Michael Hadzantonis
Courtesy Affiliate,
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
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900 S Cady Mall Tempe, AZ 85287
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Long Bio
Originally trained in large scale language assessment design, moderation, and implementation, I earned a Doctorate in the Linguistic and Cultural Anthropologies of a Northeast Asian Context, and have worked for over 20 years in linguistics, sociolinguistics, linguistic cultural anthropology, communications, literary critical theory, gender theory, decolonization, and educational psychology, mostly in the applied sense,
As a scholar working within the traditions of linguistic cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, gender studies, and educational psychology, I draw on various frameworks, such as discourse analysis, critical/literary theory, language / semantic typology, and qualitative research (abduction, grounded theory, semiotics, deconstruction, post colonial theory in the critical sense). I moved to National Geographic Magazine as editor, following which, my anthropological focus became East Asia (North and South), as a speaker of Greek and South Korean, and with a semi fluency in Malay and other languages.
My work also involves academic leadership, academic marketing, and transnational education, having organized an extensive list of academic MOUs globally.
My work is interdisciplinary, pervading the boundaries of traditional linguistic cultural anthropology, and resolving the theoretical-empirical divide. I ground this work in a framework of anti-hegemony. Through this work, I appropriate my research in and teaching of linguistics and anthropology to scaffold disenfranchised populations in the Global South for close to three decades, and interrogate claims of (post)colonialism in Northeast Asia and in other regions.
I work on gender identity, and the junctures between the metaphysical world and symbolism in society.
I conduct work on music anthropology and its correlations with social practices, for example, the intentions of popular and ethnic dance, musical movements throughout the 20th century, and neo-colonialism in and through music.
I am increasingly focusing on the junctures between (linguistic and cultural) anthropology and medicine, and communication in online technologies, as well as human processes that challenge the encroachment of, but also build on, the mediations of new technologies such as AI.
I have directed an extensive list of institutional collaborations, university-industry relations, and cultural sustainability/capacity building projects, through strategic communication.
I am former Consultant Cultural Anthropologist of UNESCO, ASEAN, and several governments globally, and former currator of the Egyptian Archaeology Section of the Adelaide Museum, in South Australia.
Prior to my academic work, my focus was the music industry, having composed, produced, and edited music for artists on major music company labels.
Education
- Ph.D. Linguistic Anthropology, RMIT University
- M.A. Linguistic Anthropology, Charles Sturt Univeristy
- B.Sc. Chemistry and Mathematics Major, Languages and Linguistics Minor, Flinders University of South Australia
Research Website URL
Google Scholar URL
ORCID Profile ID
Research Interests
Southeast Asian linguistic and cultural anthropology; linguistic anthropology of music, particularly East Coast American New School, and East and Central African music; the linguistic anthropology of gender and sexuality in East Asia; the semiotics of online technologies; landscaping the linguistics and linguistic ideologies of Southern Europe; the linguistic ideologies of Northeast Asian contexts
Research Group
Currently Heading a Consortium of 21 Universities Globally
Publications
Selected Publications (peer reviewed and indexed)
- Hadzantonis (2026). Special Issue: Communicating Identity in Asian Contexts. The Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
- Hadzantonis (2026). A Linguistic Anthropology of Rap in Inner City New York. Global: Springer Publishers
- Hadzantonis (2026). Linguistic Anthropologies of East Asian Queerness. Global: Routledge Publishers
- Hadzantonis (2025). Shifting the Semangat: A Symbolic Analysis of Javanese Mantras. Pragmatics in Society (In press)
- Hadzantonis (2023). The Semangat and the Mantra in Java. The JALA, 4(1): 53-63. https://doi.org/10.47298/jala.v5-i1-a4
