About this episode
The episode features a discussion with Dr Rianna Walcott about Black British identity and expression on social media, particularly focusing on Black Twitter and sociolinguistic aspects.
Welcome to episode 82 of Lexis, in which Raj, Dan and (guest interviewer and friend of the pod) Amanda Cole talk to Dr Rianna Walcott, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, and Associate Director of the Black Communication and Technology (BCaT) Lab. We discuss her 2023 PhD, A Tweet at the Table - Black British Identity Expression on Social Media . We talk about: Black community, identity and self-expression on social media Black Twitter Sociolinguistic work on Black British English and MLE Language online and offline Black feminist thought and its influences on this project and more Rianna’s current work You can download the thesis here (and the most language-focused part is chapter 5): https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/studentTheses/a-tweet-at-the-table Rianna’s website is here and you can find some of the other papers and links mentioned: http://www.riannawalcott.com/ The Black Communication and Technology (BCaT) Lab is here: https://www.bcatlab.org/ Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social Contributors Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky…
People in this episode
Hosts: Raj, Dan
Guests: Amanda Cole, Dr Rianna Walcott
Topics covered
- Black community
- identity and self-expression on social media
- Black Twitter
- Sociolinguistic work on Black British English
- Black feminist thought
Keywords
- Black Twitter
- Black British identity
- social media
- sociolinguistics
- Black feminist thought
- communication
- identity expression
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Maryland, Black Communication and Technology (BCaT) Lab
Books & works: A Tweet at the Table - Black British Identity Expression on Social Media
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- Episode 83 - Sarah Hopkyns and English in the Gulf · March 14, 2026 · 42 min
- Episode 81 - Jessica Aiston & Eltham Hill School students on the language of neurodiversity · March 1, 2026 · 40 min
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