Making Bones Talk: a multimodal interactional perspective on language, bodies, materialities and knowledge at work in a forensic lab

• Grant number: 24/04810-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Fernanda Miranda da Cruz
• Grantee: Fernanda Miranda da Cruz
• Principal researcher abroad: Lorenza Maria Mondada
• Institution abroad: University of Basel, Switzerland
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Edson Luis de Almeida Teles

Abstract

Grounded on interactional linguistics (IL), conversation analysis (CA) and ethnomethodology (EM), this project aims at advancing key contemporary topics in multimodal research interested in the organization of social interaction. The focus is on interactions in which issues of multimodal organization of talk, embodied actions, sensorial skilled practices, and production of expert knowledge are intertwined. The project aims at advancing conceptualization of these issues while studying their detailed manifestations in a specific setting and activity that combine them all: the forensic lab. The choice of this approach in this setting enables two complementary foci: A) It enables significant advances in IL and EMCA analyses, concerning complex multimodal practices, the articulation between sensoriality and knowledge in professional expertise, within activities that implicate original forms of materiality, including human remains; B) It casts light on interactions barely studied until now in EMCA workplace studies: experts in a forensic laboratory examining bone remains, DNA samples and testimonies concerning disappeared persons. Forensic work and actions manipulating dead bodies haven't yet been submitted to any video analysis until now. The project mobilizes, thanks to the FAPESP/SNF funding scheme, an ideal combination of teams and competences: on the Swiss side, the PI is a world leader in multimodal EMCA with experience in researching multiple work and institutional settings. On the Brazil side, a multidisciplinary team includes a PI also researching multimodal IL/CA in linguistics and an associated researcher representing the forensic lab studied (CAAF/UNIFESP). This collaboration secure access to the field/data and the indispensable interdisciplinary expertise for studying them. This makes the feasibility as well as the unique originality of the project. (AU)