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Dr Jaspal Singh

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and English Language
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • School of Languages & Applied Linguistics
  • English Language & Applied Linguistics
  • jaspal.singh

Professional biography

I am a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and English Language at the Open University. My teaching and research interests revolve around the complex interconnections between language and culture (i.e. languaging and transculturation). I take epistemological and affectological inspiration from classic western and eastern philosophy, hip hop and other Black diasporic traditions, to arrive at a type of research that complexifies standard approaches in the social sciences. For example, I aim to problematise research ethics and common-sense writing strategies. Before joining the Open University, I was Assistant Professor of Sociolinguistics at the School of English, the University of Hong Kong. I completed my PhD at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University under the supervision of Dr Frances Rock. I studied Linguistics, Philosophy and Medieval and Modern History at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. I'm currently using the pronouns he, his and him.

Research interests

Applied lingustics, linguistic ethnograpy, sociolinguistics, global hip hop linguistics. I'm convenor of the Applied Linguistics and Literacy Research Group (ALLRG). 

Teaching interests

I'm the Module Team Chair of the Applied Linguistics MA module EE818 Language, Literacy and Learning. I'm also serving as MA Pathway Lead (Applied Linguistics) and I am part team producing a new MA programme in lingusitics. 

Impact and engagement

I was member of the 2022 OU Black History Month steering committee and I helped organise the WELS Equality Diversity and Inclusion Festival. 

You can read a short piece about my ethnogrphic research in the Indian hip hop scene on Open Learn.

Between 2019 and 2021, I served as Secretary of DiscourseNet, an international and non-hierarchical association for everyone interested in discourse studies. 

I am on the editorial board of the academic journal Gender and Language. Together with Anna De Fina and Ana Deumert, I am editor of the Encounters Book Series at Multilingual Matters. 

Publications

[Book Review] Youth language practices and urban language contact in Africa. Rajend Mesthrie, Ellen Hurst‐Harosh and Heather Brookes (Eds.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2021. 205pp (2022-12-14)
Singh, Jaspal Naveel
Journal of Sociolinguistics, 26(5) (pp. 675-679)

[Book Review] Graphic politics in eastern India: Script and the quest for autonomy Nishaant Choksi. London: Bloomsbury. 2021 (2022-11-03)
Singh, Jaspal Naveel
Journal of Sociolinguistics ((Early Access))

The Enregisterment of Esh in Global Beatboxing Culture (2022-08)
Singh, Jaspal and Campbell, Cameron
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 32(2) (pp. 408-430)

Commentary: Epistemological Positionalities (2021-12)
Singh, Jaspal
Applied Linguistics, 42(6) (pp. 1168-1175)

Language, gender and sexuality in 2020: forward Global South (2021-07-13)
Singh, Jaspal Naveel
Gender and Language, 15(2) (pp. 207-230)

Overstandin: Upscaling reading positions and rescaling texts/signs (2021)
Singh, Jaspal Naveel
Applied Linguistics Review, 12(3) (pp. 445-462)

Loudness registers: Normalizing cosmopolitan identities in a narrative of ethnic othering (2020-04)
Singh, Jaspal
Journal of Sociolinguistics, 24(2) (pp. 209-227)

Ciphers, ‘hoods and digital DIY studios in India: Negotiating aspirational individuality and hip hop collectivity (2020)
Dattatreyan, Ethiraj Gabriel and Singh, Jaspal
Global Hip Hop Studies, 1(1) (pp. 25-45)

Negotiating sustainability across scales: Community organizing in the Outer Hebrides (2018)
Singh, Jaspal and Bartlett, Tom
AILA Review, 30 (pp. 50-71)

Cultural interventions: Repositioning hip hop education in India. 36(1): 55-64. (2016-12)
Singh, Jaspal Naveel and Dattatreyan, Ethiraj Gabriel
Linguistics and Education, 36(1) (pp. 55-64)

‘How many of us remember 1984?’: Narrating masculinity and militancy in the Khalistani rap bricolage. (2013)
Singh, Jaspal
Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, 9(3) (pp. 339-360)

Transcultural Voices: Narrating Hip Hop Culture in Complex Delhi (2021-10-31)
Singh, Jaspal Naveel
Encounters
ISBN : 9781800413818 | Publisher : Multilingual Matters | Published : Bristol

Transcultural decoloniality, global hip hop and reflexive narrative analysis (2022-08-29)
Singh, Jaspal
In: Solange, Maria Barros and Resende, Viviane eds. Coloniality in Discourse: A Radical Critique (pp. 136-154)
Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Migration, hip hop and translation zones in Delhi (2021-06-28)
Singh, Jaspal
In: Lee, Tong King ed. The Routledge Handbook of Translation and the City (pp. 308-325)
ISBN : 9781138348875 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

The Sociolinguistic Saffronisation of India (2020-11-17)
Singh, Jaspal
In: Theodoropoulou, Irene and Tovar, Johanna eds. Research Companion to Language and Country Branding. Routledge Studies in Language and Identity (pp. 57-71)
ISBN : 9780367343590 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Appropriate meaning: Discursive struggle and polyphonic semiosis in Indian hip hop (2020-02-12)
Singh, Jaspal
In: Zizek, Boris and Piepenbring, Hanna N. eds. Formen der Aneignung des Fremden. Intercultural Studies. Schriftenreihe des Zentrums für Interkulturelle Studien (ZIS) (pp. 129-144)
ISBN : 978-3-8253-7925-4 | Publisher : Universitätsverlag Winter | Published : Heidelberg

Delhi to Bronx: Transkulturelle Historizität als transformatives Potential (2016-01-15)
Singh, Jaspal
In: Kämper, Heidrun; Schmidt-Brücken, Daniel and Warnke, Ingo H. eds. Textuelle Historizität: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf das diskursive Apriori. Diskursmuster / Discourse Patterns (12) (pp. 261-284)
ISBN : 978-3-11-044419-3 | Publisher : Mouton De Gruyter | Published : Berlin

Institutionality: Studies of Discursive and Material (Re-)ordering (2022-06-03)
Porsché, Yannik; Scholz, Ronny and Singh, Jaspal Naveel
Porsché, Yannik; Scholz, Ronny and Singh, Jaspal eds.
Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse
ISBN : 978-3-030-96968-4 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Cham

Downscaling Culture: Revisiting Intercultural Communication (2016)
Singh, Jaspal; Cserzo, Dorottya and Kantara, Argyro eds.
ISBN : 1-4438-9056-1 | Publisher : Cambridge Scholars | Published : Newcastle upon Tyne