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Papers by Najma Al Zidjaly

Discourse & Society, Aug 31, 2022

In this paper, the form and function of personalized Covid-19 WhatsApp sticker memes created and ... more In this paper, the form and function of personalized Covid-19 WhatsApp sticker memes created and shared as social laments by citizens in Oman are examined. The compiled data set of 288 WhatsApp stickers was taken from a larger ethnographic project on Arabs and Covid-19. To collect and analyze the data, perspectives from visual semiotics were integrated with participatory and geosemiotic approaches to ground the stickers socially and globally. Six functions of Covid-19 WhatsApp stickers in Oman were identified: expressing political dissent, creating public signs, promoting religious agenda, indexing frustration, expressing levity, and constructing counter-discourse. Based on this analysis, it is suggested that by creating and using WhatsApp stickers during the 2020–2021 Covid-19 pandemic, Omani citizens positioned themselves as agentive participants in charge of their own lives, thus, solidifying a decade-long request for a new form of public-government relationship. The paper adds to research on Arabic digital communication and pandemic discourse.

Discourse & Society, Mar 1, 2011

The entropic time cycle and meditational means: Some musings Just a few days after Ron Scollon ha... more The entropic time cycle and meditational means: Some musings Just a few days after Ron Scollon had passed on, Sigrid visited Hawaii. Walking through the rainforest, gazing at some very old trees, her mind wandered to Ron, who had studied in Hawaii many years earlier. There in Hawaii, he had learned to be a linguistic anthropologist, with Li Fang-Kuei as his mentor. Afterwards, he had gone to Fort Chipewyan Alberta and to Alaska, where he had made a substantial difference in the way Native Americans were treated, before he moved to Hong Kong, then to Georgetown, then back to Alaska. Looking at a particularly old tree, Sigrid's thoughts drifted to the many weekend walks Ron and Suzie had taken together with his students and the students' friends and families when he was a Professor at Georgetown University. They had made a point to take groups of students to the Blue Ridge Mountains or to Maryland to hike. One of Ron's favourite hikes was Old Rag, the biggest mountain in the area. There in the wilderness, he had conversations with his students about theory, methodology and life in general, while everyone was enjoying the fresh air and building strong bonds. Watching a waterfall, Sigrid thought about rhythms and cycles of time. Ron had developed the idea that there are at least six time cycles that each action needed to be considered in. The largest cycle, usually the entropic cycle, had resulted in the decay of Ron's body, but now Sigrid could see that there was another cycle that Ron had not mentioned, namely the cycle of thought. Thought, when expressed in meditational means that have a longer lifespan than an individual's body, lives on. No news there. Aristotle, Socrates or Goethe come to mind. But then there is another thought cycle, and this one appears to be located in the minds of social actors who knew and understood a social actor's thoughts before he passed on. All of Ron's students are now part of this thought cycle. This type of remembrance is built on relationship and decays as the bodies of the

Pragmatics & Society, 2023

In this paper, we identify a new form of public discourse that takes the shape of WhatsApp sticke... more In this paper, we identify a new form of public discourse that takes the shape of WhatsApp sticker memes personally created and nationally shared on WhatsApp by Omanis during the Covid-19 pandemic to concomitantly act as carriers of information and as promoters of relational work. The data consist of 67 public sign stickers culled from a larger set amassed as part of an ethnographic project on Arabs and Covid-19. Drawing upon perspectives from interpersonal pragmatics and visual semiotics, we examine the interplay of textual and visual modes in featured stickers, demonstrating how Omanis managed to translate official Covid-19 instructions into three types of bite sized memes for easy consumption and distribution. To elicit compliance, they further struck a culturally-imperative balance between keeping traditional norms intact while committing socially offensive acts. The article contributes to digital discourse by exploring the genre of sticker use and public signs in the Arabic context.

