Professor Dr. Kendra Calhoun

Biography

Kendra Calhoun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Illinois University. As a linguistic anthropologist and sociocultural linguist, she employs a critical qualitative approach to the study of language as a social process. Her research focuses on the intersections of language, identity, race, gender, and power within digital discourse. Calhoun explores how digital technologies create opportunities for new forms of discourse that are intricately connected to 'offline' identities, cultures, and ideologies. Her current work investigates the Black TikTok digital community, highlighting the raciolinguistic construction and contestation within this space. Furthermore, her scholarship within U.S. higher education addresses the discourses surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion, examining how these concepts often obscure the limitations of institutional actions in the face of structural inequalities. Centering the voices of typically marginalized members of the academy, she critiques dominant DEI approaches to highlight their insufficiency in addressing the multifaceted nature of inequity embedded within institutional practices.

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