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

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.

2020 ◽  
pp. 095792652097721
Author(s):  
Janaina Negreiros Persson

In this article, we explore how the discourses around gender are evolving at the core of Brazilian politics. Our focus lies on the discourses at the public hearing on the bill 3.492/19, which aimed at including “gender ideology” on the list of heinous crimes. We aim to identify the deputies’ linguistic representation of social actors as pertaining to in- and outgroups. In addition, the article analyzes through Critical Discourse Analysis how the terminology gender is represented in this particular hearing. The analysis shows how some of the conservative parliamentarians give a clearly negative meaning to the term gender, by labeling it “gender ideology” and additionally connecting it with heinous crimes. We propose that the re-signification of “gender ideology,” from rhetorical invention to heinous crime, is not only an attempt to undermine scientific gender studies but also a way for conservative deputies to gain more political power.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 320
Author(s):  
Waheed M. A. Altohami ◽  
Amir H. Y. Salama

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.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Sibtain Chohan ◽  
Muhammad Nadeem Anwar

The aim of the study is to analyze Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s speech at United Nations’ Security Council on September 22, 1965. The study attempts to uncover the meanings of the words employed to show the core tension of 1965 war between Pakistan and India. There have been different models of CDA presented by scholars like Fairclough, Wodak and Van Dijk, but the most suitable CDA framework for this study case is of Van Dijk. His (1997) framework for critical discourse analysis provides the clear picture of the ideologies expressed in various kinds of structures. Qualitative methodology has been employed for this study and the content of the speech was analyzed qualitatively. The findings of the study elaborate that Bhutto was determined to have a permanent peace in the region. It can also be observed that he was quite confident in buying peace for Pakistani and the neighboring countries. He reinforced the subject matter with multiple instances of the countries that faced the same war-like circumstances and rose again with new zeal and zest. The study has its theoretical as well as practical scope.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Ying Tan

This study made explicit the discourses of 10 teachers working as university-based teacher educators in Singapore to understand their enacted identities. It framed identity as discursive, constructed through language and talk. Interview data were analyzed using descriptive discourse analysis tools, with critical discourse analysis influencing the process. The discourses are as follows: (a) The value of seconded teachers is located firmly within schools, with practice and practitioner elevated above theory and academics; (b) teaching is the core role of seconded teachers, and discourses about learning, development, and research are weak; and (c) an individualistic framing situates the locus of change on teacher-practitioners. Hybrid spaces that bring theory and practice together are discursive spaces. Both the strengths and limitations of existing discursive identities need to be acknowledged, and multifaceted and complex practitioner identities explored. This article contributes to the integration of practitioners into the wider community of teacher educators in the university.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea M Bertotti ◽  
Skye A Miner

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Nartey

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.


First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Recuero ◽  
Felipe Soares ◽  
Otávio Vinhas

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-104
Author(s):  
Munaza Hasan Nasir

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.  


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Bell

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.


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