Karen Pennesi
Department of Anthropology
      

 
Everyone has a name. Everyone also has a story about how their own name or someone else’s name has become a source of difficulty, confusion, embarrassment, frustration, or anxiety from having to make a decision about a name. This project will analyze such stories and the experiences that Western students and administrators have with names, as they negotiate social identities. Students whose names reflect various linguistic and cultural norms will be interviewed about their name-related experiences involving regulations, bureaucracy and social interactions, at Western and in the broader Canadian context. Faculty and staff will also be asked to provide insights based on their experiences working with the great diversity of names in the University population. The objective of the study is to identify problems faced by people whose names do not conform to the established norms of the University and of dominant Anglo-Franco-Canadian society, including forms of exclusion, disadvantage and emotional stress.  With a better understanding of these difficulties, and the institutional practices that contribute to them, the research is expected to generate knowledge that will benefit both the students and the administration, as they deal with the complex social, legal, cultural and political issues surrounding names.

I will be hiring a graduate research assistant to conduct and transcribe interviews in the UWO community during summer and fall 2012.  Please contact Dr. Karen Pennesi for more information if you are interested. Qualified students working under my supervision may use this opportunity to generate data for their own M.A. or Ph.D. thesis projects.

If you are a Western student with a name from Arabic, Chinese or Indian languages and you are interested in being interviewed for this project, please contact Dr. Karen Pennesi.