Browsing by Author "de Bres J"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Decolonising trans-affirming language in Aotearoa
    (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2024-06-01) de Bres J
    I thank Lal Zimman for his thought-provoking piece on trans language activism (TLA) and sociolinguistic justice. Heeding his call for intersectional coalitions, I focus my comments on colonisation and decolonisation in trans-affirming language in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Aotearoa is a settler colonial society, where Māori, the Indigenous people, have continuously resisted non-Māori dominance. Pākehā (non-Māori of European origin) are the largest population group at 70%, compared to Māori at 17% (2018 Census). Pākehā have imposed their social and cultural norms, resulting in the devastating loss of Māori language and culture. Although language revitalisation is occurring, most Māori mainly speak English. Issues relating to gender and language mirror those in other colonised countries, with Western gender discourses supplanting Indigenous ones (Clark, 2016). Each cultural context remains specific, and I will focus on what I see as the most pressing issues in Aotearoa. I am Pākehā, cisgender and queer. I offer my perspective as a sociolinguist and activist working in trans-affirming spaces, but my views do not hold the same weight as those of Indigenous trans people. I will address three issues: problems associated with the use of Western-origin terms to refer to groups with experiences of colonisation, the challenge of de-centring whiteness in trans-affirming spaces and the rise of Indigenous efforts to decolonise language and gender.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Intersectional perspectives of parents of transgender children in Aotearoa (New Zealand)
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-02-27) de Bres J; Morrison-Young I
    Introduction This article explores the intersectional perspectives of parents of transgender children in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The substantial body of research on parent experiences in this area has largely focused on parents who are white North American middle-class cisgender women. We seek to extend this research by taking an intersectional approach and examining the perspectives of a group of participants of different genders, sexual orientations, and cultural backgrounds. Methods We asked 20 participants in Aotearoa who self-identified as gender-affirming parents to draw their experience of parenting a transgender child and discuss this with us in interview. Results The research resulted in rich visual and verbal depictions of gender-affirming parenting, drawing from the intersectional perspectives of Māori, Pākehā, Pacific, Asian, queer, straight, female, male and non-binary parents. Using visual and verbal discourse analysis, we explore how the participants constructed their experience from their uniquely situated perspectives, both specific and multilayered. Conclusion We argue that the parents’ perspectives reveal both challenges and strengths, reflecting the burdens of intersectional oppression, while also fostering the parents’ capacity for engaging in discursive resistance to advance their children’s interests.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Monolingual cringe and ideologies of English: Anglophone migrants to Luxembourg draw their experiences in a multilingual society
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2021-04-30) de Bres J; Lovrits V
    This article uses reflective drawing to explore representations of multilingualism by Anglophone migrants in Luxembourg. Analysing twelve interviews in which participants drew and described their language experiences, we examine the language ideologies Anglophone migrants adopt in response to the ideologies of English they encounter. Participants adopt various ideologies, sometimes aligning with the ideology of global English, sometimes with counter-ideologies of resistance to it, and sometimes a mix of the two. Visual features indexing affective states include colour, gesture, facial expression, and composition. Monolingual cringe – expressed as shame, embarrassment and being ‘bad at languages’ – performs several functions for the participants. Sometimes it serves as an affective disclaimer, allowing them to lean on their privilege in a more socially acceptable way. Sometimes it appears to express genuine distress, in the form of searing linguistic insecurity. Sometimes it performs a distancing function, enabling them to oppose themselves to the stereotype of the monolingual English speaker. The affective intensity of the drawings suggests the ideology of global English does have costs for Anglophone migrants. Fundamentally, though, monolingual cringe reinforces privilege, allowing participants to apologise for their monolingualism even as they continue to benefit from it.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Storm Clouds and Rainbows: Visual Metaphors of Parents of Transgender Children in Aotearoa (New Zealand)
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-07-12) de Bres J; Morrison-Young I
    This article explores the discourses parents adopt to support their transgender children in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Previous research with parents is limited by its focus on trauma rather than resistance and its lack of attention to intersectional experiences. To investigate how parents resist gender-based oppression, we use the method of reflective drawing, asking twenty parents of diverse social and cultural backgrounds to draw their experience of parenting a transgender child and discuss this in interview. We identified eight visual metaphors of storm clouds and rainbows, a maze, family portraits, blank space, standing side-by-side, hearts, arches, and question marks. These represent parent discourses of family resilience, personal transformation, shifting gender ideologies, depathologisation, child-led parenting, unconditional love, protection, and uncertainty about their child’s future. The parents’ discourses serve several interests: enabling them to focus on the hope of overcoming adversity, foreground the positive aspects of raising a transgender child, justify their gender-affirming approach, reframe their family gender ideologies, normalize their child’s experience, deflect stigma from their child and themselves, construct themselves as good parents, draw strength from solidarity, and express incertitude about what lies ahead. These provide parents with a means of enacting discursive resistance, with potential for driving broader social change.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The sexiest accent in the world: Linguistic insecurity and prejudice in media coverage of the New Zealand accent
    (Linguistic Society of New Zealand, 30/06/2021) de Bres J; Nicholas SA
    In 2019, New Zealanders collectively blushed at the news that an online survey had voted the New Zealand accent the sexiest in the world. Taking a critical metalinguistic perspective, this article examines how the New Zealand accent was represented in media coverage of the survey results. Examining written and televised news items reporting on the survey, we attend to explicit discourse, in the form of direct discussion about the accent, as well as implicit discourse, in the form of images and accent performances. The survey purported to reveal how the world sees the New Zealand accent, but the media coverage more strongly reveals how New Zealanders see themselves. Behind the apparently light-hearted joking about the sexiness or otherwise of the New Zealand accent, the results provide continued evidence of linguistic insecurity, alongside prejudice towards stigmatised social variation in accent. A survey investigating how 52 university students reacted to stylised New Zealand accents in the media coverage suggests that supposedly humorous accent performances are not so funny for those who are the subject of the joke.