I am a postdoctoral researcher and assistant at the Chair for French and General Linguistics, specializing in the study of social interaction with a focus on language and the body in action.

My work is situated in the related disciplines Interactional Linguistics, Conversation Analysis, and Ethnomethodology. I have a particular focus on multimodal Conversation Analysis, and within this framework, I investigate the intricate interplay between spoken language, bodily conduct, and the material and sensorial environment.

I have completed a PhD in General Linguistics at the University of Basel, within the SNSF-funded research project intSenses––From Multimodality to Multisensoriality (PI: Lorenza Mondada). My contribution revisits instructions in interaction from a sensorial perspective: I focus on a detailed analysis of the interactional preparation, initiation and ‘doing’ of instructions in the specific material and sensorial environment provided by cooking activities. The dissertation shows how participants mobilize spoken, bodily and sensorial practices to achieve intersubjectivity in instruction sequences.

In my current research I pursue my interests and further investigate the role of human perception in and for interaction. This part of my research is integrated in the SNSF-funded project InterSensoriality, within which I mainly focus on situations where people are confronted to perceptual restrictions (e. g. difficulties of hearing, seeing or sensing) in various activities and settings. My main interest lies in understanding and describing through what interactional practices people establish the intersubjectivity of action under difficult circumstances. The activities of firefighters in training, and of specific athletes are perspicuous settings to study these issues.

I am further contributing to the SNSF funded project Everybody speaks about the weather,  interested in the relevance and consequence of (harsh) weather conditions for interaction, as well as in how people mobilize observations about the weather in interaction.

Last but not least, I am member of the project Human Sociality in the Age of Covid-19, which studies how Covid-19 regulations were consequential for human interaction, how people oriented to specific Covid-19 related objects, and how activities that emerged from this situation were organized.

Human Interaction, Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, Interactional Linguistics, Multimodality, Sensoriality-in-interaction

Bouaouina, S. A., Gauthier, G., Mondada, L., Svensson, H. (2025). Visiting a museum with all the senses: Multisensorial practices of visually impaired persons and their sighted assistants. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 15(3), doi: 10.3138/jircd-2024-0015.

Mondada, L., Bouaouina, S. A. , Camus, L., Gauthier, G., Svensson, H., & Tekin, B. S. (2021). The local and filmed accountability of sensorial practices: The intersubjectivity of touch as an interactional achievement. Social Interaction. Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality, 4(3), doi: 10.7146/si.v4i3.128160.

Mondada, L.; Bänninger, J.; Bouaouina, S. A.; Camus, L.; Gauthier, G.; Hänggi, P.; Koda, M.; Svensson, H.; Tekin, B. S. (2020). Human sociality in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic: A systematic examination of change in greetings, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 24:4, 00:1-28, doi: 10.1111/josl.12433.

Mondada, L.; Bänninger, J.; Bouaouina, S. A.; Gauthier, G.; Hänggi, P.; Koda, M.; Svensson, H.; Tekin, B. S. (2020). Changing social practices. Covid-19 and new forms of sociality, Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa 2, 217-232, doi: 10.3240/97807.

Mondada, L.; Bänninger, J.; Bouaouina, S. A.; Gauthier, G.; Hänggi, P.; Koda, M.; Svensson, H.; Tekin, B. S. (2020). Doing paying during the Covid-19 pandemic, Discourse Studies, 22:6, doi: 10.1177/1461445620950860.

Bouaouina, S. A.; Gauthier, G. (2024). Disentangling the Entanglement of Bodies. Paper presented at the IIEMCA Conference, 25-28 June, Seoul, South Korea.

Gauthier, G.; Bouaouina, S. A. (2024). On the Accountability of Breathing. The Case of In-breaths in Yoga Lessons. Paper presented at the IIEMCA Conference, 25-28 June, Seoul, South Korea.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2023). Preparing and Doing Instructing: Sensoriality in and for instructive sequences. Paper presented at the ICCA Conference, 26 June-2 July, Brisbane, Australia.

Svensson, H.; Bouaouina, S. A.; Gauthier, G. (2022). A:H HEi:SS’ – Normative Aspects of doing reacting-to-heat. Paper presented at the 7th Copenhagen Multimodality Day, 4 November, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gauthier, G.; Bouaouina, S. A. (2021). Sensing food: The accountability of food selection processes in dumpsters and markets. Paper presented at the IPrA Conference online, 27 June-2 July, Winterthur, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2021). The impact of masks on professional activities in the Covid-19 era. Paper presented at the IPrA Conference online, 27 June-2 July, Winterthur, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2020). Assisting and instructing in cooking activities: Materiality and temporality of objects in interaction. Paper presented at the ECCA (European Conference on Conversation Analysis) Conference online, 29 June-2 July, Nijmegen, Netherlands (online-conference).

Bouaouina, S. A.; Mondada, L.; Svensson, H. & Tekin, B. S. (2018). Challenging perspectives: Measuring distance in pétanque games. Paper presented at the VALS-ASLA (Swiss Association of Applied Linguistics) Conference: "A Video Turn in Linguistics?", 6-8 June, Basel, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2017). Wenn Schüler*innen lachen: Konversationsanalytische Untersuchungen von Schullektionen. Paper presented at the StuTS (Studentische Tagung Sprachwissenschaft) Conference: "61. StuTS Zürich", 25-28 May, Zürich, Switzerland.

WORKSHOP-PRESENTATIONS and DATA SESSIONS

Bouaouina, S. A. & Gauthier, G. (2025, March). Sensing other people: Some (not so?) simple acrobatics. Data session at the workshop on "Re-thinking sensoriality", University of Basel, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2025, February). Going on state in a series? – The backstage organization of hand-puppet theatre in kindergarten. Data session at the workshop on "Series", University of Basel, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2022, April). Comparing Action Initiations. Two different formats for initiating instructions. Paper presented at the workshop on "Comparison", University of Basel, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2021, June). Interactions in a Market in Tunisia. Paper presented at the HPSL workshop "On transcribing non-Indo-European languages: Perspectives from the Interactional framework", University of Basel, Switzerland.

Bouaouina, S. A. (2018, April). Body cries. Paper presented at the workshop on "Vocalizations", University of Basel, Switzerland.

Mondada, L.; Bouaouina, S. A.; Svensson, H. & Tekin, B. S. (2017, Nov). Taking measures in petanque. Paper presented at the workshop on "Interacting Bodies in Sports and Games", University of Basel, Switzerland.