- Hadzantonis, D. M, and Omar, A. H. (Eds) (2022). Special Issue: Identity and Communication in Asian Contexts. The Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 32(1): 1-191. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.32.1
- Hadzantonis, D. M, and Omar, A. H. (2022). Introduction and Foreword. In D. M. Hadzantonis and A. H. Omar, Identity and Communication in Asian contexts, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 32(1): 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.32.1
- Hadzantonis (2022). Correlating Wayang and Malay. In D. M. Hadzantonis and A. H. Omar, Identity and Communication in Asian Contexts. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 32(1): 52-82. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00084.had
- Hadzantonis (2021). Javanese Tensions: Revitalizing Javanese amidst Old and New Symbolisms; Toward a Linguistic Anthropology. The Journal of Asian Linguistic Anthropology, 3(1): 1 - 32, DOI: 10.47298/jala.v3-i1-a1
- Hadzantonis (2021). Casting Shadows over Malay: Palliating Voice, Palliating the Wayang. The Journal of Asian Linguistic Anthropology, 3(1): 39 - 61, DOI: 10.47298/jala.v4-i4-a3
- Hadzantonis (2019). Towards an Asian Linguistic and Cultural Psychology. JALA, 1(3): 30 - 35, DOI: 10.47298/jala.v1-i3-a4
- Hadzantonis (2016). Linguistic Anthropologies of LGBT Communities in East Asia. In J. Abbou and F. Baider (Eds.), Gender and the Periphery: Grammatical and Social Gender from the Margins. John Benjamins, https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.264.12had
- Hadzantonis (2013). English Language Pedagogies for a Northeast Asian Context, Taylor and Francis, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203098455
- Hadzantonis (2010). Spaces in Social Anthropology. Lingui-stick
- Hadzantonis and Kim, E. Y. (2007). Classification of Education. In F. W. English (Ed), Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration. Sage, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412939584.n90
- Hadzantonis and Kim, E. Y. (2006). Contextual Knowledge. In F. W. English (Ed), Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration. Sage, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412939584.n123
- Hadzantonis and Kim, E. Y. (2005). Transformational Leadership. In F. W. English (Ed), Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration. Sage, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412939584.n575
- Hadzantonis (2002). University Language Exam Series (ULES). University of South Australia Publishers
- Hadzantonis (2001). Teaching Syntax, Teaching Style. Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Publishers
Conference Proceedings (peer reviewed SCOPUS, WOS / ISI indexed)
- Hadzantonis (2025). The SOAS GLOCAL AFALA 2024 (Editor). Conference Proceedings. African Assembly on Linguistic Anthropology 2024. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2024). The SOAS GLOCAL AFALA 2023 (Editor). Conference Proceedings. African Assembly on Linguistic Anthropology 2023. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2024). Revisiting 1980s' Kwassa-Kwassa. African Assembly on Linguistic Anthropology 2023. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2024). Ideologies of New Javanese. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2023. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2024). Poetics of the Javanese Mantra: Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2023. London: GLOCAL University of London
- Hadzantonis, (2024). An Ethnography of Rijal Alma, Saudi Arabia. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2023. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2024). Shifters in talk. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2023. London: GLOCAL University of London
- Hadzantonis (2023). A Linguistic Anthropology of Greece's Puppet Theatre. Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). Sustaining a Regional Dialect in Karpathos Island. GLOCAL Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). Should Migrants Return as the Subaltern? Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). Greek English Code Switching in Diaspora. Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). An Ethnography of Greece’s Dialects. Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). Linguistic Ideologies in Greece: Questions of Hellenism. Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). Go to Me! The Locative Form in Rijal Alma, Saudi Arabia. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2022. GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2023). Critical Linguistic Anthropology. