Constructing contentious and noncontentious facts: How gynecology textbooks create certainty around pharma-contraceptive safety

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea M Bertotti ◽  
Skye A Miner
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Neutral Language

Using critical discourse analysis, we examine how seven popular gynecology textbooks use sociolinguistic devices to describe the health effects of pharma-contraception (intrauterine and hormonal methods). Though previous studies have noted that textbooks generally use neutral language, we find that gynecology textbooks differentially deployed linguistic devices, framing pharma-contraceptive benefits as certain and risks as doubtful. These discursive strategies transform pharma-contraceptive safety into fact. We expand on Latour and Woolgar’s concept of noncontentious facts by showing how some facts that are taken for granted by the medical community still require discursive fortification to counter potential negative accusations from outside the profession. We call these contentious facts. Our findings suggest that a pro-pharma orientation exists in gynecology textbooks, which may influence physicians’ understanding of pharmaceutical safety. As such, these texts may affect medical practice by normalizing pharma-contraceptives without full considerations of their risks.

scholarly journals The Enemy Next Door: The Image of Russia in Georgian and Ukrainian Political Discourses Amid Conflicts Escalation

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-203
Author(s):  
Aram Terzyan
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Image Representation ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The Core ◽  
Standing Up

Abstract This article presents an analysis of the evolution of Russia’s image representation in Georgian and Ukrainian political discourses amid Russian-Georgian and Russian-Ukrainian conflicts escalation. Even though Georgia’s and Ukraine’s troubled relations with neighboring Russia have been extensively studied, there has been little attention to the ideational dimensions of the confrontations, manifested in elite narratives, that would redraw the discursive boundaries between “Us” and “Them.” This study represents an attempt to fill the void, by examining the core narratives of the enemy, along with the discursive strategies of its othering in Georgian and Ukrainian presidential discourses through critical discourse analysis. The findings suggest that the image of the enemy has become a part of “New Georgia’s” and “New Ukraine’s” identity construction - inherently linked to the two countries’ “choice for Europe.” Russia has been largely framed as Europe’s other, with its “inherently imperial,” “irremediably aggressive” nature and adherence to illiberal, non-democratic values. The axiological and moral evaluations have been accompanied by the claims that the most effective way of standing up to the enemy’s aggression is the “consolidation of democratic nations,” coming down to the two countries’ quests for EU and NATO membership.

scholarly journals The Journalistic Representations of Saudi Women in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): A Corpus Critical Discourse Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 320
Author(s):  
Waheed M. A. Altohami ◽  
Amir H. Y. Salama
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
American English ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Context Model ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Saudi Women

This paper is a corpus critical discourse analysis of the journalistic representations of Saudi women as they appear in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) (Davies, 2008). It follows a sociocognitive approach (van Dijk, 2008) to explore the thematic foci discussing issues related to Saudi women and to discuss the discursive strategies implemented to propagate such issues. The study has reached four findings. First, the thematic foci related to Saudi women are textually and referentially coherent as they were meant to provide a grand narrative underlying a specific context model. Second, Saudi women are negatively represented as no social roles are ascribed to them throughout the corpus. Third, different social actors are also represented alongside Saudi women to put them in a wider socio-cultural context to aggravate their problems. Finally, the most effective discursive strategies which mediated the running context model included victimization, categorization, stereotyping, normalization, and exaggeration.

“We must unite now or perish!”

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Nartey
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Pan African ◽  
The World ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Abstract This paper presents a discourse-mythological analysis of the rhetoric of a pioneering Pan-African and Ghana’s independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah, drawing on Ruth Wodak’s discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis. The thesis of the paper is that Nkrumah’s discourse, in its focus on the emancipation and unification of Africa, can be characterized as mythic, a discursive exhortation of Africa to demonstrate to the world that it can better govern itself than the colonizers. In this vein, the paper analyzes four discursive strategies employed by Nkrumah in the creation and projection of his mythology: the introduction or creation of new discourse events, presupposition and implication, involvement (the use of indexicals) and lexical structuring and reiteration. This study is, therefore, presented as a case study of mythic discourse within the domain of politics.

Discursive strategies for disinformation on WhatsApp and Twitter during the 2018 Brazilian presidential election

First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Recuero ◽  
Felipe Soares ◽  
Otávio Vinhas
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Rational Explanation

This paper aims to analyze and compare the discursive strategies used to spread and legitimate disinformation on Twitter and WhatsApp during the 2018 Brazilian presidential election. Our case study is the disinformation campaign used to discredit the electronic ballot that was used for the election. In this paper, we use a mixed methods approach that combined critical discourse analysis and a quantitative aggregate approach to discuss a dataset of 53 original tweets and 54 original WhatsApp messages. We focused on identifying the most used strategies in each platform. Our results show that: (1) messages on both platforms used structural strategies to portray urgency and create a negative emotional framing; (2) tweets often framed disinformation as a “rational” explanation; and, (3) while WhatsApp messages frequently relied on authorities and shared conspiracy theories, spreading less truthful stories than tweets.

A Girl In The River: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Honor Killing

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-104
Author(s):  
Munaza Hasan Nasir
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
3D Model ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Model Description ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Honor Killing

The aim of this research paper is to critically analyse the documentary A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness and explore the phenomenon of honor killing as presented through discourse in the documentary. In order to carry out critical discourse analysis Fairclough’s 3D model (description, explanation and interpretation) provided the framework of the research. The discursive strategies employed by the participants involved in honor killing both as agents and victims were explored. It was observed that the antagonists considered themselves to be the victims who were compelled to act in the name of honor by the protagonist (Saba). They also rationalized their actions through their language and discourse.  

