Knowing Your Audience: Code Switching and Social Performance

For Smart People
Hosted by Highland Park Public Library |  494 Laurel Ave, Highland Park

Featuring: Lori D. Barcliff Baptista (University of Illinois at Chicago), Anette D'Onofiro (Northwestern University, the Chicagoland Language Project) and Chloe Johnston (Lake Forest College, The Neo-Futurists).

“Yo!” “Greetings.” “Hey there!” Whether consciously or not, most of us have engaged in a phenomenon of social interaction popularly known as “code-switching,” where we alter our language, dialect or grammar depending on who we are talking to in any given situation. As Smart People examines issues of privilege, implicit bias and miscommunication, this From Page to Stage event seeks to decode the subtle shifts in how we perceive others, and therefore, how we choose to present ourselves and communicate. How much of our social interactions are “performances,” rather than organic? Is code-switching a learned behavior, or a skill everyone is born with? Experts in linguistics, sociology and performance join us as we use real-world examples to unpack these big questions and learn about depictions of science on stage and how we all use language to perform identity.