Pragmatics & Society , 2023

The interpersonal functions of public signs during the Covid-19 pandemic, 2023

In this article, we identify a new form of public discourse that takes the shape of WhatsApp stic... more In this article, we identify a new form of public discourse that takes the shape of WhatsApp sticker memes personally created and nationally shared on WhatsApp by citizens in Oman during the Covid-19 pandemic to concomitantly act as carriers of information and as promoters of relational work. The data consist of 67 public sign stickers culled from a larger set amassed as part of an ethnographic project on Arabs and Covid-19. Drawing upon interpersonal pragmatics and visual semiotics, we examine the interplay of textual and visual modes in featured stickers, demonstrating how Omanis translated official Covid-19 instructions into three types of terse memes to facilitate communal distribution. We suggest that to encourage public cooperation, the stickers struck a culturally-imperative balance between keeping traditional norms intact while committing socially offensive acts. The article contributes to research on digital discourse by exploring sticker use as public signs in the understu...

International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 2021

The unprecedented expansion of wireless technologies and the global pandemic of 2020-2021, which ... more The unprecedented expansion of wireless technologies and the global pandemic of 2020-2021, which forced many educational establishments out of traditional face-to-face and into online instructional environments, have created an urgency for achieving a better understanding of the various education-related uses of mobile phones, and students’ attitudes toward them, worldwide. We conducted a questionnaire-based study to explore college undergraduate students’ perceptions and uses of mobile phones, with a focus on instructor-student communication and classroom use, across three diverse cultural contexts: Ukraine, Oman, and the United States. Based on our findings, we suggest that conceptualizing mobile phones as cultural tools and situating their use within cultural discourses illuminates how – and explains why – mobile phones are not “the same” tools for all students. The findings offer insights into students’ (developing) perspectives on uses of mobile phones, and provide grounds from...

This manifesto stems from a transmedia initiative for collective research designed to shape – fro... more This manifesto stems from a transmedia initiative for collective research designed to shape – from the bottom-up – a socially responsive and responsible culture of inquiry, in observing, recording, sharing and reflecting on the changes to communication and interaction caused by the COVID-19 crisis and their enduring effects post-pandemic. The objectives of the manifesto are (a) to identify key changes in communication and interaction practices during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and (b) to offer a blueprint for an innovative methodology involving academics and nonacademics in collective research into these and any future changes to the communication landscape across different socio-cultural contexts. The manifesto presents: (1) the factors that make changes in communication and interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic topical for research; (2) the coordinates of these changes; (3) questions that these changes raise; (4) a proposal for a methodology that complements established r...

Discourse & Society, 2017

In this article, I investigate how political dissent is linguistically constructed and mitigated ... more In this article, I investigate how political dissent is linguistically constructed and mitigated in memes that are circulated nationally on WhatsApp in Oman. I do so by drawing upon insights from relational approaches to face, the theorization of communicative strategies as polysemous and ambiguous, and research pertaining to the Islamic practice of lamenting. The data consist of a representative set of memes collected in the summer and fall of 2015 as part of an ethnographic project on social media and Arab identity. I theorize memes as cultural tools that take the form of ‘reasonably hostile’ lament-narratives, which enable citizens in Oman to engage in democracy while saving face. To create lament-memes that voice dissent while mitigating face-attacks, Omanis draw upon various communicative strategies: They use repetition, code choice, hashtags, and different genres; they juxtapose emojis with text; and they manipulate the production and participation frameworks of texts. Collect...

Language Structures and Social Interaction

In this chapter the author analyzes, from a cognitive pragmatics point of view and, more specific... more In this chapter the author analyzes, from a cognitive pragmatics point of view and, more specifically, from a relevance-theoretic approach, the way Internet users assess the qualities of web pages in their search for optimally relevant interpretive outcomes. The relevance of a web page is measured as a balance between the interest that information provides (the so-called “positive cognitive effects” in relevance theory terminology) and the mental effort involved in their extraction. On paper, optimal relevance is achieved when the interest is high and the effort involved is low. However, as the relevance grid in this chapter shows, there are many possible combinations when measuring the relevance of content on web pages. The author also addresses how the quality and design of web pages may influence the way balances of interest (cognitive effects) and mental effort are assessed by users when processing the information contained on the web page. The analysis yields interesting implic...

