Photo by David White on Unsplash
I had the pleasure of attending the PALA 2024 Conference at Sheffield Hallam University. PALA (Poetics and Linguistics Association) is an international organisation of academics who specialise in stylistics, poetics, language, and linguistics. The focus of the conference was stylistics in the world, and it took place from June 26 to June 29. I was privileged to share my research on the sociopoetics of protest and resistance, Voices of the Iranian Green Movement, at the conference, where I received very constructive feedback from specialists in my field.
My research study aims to investigate the role of poetic/stylistic language in civil movements and resistance to protests and focuses on the language used by the former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and protesters during the Iranian Green Movement (A political uprising that emerged in 2009).
The aims of my study, which are to develop a contextualised understanding of non-Western forms of oppression and to decolonise sociopragmatic studies, were well linked with the conference theme as other researchers were also striving to base their studies on non-colonial data. It was great to exchange ideas with individuals working to decolonise my field and learn about their methodological frameworks.
Another exciting aspect of attending this conference for me was the opportunity to learn about the latest trends in my field of work (pragmatics and stylistics) and see the most recent papers all in one place. Attending this conference and networking with others during breaks allowed me to learn more about the world of research in general while also having the opportunity to convey my study to others in a welcoming environment. Attending this conference was not my first, but it was one of the best since I spent my time learning about what other academics in my field have been doing while also considering how I may use other delegates’ remarks and criticism to inform my own study.
I had a fantastic time at this conference, and it would not have been possible without the university’s support and assistance, for which I am extremely thankful.