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2022. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2021). Subject Pronoun Metapragmatics in Southern European Ergatives. Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2021. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2021). A Linguistic Anthropology of Greece's Shadow Puppetry. Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2021. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2020). Reviving Javanese through ideologies: Romantic Intellects, Signage, Prayers, Linguistic Solidarity. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2020. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2020). The Symbolism and Poetics of the JAPA Mantras in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: An Anthropological Study. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology Conference 2020. London: GLOCAL University of London
- Hadzantonis (2019). Malay and Wayang Kulit: Anthropological Shifts in the Malay Language. Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2019. London: GLOCAL School of Oriental and African Studies
- Hadzantonis (2019). Becoming Spiritual: Osing Rituals and Ritual Languages in Banyuwangi, Indonesia. GLOCAL Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2019. London: GLOCAL University of London
Research Activity
- 2015 – Current – Anthropologically Investigating the Poetics of Javanese Shamanism
- Documenting and analyzing language and poetics of the Jaran Goyang, the Java Mantra, and other shaman ritual practices throughout Central to Eastern Java, and their junctures with globalization and psychology
- 2018 - 2020 – Saudi Arabian Cultural Assessment Program (SCAPE) (Asir / Saudi Government Funding)
- Documenting and analyzing language and cultural overlaps in the Saudi Arabian peninsula, to assist the Saudi 2030 vision for internationalization
- 2014 – 2017 – Ethnographic Analysis of Malay vis-à-vis the Wayang Kulit (University of Malaya Funding)
- Exploring the sociopolitical correlations of Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry and the shifting Malay language
- 2013 – 2016 – New Vernaculars in Malaysia (University of Malaya Funding)
- Documenting the vernaculars of Malaysian speech communities (e.g., Rojak)
- 2008 – current – Documenting the Dialects of regions throughout Greece (and beyond) (Personal Funding)
- Language contact and entextualized language throughout Greek regions
- 2002 – 2017 – The Linguistic Anthropology of East Asian LGBT groups (University of Malaya funding)
- Documenting and analyzing Languages in LGBT communities across East Asia
- 2006 – 2009 – An Ethnography of modern South Korean Talk (Sungshin University Internal Funding)
- Describing the language psychology of greater South Korea
- 2003 – 2012 – A Psychology of South Korean Language Ideoloies (Dongguk University Internal funding)
- A Vygotskian approach to South Korean Language Ideologies: Building a transition framework
Presentations
COURSE CATEGORIES
- Communication: Intercultural Communication, Professional
- Critical and Literary Theory: Formalism, (Post) Modernism, (Post Structuralism, French 20th Century Literary Philosophy
- Education: Educational Psychology, Vygotskian Theory
- Language Planning and Policy
- Linguistic and Cultural Anthropology: Theory, Methdology, History
- Linguistics: Phonology, Pragmatics, Morphology, Semantics, Syntax, Linguistic Semantic Typology
- Literature: World Literatures, Writing and Composition
- Media: Media, Discourse, and Society, Communication and New Technologies
- Musicology: Ethnomusicology, Music Technology, Studio and Radio Production
- Research and Analytical Methods: Qualitative Methods in Linguistic Analysis, Abduction Theory, Discourse Analysis, Grounded Theory, Ethnographic Methods
- Rhetoric: Cultural Rhetoric, Rhetoric Theory and History
- Sociolinguistics: Theory and Method, Multilingualism, Variation, junctures with Linguistic Anthropology, Language and Society
Editorships
- Magazines
- National Geographic Magazine (Editor)
- Conference Proceedings
- African Assembly on Linguistic Anthropology 2024
- African Assembly on Linguistic Anthropology 2023
- Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2023
- Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2021
- Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology 2019
- Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2023
- Conference on Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology 2022