Multimodal Communication, 2014

Multilingua, 2019

I am indebted to Jan Blommaert for coming up with the original special issue title "Society in La... more I am indebted to Jan Blommaert for coming up with the original special issue title "Society in Language," as opposed to the traditional ideology "Language in Society." The former stresses the need to upend sociolinguistic theory as we know and practice it. I later changed the title to

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Disability, 2018

In this article, the discursive construction of mental health and the role religion plays in its ... more In this article, the discursive construction of mental health and the role religion plays in its representation are examined using four psychological consultations collected in fall 2016 from Islamweb.net , the largest network for Islamic information. Using computer mediated discourse analysis (Herring 2004), intertextuality was identified as a communicative strategy psychologists draw upon to turn mental health consultations into platforms to perpetuate Islamic authoritative discourses (e. g. submission to God, prayer, and collectivity). Mental illnesses were also constructed within the Islamic context as supernatural and cured by religion, rather than as conditions treated through medical and psychological intervention. Intertextually, the authoritative discourses are evoked overtly through direct quotations from the books of Islam and covertly through referencing certain ritualistic discourses (words, themes, and practices) in the opening, main, and closing sections of the consul...

In his anthropological analysis of new media technology use in Arabia, Anderson (1999) states tha... more In his anthropological analysis of new media technology use in Arabia, Anderson (1999) states that the Internet has caused changes in what it means to be an Arab. What the Internet has done in particular, Anderson explains, is that it gave its users (a) an unaccustomed measure of agency and self-authorization and (b) the freedom to sample alternative authoritative role models. This newfound freedom resulted in loosening boundaries between Arab youth and authoritative figures—especially religious figures, who traditionally control access to and interpretation of religious texts. New media technology also has accentuated diversity within the Arabic nation, especially religious diversity. Specifically, Eickelman (1989) has argued that even introducing cassette tapes to Arab countries in ABSTRACT

Approaches to Discourse Analysis

Russian Journal of Linguistics

In this paper, I examine impoliteness-oriented discourse on Arabic Twitter as a resource for the ... more In this paper, I examine impoliteness-oriented discourse on Arabic Twitter as a resource for the negotiation of Islamic moral order. I do so by highlighting the responses Arabs post in reaction to a tweet which attacks Islamic cultural face. As the triggering act poses an indirect request to change an authoritative Islamic practice deemed immoral by the instigator of the tweet, sundry responses were generated to repair the damaged collective face through keeping intact or arguing against the questionable moral order. The main strategy I identify as a response to the professed face-attack is divine (im)politeness, intertextually referencing religious texts in favor of (or against) the existing (im)moral order. The rites of moral aggression also draw upon questions, provocation, personal attacks and projection of Islamic behavior onto unaddressed third parties (e.g., Christians and Hindus). The findings capture one moment of a historic shift in Islamic moral order and the role that im...

Multilingua Journal of Cross Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, Oct 1, 2012

Discourse, Context & Media

Multilingua , 2019

This thematic volume of sociolinguistic research focuses on identity and community construction ... more This thematic volume of sociolinguistic research focuses on identity and community construction at the interface of the local and the global, examining these phenomena using varied research methods and through the lenses of diverse analytical and theoretical perspectives. The papers highlight the intricacies inherent in identity and community construction in digitized contexts through the exploration of linguistic and semiotic resources, languages, and understudied cultural contexts as varied as the use of emojis to defy bias against female gamers online, initiation of repair on expert-authored blogs on weight loss, negotiation of language ideologies on Ukrainian Twitter, and the construction of political dissent on Arabic Syrian Facebook. The volume satisfies four additional aims: It (a) considers the local and global to be
interconnected and mutually influencing, (b) conceptualizes and examines language as one of numerous semiotic resources, (c) explores online interaction as linked to interaction offline, and (d) acknowledges human agency and creativity. Collectively, the studies add to the ongoing quest for new ways to use and investigate language in society by examining the ways society manifests itself creatively in various languages and across globalized mediums.

