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Lexi Webster

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PhD Candidate in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University

I am a final-year PhD candidate in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University and an Associate Lecturer in Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. My thesis combines corpus-driven critical discourse studies and political economy analysis to explore the relationship between the attention economy of Twitter and the mobilisation of social justice movements online. The aim of the research is to challenge hegemonic narratives within current socio-political movements in an effort to identify means of self-emancipation that have success potential in the existing neoliberal context.

My research interests are broad and wide-ranging. Though most of my current research focuses on gender-variant identities and their position in a changing (digital) world, I am also interested in (im)politeness, conceptual integration, and critically reflexive research ethics.

Experience

  • 2018–present
    Associate Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
  • –present
    PhD Candidate in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University

Education

  • 2017 
    Lancaster University, MRes in Applied Linguistics
  • 2015 
    Manchester Metropolitan University, BA (Hons) Linguistics

Publications

  • 2019
    "I am I": Self-constructed transgender identities in Internet-mediated forum communication., International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2019(256). 129-146.
  • 2018
    "I Wanna Be a Toy": Self-sexualisation in gender-variant Twitter users' biographies., Journal of Language and Sexuality , 7(2). 205-236.
  • 2018
    "Misery Business?": The contribution of corpus-driven critical discourse analysis to understanding gender-variant Twitter users' experiences of employment., puntOorg International Journal, 3(1/2). 25-50.