- Sociolinguistics Symposium 21, Spain (2016) - Towards a Critical Linguistic Anthropology
- Sociolinguistics Symposium 20, Finland (2014) - Liminal Genders, Sub-liminal Argots
- Sociolinguistics Symposium 19, Germany (2012) - Language Contact and Identity in Northeast Asia
- Special Issues
- Identity and Communication in Asian Contexts. The Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 32(1)
Professional Associations
- Global Council for Anthropological Linguistics (GLOCAL)
- World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA)
- Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA)
Graduate Faculties / Mentoring History
- 15 Doctoral students
- 20 Master's cohorts
Work History
Sony Music New York, 1994-1996
Columbia Music New York, 1995-1996
Service
Selected Talks
Asia
- Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia (2018) - Linguistic Anthropology, Ethnography in SE Asia, Java Mantra Poetics
- Conference on Indonesian Languages, Airlangga, Indonesia (2018)– Semiotics, Indonesian Mantra Poetics
- Institute of Vietnamese Folklore, Vietnam (2018) - Linguistic Semantic Typology, Early 20th Century Anthropologists
- Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2018) - Ethnography in Anthropology in Asia, Bateson and Frame Theory
- University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam (2017)- Folklore, Semantics and Cultural Anthropology
- Institute of Culture Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam (2017) - Indexicality in Linguistic Anthropology
- Hanoi University of Education, Vietnam (2017) - The Japa Mantra and the Language of Rituals in Java, Indonesia
- Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam (2017) - Discourse Analysis in Linguistic Anthropology
- Institute of Linguistics, Hanoi, Vietnam (2016) - Discourse Analysis in Linguistic Anthropology
- ASEAN Forum on Cultural Knowledge in a Transnational Era, Indonesia (2016) - Cultural Anthropology of SE Asia
- ASEAN Strategic Planning Summit, Singapore (2016) - Interethnic Identity and Restructuring ASEAN Cultural Identity
- ASEAN Council Meeting, Jakarta (2017) - Northeast Asian Hegemony in Media Communication
- UNESCO Roundtable, Jakarta (2015) - Anthropology in Cultural Understanding and Sustaining Cultural Histories
- UNESCO Symposium on Cultural Sustainability, Malaysia (2016) - Regional and National Cultural Identity and Industry
- Conference on Academic Sustainability, Sunway, Malaysia (2013) - Social Innovation / Sustainability (Chair)
- Crossroads Cultural Studies Conference 2012, Hong Kong (2012) - Sociolinguistic Siblinghoods of English and Music
- University of Hong Kong Visiting Lecture Series, Hong Kong (2011) - Vygotskian Theory and Purposeful Texts
- University Malaya Seminar Series (2012-2017) - High Impact Journal Publications, Qualitative Research
The Middle East
- King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia (2019) - The Locative in Rijal Alma, Saudi Arabia, Mikhail Bakhtin and Inversion
- Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia (2020) - A Cultural Assessment and Framework for the Saudi 2030 Vision
- King Saud University, Saudi Arabia (2020) - Language Ideologies in Rijal Alma, Anthropological Theory
- King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia (2019) - Language Ideologies, Linguistic Anthropology
The United States
- University of California, Los Angeles (2016) - A Linguistic Anthropology of Asia and the Pacific Rim
- Kean University (2023) – Linguistic Cultural Anthropology, Ethnography, and Critical Theory
Europe
- Sociolinguistics Symposium 21, Spain (2016) - Towards a Critical Linguistic Anthropology
- Sociolinguistics Symposium 20, Finland (2014) - Liminal Genders, Sub-liminal Argots
- Sociolinguistics Symposium 19, Germany (2012) - Language Contact and Identity in Northeast Asia
Consulting
- Jan 2018 – May 2021 – Arabian Peninsula Governments, Consultant Cultural Anthropologist
- Sep 2014 – Sep 2017 – UNESCO, Southeast Asia, Consultant Cultural Anthropologist
- Aug 2014 – Aug 2017 – ASEAN Consultant Cultural Anthropologist)
- Aug 1998 – Mar 2005 – South Korean Government, Consultant Cultural Expert
Industry Positions
- Nov 2001 – Nov 2003 – Adelaide Museum, Australia, Anthropology and Archaeology curator
- Jun 2014 – Jun 2021 – The MASSH, The Multimedia Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities Ethnographic Journal, Editor
- Sep 1998 – Nov 2001 – National Geographic Magazine, Author / Editor / Translator (English, Greek, South Korean, Malay)
Pro Bono
- 2024 / 2025 – UNESCO Chair Nomination