Josephine Defends her MA
We’re delighted to celebrate Josephine’s successful MA defense!
Josephine defended her MA thesis, “Signage and Cultural Identity: A Linguistic Landscape Study of Immigrant-Owned Businesses in Lethbridge”, in the Department of English at the University of Lethbridge. Her research examines how signage, store layout, and product choices in six Lethbridge grocery stores reflect cultural identity, target audiences, and processes of acculturation in a mid-sized Canadian city.
Drawing on linguistic landscape theory, acculturation, and indexicality, Josephine’s project compares mainstream, immigrant-integrated, and West African-owned stores to explore how cultural identity is made visible in everyday commercial spaces. Her work also introduces a recipe-based shopping test, moving beyond simply describing signage to ask whether these retail landscapes actually support the communities they appear to serve.
Congratulations, Josephine! We’re excited to see what comes next and wish her every success in the next stage of her academic journey.
