, Japan (13 September 2019)

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‘Okay okay Mashallah’: The Use of Arabic ‘Allah Phrases’ in Muslim YouTube discourse Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference, University of Liverpool (10-14 July 2019)

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Religion in social media discourse: understanding how users position themselves and their beliefs International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society Annual Conference (4-6 July 2019)

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Analysing Religious Discourse: Inspiration, authority, and interpretation (Invited talk) University of Sheffield (15 May 2019)

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How technology influences what we believe (Invited talk) University of Cardiff: Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK (20 March 2019)

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How religious belief and practice develop in discourse (Invited talk) University of Birmingham (12 February 2019)

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Metaphor, Discourse Dynamics, and Religious Talk (Invited talk) University of Portsmouth (7 November 2018)

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Analysing Religious Discourse: Approaches, Contexts, and Topics (Invited talk)
University of Helsinki (23 August 2018)

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‘Hey YouTube’: Positioning the Viewer in Vlogs Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference; University of Birmingham (25-28 July 2018)

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Ask the Sheikh: authority and the text in YouTube dawah videos Socrel 2018: Religion and Education (10-12 July 2018)

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The role of Inter-Religious Dialogue in Contemporary Cultural Discourses of Toleration and Acceptance Global Challenges: Borders, Populism and the Postcolonial Condition, Linnaeus University (14-16 June 2018)

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“When Noah Built the Ark”: Metaphorical stories and biblical quotes in Facebook Preaching 8th International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics & Communication, University of Cyprus (8-10 June 2018)

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Religious Discourse on Social Media The International Linguistic Association 63rd Annual Conference; Saint John’s University, New York City (20 April 2018)

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Inter-religious dialogue and social media Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (5 April 2018)

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Believing through a screen: religious experience in the multilingual city Communication in the multilingual city, University of Birmingham (28-29 March 2018)

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English Language Studies and Academic Writing: Theories, Methods, and Futures (Keynote Address) ESBB 2018 Conference and Symposium on English Academic Writing in a Global World (24-25 March 2018)

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Religious Talk Online: the Evangelical Discourse of Christians, Muslims, and Atheists Newman University Research Seminar; Newman University Birmingham (1 March 2018) (Video)

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Religious Talk Online: the Evangelical Discourse of Christians, Muslims, and Atheists (Keynote Address) Cathedral’s Group Chaplin Conference; Newman University Birmingham (22 February 2018)

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‘Once I stopped believing in Santa Claus …’: Doing Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis on YouTube and Facebook Religious Talk Corpus Linguistics Conference, University of Birmingham (24-28 July 2017)

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Dear Mr Muslim, Dear Mr atheist: Evangelical Christian positioning in social media discourse Society of Religion Study Group Annual Conference, University of Leeds (12-14 July 2017)

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Dear Mr Muslim, Dear Mr atheist: Positioning in evangelical social media discourse (Invited Talk) Loughborough University (21 June 2017)

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Language and Religion in a Connected World, (Keynote Address) English, religion and rural contexts: perspectives from the periphery, Kings College London (1 June 2017)

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Self and other positioning in YouTube dawah videos iMean 5; University of West England (7 April 2017)

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Uncertain Futures? Perspectives of Female Muslim Students on Life in Britain (with Naomi Thompson) Gender & Muslim Spaces Conferences; University of Leeds (29 March 2017)

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Let’s Talk about sex (student partnership workshop) Engage 2016 (30 November 2016)

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‘Dear Mr atheist’: Understanding inter-religious talk on Facebook (Invited Talk)
University of Glasgow (3 November 2016)

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‘When Noah built the ark…’: metaphor and Biblical stories in Facebook preaching Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference; Free University of Berlin (2 July 2016)
Poetics and Linguistics Association; University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia (27-30 July 2016)

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Rocky, David, and the Karate Kid: Allegory in Evangelical Christian Facebook posts. (Invited Talk) University of Nottingham (10 March 2016)

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Pedagogy of Partnership in Practice: two case studies. Co-presenter with Basra Khan, Aamina Ishak Amdavadi, Samreen Anwar and Tahne Yafai. Teaching & Learning Conference, Newman University (22 January 2016) 

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Investigating inter-religious dialogue on Social Media: keyword-led discourse analysis in action ADDA Conference, Valencia, Spain (20 November 2015)

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“What About the Wolves?”: The Reading and Interpretation of Scripture as Social Action in YouTube Arguments Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference, University of Kent (15 July 2015)

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‘What About the Wolves?’: The Reading and Interpretation of Scripture as Social Action in YouTube Arguments The Use of the Bible in Contemporary Culture, University of Chichester (27 June 2015)

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Religious Talk on Social Media: Social positioning and register in inter-religious dialogue (Invited Talk) Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK (29 April 2015)

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Research Ethics in YouTube Research [Plenary Talk] BAAL New Media SIG, University of Cardiff, Wales (16 April 2015)