Discourse & Society, Aug 31, 2022

Discourse & Society, Mar 1, 2011

Pragmatics & Society, 2023

Pragmatics & Society , 2023

The interpersonal functions of public signs during the Covid-19 pandemic, 2023

International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 2021

Discourse & Society, 2017

Language Structures and Social Interaction

Multimodal Communication, 2014

Multilingua, 2019

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Disability, 2018

Approaches to Discourse Analysis

Russian Journal of Linguistics

Multilingua Journal of Cross Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, Oct 1, 2012

Discourse, Context & Media

Multilingua , 2019

Springer , 2016

Exclusion is the main predicament faced by people with disabilities across contexts and cultures.... more Exclusion is the main predicament faced by people with disabilities across contexts and cultures. That is why inclusion is at the heart of disability concerns, both academic and non-academic. Yet, astoundingly, it is one of the least academically studied concepts, especially from the perspective of a person with disability, and particularly regarding how inclusion is accomplished through discourse and technology at the micro level in communication across ability-status. To understand how inclusion works in the real lives of persons with disabilities is to eliminate discrimination that occurs at both interactional and social levels, the former of which is rarely researched. Analyzing the process of inclusion, moreover, sheds insight into the collaborative process of social action. Inclusion is thus pivotal to understanding the nature of disability and human agency and their relationship to language and technology.

This book––which integrates past and new research into a single manuscript that addresses critical, timely issues in disability research, answers recent key calls, and, in turn, fills in a number of main gaps in discourse analysis and disability studies. This is indeed the best and the worst of times as far as disability is concerned. Socio-politically, since the financial meltdown and the Arab Spring, the world has been afflicted with continuous, escalating unrest. As persons with disabilities are the first to suffer in dire circumstances (Goodley, 2011), the necessity in such times to research and document the contributions that those with disabilities can make to their own lives and those of others (i.e., to validate their agency) is axiomatic. Academically, there is a burst of new interest and energy in research that deals more intimately with people with disabilities. These studies have been driven by a new wave of disability researchers who demand a new research direction––more ‘non-white’ research, more discursive research, more exploration of personal experiences, and more technologically-oriented studies. This book meets these criteria; it can propel forward this wave of research and push the boundaries of disability studies, a field that is at a crossroads (Watson et al., 2012), but lacks guidance. It knows where it is generally heading; however, it has no inkling about how to get to the desired destination. This is where this book comes in––it shows how to do the research required to demonstrate disability in (inter)action.

This book is a qualitative examination with much larger implications. The project builds on and extends a longitudinal, ethnographic case study analysis of the discourse, narratives and use of new media technology of one man with quadriplegia to combat the marginalization and isolation afforded to him by the cultural ideologies towards disability in Oman, the Islamic Arab country in which he resides. The book’s power stems from it being an emic view of how inclusion takes place at discursive and non-discursive levels, using the latest linguistic and multimodal frameworks. The book is based in an Arabian context, but keeps in mind global applications. The in-depth multimodal analysis makes the point that technology is an important resource by which persons with disability can construct agentive identities and negotiate social inclusion, while also demonstrating how this occurs. The book also illustrates the role that language plays in shaping the experience of disability. Collectively, the book illustrates the necessity of going beyond bounded texts when dealing with identities constructed by individuals with disabilities and the need to deconstruct taken-for-granted binary categories of what does and does not constitute disability and ability, normal and abnormal, and so on.
This is a book for all: It is for students and academics interested in how to apply linguistics and multimodal research to address real social issues. It is also a book for students and academics in disability studies. It is, moreover, for activists and policy makers in the field of disability. It further is a book for and about persons with disabilities and for anyone interested in a story of human triumph and the power of the soul to overcome all adversity.

In many respects, this book is more than a scholarly description of the process of inclusion in the experience of disability. It is a testimony to the life lived by a close friend of mine and a research participant who I met in 1994. It archives his daily struggles and triumphs and his family’s role in doing the best they can, given the limited resources they have. It also records the role played by a Middle Eastern country in striving, albeit sometimes failing, to implement the belief that disability is not just a biomedical problem; it also is a social cause. Most importantly, the book documents the agency that a person with a disability, who seemingly has no power, exercises and his creative and visionary side. This process actually changed him as a person: In 2002, Yahya was a man with a disability ignored by everyone in his close circles. In 2012, he became a scholar––a person with an enlightened identity, whom people online and offline turn to for guidance on matters such as politics, religion and the nature of life. By documenting his decade-long narrative using a systematic, analytical method, I hope it inspires others to reach for the stars. It is further hoped that the book engages in disability studies, motivates academics to investigate inclusion from a multimodal perspective, and inspires students to do academically conscious research that brings about social change.