Christopher VanderStouwe

Ph.D.
2017

Specialization

Affiliation: Boise State University

Dissertation: “Straight-ish”: Constrained agency and the linguistic constructions of sexual identities, desires, and practices among men seeking men

Education

2009 B.A., English (Language Studies), San Francisco State University
2012 M.A., Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Bio

I am interested in the ways that individuals and communities use language to construct identity and sexuality. I have worked with Marriage Equality, USA since 2008 doing data and discourse analysis on survey responses from the Proposition 8 Campaign in California, and am beginning to explore complex issues of ideologies and practices surrounding masculinity and sexuality among queer communities both online and in person. It is my ultimate goal to link academia with activism and for my research to have a lasting real-world impact in the lives of LGBTQ individuals and the political realm of LGBTQ policy and politics.

Projects

  • Language in the Same-Sex Marriage Movement
  • Anchoring and Body Torque as Embodied Resources in Interaction
  • Language and Identity in California queer communities, including: safe spaces, space and place, online dating culture, masculinity.

Publications

VanderStouwe, Chris. In Press. The Linguistic Negotiation of Heterosexuality in the Same-Sex Marriage Movement. Proceedings of the 37th Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.

VanderStouwe, Chris. Forthcoming. Religious Victimization as Social Empowerment in Discrimination Narratives from California's Proposition 8 Campaign. Journal of Language and Sexuality, 2(2).

Courses

Teaching Associate

Summer 2012 - LING 132 - Language, Gender, and Sexuality 

Teaching Assistant

Spring 2013 - LING 70: Language in Society

Winter 2012 - LING 20: Introduction to Linguistics

Fall 2011 - LING 149: Intercultural Communication

Summer 2011 - LING 180: Language, Race, and Ethnicity

Spring 2011 - LING 132 - Language, Gender, and Sexuality

Winter 2011 - LING 131 - Sociolinguistics

Teaching Fellow

2010-2011 - Carpinteria High School SKILLS Program, Language in Society