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Religious Talk on Social Media i-Mean 4, University of Warwick (9 April 2015)

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Religious Talk on Social Media; Heythrop College Research Seminar, London, UK (7 January 2015)

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Frenemies and Fans: The emergence of different YouTube communities (Invited Talk) University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (9 December 2014)

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Frenemies and Fans: second-person address and engagement in different YouTube communities (Invited Talk) University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK (30 October 2014)

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Discourse dynamics in emerging communities: why complexity matters in humanities research Newman University Research Seminar Series, Birmingham, UK (9 October 2014)

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Dynamic metaphor use in YouTube ‘drama’ Researching and Applying Metaphor 2014 Conference; University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia (23 June 2014)

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Frenemies and Fans: The emergence of different YouTube communities (Invited Talk) Talk about Language Forum; Middlesex University; London, UK (7 April 2014)

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The development of ‘drama’ in a Youtube community of practice Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice (ALAPP 2013); University of Malaysia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (12 December 2013)

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‘It’s all red ink’: the interpretation of Biblical metaphor among Evangelical Christian YouTube users Poetics and Linguistics Association Annual Conference; Heidelberg, Germany (31 July 2013)

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Integrating Diverse Approaches to English in an Undergraduate Degree
Malaysian English Language Teaching Association conference Panel; Johor Bahru, Malaysia (29 May 2013)

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Positioning in talk: how to make sense of what people do in discourse; The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (23 May 2013)

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The development of ‘drama’ in YouTube discourse The University of Westminster, London, UK (5 December 2012)

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Revoicing the voice of God: The discourse dynamics of parable exegesis in Evangelical Christian talk on YouTube Researching and Applying Metaphor 2012 Conference; Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK (5 July 2012)

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Freedom to offend: The use of antagonism in the performance of free speech on YouTube Religion in the Digital Age: Media, Performance and “Spectacular Activism”; New York University, New York City (26 June 2012)

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‘Ezekiel 33:6-9 is clear’: Evangelical Christian use of Biblical metaphor to take dominant positions in YouTube interaction (video starting at around 1:28:00) Language and Social Media Seminar; University of Leicester, Leicester, UK (27 April 2012) 

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Antagonism in Christian-Atheist YouTube Interaction: describing and negotiating religious positions online {video} Wesleyan University; Middletown, CT, USA (27 October 2011)

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‘YouTube’s Psychopath’: What Internet drama tells us about language, community, and power {video} Hofstra University; New York City, NY, USA (25 October 2011)

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Using Atlas.TI Student Forum; The Open University; Milton Keynes, UK (19 October 2011) 

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‘We listen to God’: Metaphor, impoliteness, and dominance in a YouTube drama episode Lancaster University (Invited Talk); Lancaster, UK (9 June 2011)

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Combining Work, Study, & Family Student Forum The Open University; Milton Keynes, UK (24 May 2011)

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‘I love your metaphors so much’: Anaphoric metaphor use and reference in YouTube comment threads iMean2 conference University of the West England; Bristol, UK (14 April 2011)

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Are you ‘human garbage’ in God’s eyes?: investigating metaphor and antagonism in YouTube video discourse Talk about Language Forum; Middlesex University; London, UK (7 March 2011)

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Who Would Jesus Hang Out With? Categories, Metaphors, and Ambiguity in YouTube Religious Discourse Religion and Spirituality in Society Conference; University Center; Chicago, IL, USA (15 February 2011)

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Using Online Resources to Deliver Learning Resources: Principles and Problems Middlesex University Learning and Teaching Forum Middlesex University; London, UK (10 December 2010) 

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‘Church is not a fashion show’: Investigating the relationship between spoken discourse features and the video image in Evangelical Christian discourse Work in Progress Multimodal Analysis Colloquium; The Open University; Milton Keynes, UK (29 November 2010)

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‘Are you religious or are you saved?’: A case study of metaphor-led discourse analysis as a core to discourse-centred ethnography British Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Meeting; University of Aberdeen; Aberdeen, Scotland (10 September 2010)

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Finding meaning in dynamic contexts: A case study of metaphor-led discourse analysis as a core to discourse-centered ethnography International Conference on Researching and Analysing Metaphor; Vrije Universiteit (VU); Amsterdam, Netherlands (1 July 2010)

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‘Are you religious, or are you saved?’: A case study of the discursive construction of group identity on YouTube Social Media and the Sacred Seminar; The Open University Centre, London, UK (28 June 2010)

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How metaphor shapes Internet communities Open Distance Learning Summer School;University of Birmingham, UK (9 July 2009)

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The use of metaphor on YouTube Work in Progress Seminar The Open University; Milton Keynes, UK (10 March 2009)

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Metaphor and the vlog: A case study of YouTube discourse Seventh International Conference on Researching and Analysing Metaphor; University of Extremadura; Cáceres, Spain (30 May 2008)