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Research Summary
Current Status
PhD (full-time) - currently registered
Research Topic
Three Jeopardies, Two Identities and One beautiful Soul: Ethno-Linguistic study about British Caribbean working mothers' childcare responsibilities and workplace discourse (Working title)
Research Summary
This ethno-linguistic project explores the work-life (child care) balance practices of British Caribbean working mothers and their workplace discourse experiences. Exploring through the lenses of race, motherhood and discourse, the project has two interdisciplinary themes. Firstly, the ethnographic study to discover the mechanisms used by British Caribbean women in order to balance their work progression and childcare commitments. Secondly, a linguistics study to analyse the workplace discourse experiences as members of a minority ethnic group, a woman and as a mother.
Regardless of the longer establishment in the British society and their positive contribution to the country's economy, the Caribbean women experience racial and gender discrimination at every occupation category. On top of it, mother's childcare commitments are regarded as barriers to career progression; hence an additional motherhood penalty is experienced by the Caribbean working mothers. With these discriminatory ordeals, establishing one's identity in the workplace is vital to the continuity and progression of employment. Communication (discourse) is one vital instrument to establish identity. Hence, my project aims to understand the career experiences and the creation of workplace identity through discourse of British Caribbean working mothers.
The research will be based in Nottingham, locale of the university and the base of a long-established Caribbean community. Using interview data, I will conduct a thematic analysis to identify the mechanisms used by these mothers in juggling their career progression and childcare commitments. Doing so, I attempt to 'appreciate' and 'recognize' the achievements of these Caribbean working mothers and provide a platform to tell their tales.
Research Interests
Race, Motherhood, Feminism, Gender at work, Workplace discourse, Discourse analysis
Research Supervisors
Dr Karen Salt
Dr Malgorzata Chalupnik
Research Institutes, Centers or Clusters
Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics