Studying the interactional construction of identities in Critical Discourse Studies: A proposed analytical framework

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 568-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia G Stamou

The field of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) needs to extend its analytical scope and cross-fertilize with interactional accounts of identity. One the one hand, there is a constant and reflexive re-crafting of identities in late modernity. On the other hand, interaction is considered to be the major lens through which such identities in flux are studied. To this aim, I propose an analytical framework based on a synthesis of well-established CDS analytical tools with interaction-oriented ones, which results in the formation of ‘discursive strategies of identity construction in interaction’. I put the proposed synthesis under a ‘multiperspectival’ research agenda, which involves the compilation of a ‘package’ based on different approaches, on the condition that the theoretical and epistemological assumptions of each approach are taken into account. By way of illustration, I briefly discuss fictional interactions from two Greek TV commercials for the representation of age identities. It is shown that fictional data, which involve represented identities in talk by institutional agents, could become one possible ‘meeting point’ of CDS with interaction-oriented discourse analytical strands.

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna Demetriou

Abstract This article investigates online representations and evaluations of EU migrants, focusing on the notion of ‘benefit tourism’ and discursive strategies used in the (de)legitimization of new welfare restrictions in the UK. Through the examination of online newspapers and corresponding public comment threads, this article adopts theoretical and methodological premises from Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), drawing upon the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) to provide both a politically motivated as well as reflexive account. Although new participatory structures allow for resistance to emerge, the openness, scalability and anonymity of the internet also allows for the spread of discrimination through the construction of EU migrants (in particular Bulgarians and Romanians) as the ‘Other’.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Kalliandra Quevedo Conrad ◽  
Natália Martins Flores ◽  
Maria Ivete Trevisan Fossá

We analyze the production of meanings on the Brazilian political crisis in Rede Globo’s television program Profissão Repórter. Based on the Critical Discourse Studies and Social Theory of Discourse, Fairclough (2016), we focus on the discursive strategies used by the program in its Political Crisis edition (04/06/2016). The use of categories of vocabulary analysis, interactive control and intertextuality allowed us to locate regionalizations of meanings that form a Workers Party (PT) subject position, a worker subject position and a protester subject position. The Workers Party subject establishes an antagonistic relation with the protester subject and marks itself by conflict, tension and fear meanings. The protester subject is built by respect, education, defense of the motherland and fight against corruption meanings. The worker subject appears in an intermediate region, not linked to the protests. The discourse silences the meanings of "impeachment" and "coup", and, therefore, avoids addressing the complexity of the Brazilian political crisis. Analisamos a produção de sentidos sobre a crise política brasileira no programa Profissão Repórter, da Rede Globo. A partir dos Estudos Críticos do Discurso e da Teoria Social do Discurso, de Fairclough (2016), nos focamos nas estratégias discursivas utilizadas pelo programa na edição Crise Política (6/04/2016). O uso das categorias de análise de vocabulário, controle interacional e intertextualidade permitiu localizarmos regionalizações de sentido nas posições de sujeito petista, sujeito trabalhador e sujeito manifestante. O sujeito petista estabelece uma relação antagônica com o sujeito manifestante e é marcado pelos sentidos de conflito, tensão e medo. O sujeito manifestante é construído pelos sentidos de respeito, educação, defesa da pátria e luta contra a corrupção. O sujeito trabalhador aparece numa região intermediária, não sendo vinculado aos protestos. O discurso silencia os significados de “impeachment” e “golpe”, eximindo-se de abordar a complexidade da crise política brasileira.Analizamos la producción de sentidos sobre la crisis política brasileña en el programa Profissão Repórter, da Rede Globo de Televisión. A partir de los Estudios Críticos del Discurso y de la Teoría Social del Discurso, de Fairclough (2016), nos centramos en las estrategias discursivas utilizadas por el programa en la edición de Crisis Política (06/04/2016). El uso de las categorías de análisis de vocabulario, control interactivo e intertextualidad nos ha permitido localizar regionalizacións de significado en torno de posiciones de sujetos de sujeto PT, sujeto trabajador y sujeto manifestante. El sujeto PT establece una relación antagónica con el sujeto manifestante y está marcado por significados de conflicto, tensión y miedo. El sujeto manifestante se construye a partir de sentidos de respeto, educación, defensa nacional y lucha contra la corrupción. El sujeto trabajador aparece en una región intermedia, al no estar relacionado con las protestas. El discurso silencia los significados de "impeachment" y "golpe", eximiendo se a abordar la complejidad de la crisis política brasileña.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 706-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini

Abstract This article explores legitimacy-building in United States President’s 2013 Address to the Nation on Syria. Based on a slightly modified version of Theo van Leeuwen’s (2008) model of the discursive construction of legitimation and with a view of the war in Syria as the super-macro context of the Address, the investigation illustrates how the speech attempts to legitimate the prospect of a direct American military engagement in Syria on the one hand, and to justify avoiding another war that may prove too costly, on the other. Through the illustration of such double-legitimation discursive practices, the study portrays how critical discourse studies can provide the ground for awareness of a delicate aspect of the discourse of politics and the rhetoric of politicians in shaping public consent and projecting an always-legitimate image of even contradictory political positions, decisions, and actions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 498-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Kreis

In this study, I examine the online discourse of the European refugee crisis on the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Specifically, I analyze 100 tweets that include #refugeesnotwelcome, and explore how this hashtag is used to express negative feelings, beliefs and ideologies toward refugees and (im)migrants in Europe. Guided by critical discourse studies, I focus on Twitter users’ discursive strategies as well as form and function of semiotic resources and multimodality. Twitter users who include this particular hashtag use a rhetoric of inclusion and exclusion to depict refugees as unwanted, criminal outsiders. These tendencies align with current trends in Europe where nationalist-conservative and xenophobic right-wing groups gain power and establish a socially accepted discourse of racism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 786-808
Author(s):  
Rachelle Vessey ◽  
Jaffer Sheyholislami

Abstract In 2013, Richmond city council was presented with a petition calling for the regulation of all language signs, drawing national attention to the amount of Chinese-only signage. The signage debate has become well-known in Canada as a result of the media, which has provided a platform for debate through online reader commentary. By applying concepts from linguistic landscapes, language ideologies and nationalism in addition to analytical tools from SFL, we employ critical discourse studies to examine how representations of and responses to language signage in online news commentary contribute to the construction of in-groups and out-groups in the Canadian context. Findings show that stereotypical representations of ethnicity and culture are represented as a threat to the Canadian status quo. Also, contradictory ideologies of Canadian official bilingualism are employed to justify discrimination against Chinese language speakers. Findings suggest that language ideologies remain deeply tied to understandings of Canadian nationhood and belonging.


Author(s):  
Benjamin De Cleen ◽  
Jana Goyvaerts ◽  
Nico Carpentier ◽  
Jason Glynos ◽  
Yannis Stavrakakis

Abstract This article assesses the current state of play of the poststructuralist and post-Marxist discourse theory associated with Laclau and Mouffe and the ‘Essex school’, and identifies ways forward at the level of theory development, research practice and critique. The article starts by disentangling the different meanings of the notion of ‘discourse’ in ‘discourse theory’, clarifying the specificities of discourse theory as a theoretical and analytical framework and situating discourse theory in, but also beyond, critical discourse studies. It then moves to an assessment of the current state of discourse theory, its main contributions, and the identification of shortcomings and ways forward. This discussion is organized around five topics: methodology and the theory-analysis dialectic; the logics approach; the discursive-material relation; the role of fantasy and other psychoanalytic categories; and populism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-203
Author(s):  
Aram Terzyan

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol III (II) ◽  
pp. 385-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rab Nawaz Khan ◽  
Abdul Waheed Qureshi

The current study is an attempt to critically analyze the role and politics of voice in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns in terms of categorical and stereotypical representation of the Pashtuns. It is a critical discourse study (Norman Fairclough, 1989, 2018) of the selected data. Moreover, the data is viewed from the perspective of critical discourse studies. The novels under study are polyphonic in nature, and the characters belong to various Afghan ethnic backgrounds, like the Pashtuns, the Tajiks and the Hazaras. The study concludes that the novelist's choice of the characters with their respective voices and the roles assigned to them are political, ideological and somewhat biased. The Pashtuns have been stereotypically represented by categorizing them as the social, well-educated and more or less liberal Pashtuns, the tribal and traditionalist Pashtuns, extremist and fundamentalist Pashtuns, like Taliban. Misrepresentation of the tribal and fundamentalist Pashtuns as racists, ethnic nationalists, ideologists, sexists, exclusionists, traditionalists and power-abusers is indicative of the novelist's biasedness and exaggeration.


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