“There Is No Wild”

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Bell
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

This paper documents the discourse used by contemporary circuses to justify their exploitation of nonhuman animals. The circus is undergoing redefinition due to cultural changes, animal welfare concerns, and political legislation. Critical Discourse Analysis is applied to a sample of articles (N= 128) on animals in circuses published inusnewspapers and magazines from 2007 to 2012. Analyses revealed that circus discourse attempts to (a) promote the circus as an ecologically important endeavor, (b) minimize the differences between human and nonhuman animals, (c) naturalize culturally induced behavior, (d) assert that captivity is preferable to the wild, and (e) collapse domesticity and wildness. These discursive strategies serve to legitimize, naturalize, and produce consent for the use of nonhuman animals in circuses. Furthermore, circus discourse conceptualizes nature and culture in ways that are ideologically significant and detrimental to the promotion of a conservation mindset.

Selling organic candy: multimodal critical discourse analysis of commercial websites

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
José-Santiago Fernández-Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Decisions ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Ethical Choices ◽  
Promotional Strategies ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper examines how organic candies are marketed as healthy and ethical choices on commercial websites through the use of visual, rhetorical and promotional strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses social semiotics and multimodal critical discourse analysis to identify the narratives and discursive traits that organic candy manufacturers reproduce on their websites as part of their ethical branding policy. The dataset is formed by 10 websites that commercialize organic confectionery.FindingsThe findings indicate that sellers try to associate organic candy to healthiness, simple and traditional lifestyles and social awareness to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Often the ethical claims that organic candy websites reproduce are not justified.Research limitations/implicationsA major limitation of this study is that the investigation does not evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical and discursive strategies on real consumer decisions. Further research of an ethnographic or empirical nature would be required for this purpose.Practical implicationsThis study recognizes the strategies that organic candy sellers reproduce can help consumers make more informed choices. From the point of view of marketers, understanding the multimodal, rhetorical and discursive strategies that organic candy brands employ can be useful to devise their own marketing approaches.Originality/valueThe investigation contributes to a growing body of research about multimodal critical discourse analysis within food marketing studies. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper that analyses organic candy branding from a multimodal perspective.

“Hope it’s not just the honeymoon phase”: online discursive portrayals of migrant domestic helpers

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Ho
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Representations ◽  
Activist Groups

Abstract This paper examines online discursive representations of migrant domestic helpers (MDHs) by Hong Kong employers. Unlike existing research, which concentrates on the experiences of MDHs from their own perspectives, this study focuses on positive narrations about MDHs by their employers. Using critical discourse analysis, this study identified the discursive strategies deployed to portray MDHs in more than 2,000 Facebook posts. The findings reveal that, although the interlocutors attempted to commend the MDHs in their employ, they also emphasised their own superiority by portraying themselves as gastronomic experts, good educators, and benefactors, thus developing an ideological paradox. Another dimension of ideological ambivalence concerned the discursive conflict between their high expectations from the MDHs and their underlying belief that domestic work neither requires skills nor deserves high pay. Taken together, these factors are responsible for the entrenchment of the inferior image of MDHs in Hong Kong society, despite the persistent endeavours of activist groups to spread awareness of their exploitation.

Resisting corruption in the Nigerian legislature: A critical discourse analysis of news and opinion articles on legislators’ salaries

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 519-541
Author(s):  
Innocent Chiluwa
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
News Reports

This study analyses news reports of public reactions to the controversial legislators’ monthly/annual income in Nigeria in 2019, which was presumed to far exceed the salaries of legislators worldwide. Data for this study are news and opinion articles published between 2017 and 2019 that represent public response to the salary scandal involving public officers and National Assembly members. Critical discourse analysis is adopted in the analyses of media representations of the main actors in and situations of the scandal. Hence, discursive strategies identified in the resistance discourse of the news media are qualitatively analysed. The study argues that lack of accountability and widespread corruption in the Nigerian political economy is a reflection of weak political institutions, such as those that empower legislators to enrich themselves.

Victimhood in the Face of Media Ideological Battle: A Critical Discourse Analysis on the British Media's Coverage of Stabbing Incidents in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-98
Author(s):  
Cynthia Wang
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
British Society ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
The Impact

This article intends to reveal the power dimensions and ideological positions embedded in dominant media discourses. Informed by theories of media representation as well as those of colonialism and Orientalism, this article analyses eight articles from two British daily online news media sources, namely, The Guardian and The Telegraph. The methodological framework adopted draws on Fairclough's (1995) conception of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine textual features, and employs Bazzi's contextual analysis model with an emphasis on ideology. These methodologies are utilised in an effort to investigate the British media's representational and discursive strategies concerning a wave of stabbing incidents in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the six-month violence between October 2015 and March 2016. The results indicate that violent actions are framed in a binary fashion, between self and other, and that the discursive strategies employed position Palestinian subjects as unworthy victims or violent initiators, whereas Israelis were represented relatively positively, in order to inscribe the accepted values in British society and foreign policy. This article attempts to contribute to the discussion on the impact of media agencies embedded within a particular societal and political context, and comments upon their ability to foster and disseminate hegemonic ideologies, which in turn reinforce systemic power inequalities in times of conflict.

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