Language, conceptualization and collective memory in (perma)crisis

The talk will focus on the role of collective memory in contemporary public discourses of new crises, bringing together frameworks of linguistic metaphor study, crisis communication and memory studies. Across three small case studies, set across different types of political and citizen discourse, the talk looks at instrumentalizations of conflict memory in the (post-)2020 discourses of the 'new normal' in former Yugoslav states. The results are used to discuss particular linguistic patterns of a growing militarization of discourse yet paralleled by intense negotiations over collective pasts and futures. 

Ksenija Bogetić Pejović is a linguist dealing with interactions of language and the social world. Her work draws on the traditions of sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and cognitive linguistics to explore how social identities and ideologies are discursively constructed and su stained, with a particular focus on anglophone and post-Yugoslav societies. Her interests include language ideology, language and nationalism, language, gender and sexuality, youth and digital media, and metaphor.