scholarly journals Exclusion and Articulation: Transgender Counter-Public in the Indian Public Sphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Parul Priya ◽  
Anurag Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Exclusionary Practices ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Newspaper Articles

The study attempts to locate transgender counter-public as an alternate public sphere in India. It argues that transgender counter-public is necessitated owing to the exclusionary practices of the Indian public sphere as well as the successive counter-public spheres. The study, further claims that transgender counter-public is constructed by critiquing the marginalisation of transgender people through exclusionary practices, and articulation of concerns linked to transgender people. Public discourse analysis of both discursive arenas—print: newspaper articles, journal articles, autobiographies, biographies, memoir, and others, and non-discursive arenas—activism, pride parade, protests and alike have been adopted as methodology. The study concludes that transgender counter-public achieves the dissemination of their concerns to the wider public that exclusion and discrimination of transgender people are a denial of social justice in the democratic social structure.

The online anti-public sphere

2020 ◽  
pp. 136754942090279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Davis
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
Democratic Discourse ◽  
Rational Consideration ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
Discursive Field

In this article, I outline the online ‘anti-public sphere’ as an object for analysis, defined as that space of online socio-political interaction where discourse routinely and radically flouts the ethical and rational norms of democratic discourse. This is a formerly offline space made newly visible by digital networked media. It includes discursive spaces and forms such as White supremacist websites, anti-climate science forums, militant ‘men’s rights’ sites, anti-immigration Facebook pages, gay hate memes, misogynist trolling, anti-Semitic websites, alt-right websites and ‘truth’ (conspiracy) websites, to name a few, where discussion flouts norms of public debate, rules of argument and requirements for the rational consideration of evidence for its own ends. Building on earlier work on anti-publics by McKenzie Wark and Bart Cammaerts, and working from examples from several different domains of online anti-public discourse, I argue that despite its size and complexity, it is possible and necessary to theorise this heterogeneous discursive field, not least because while such discourse is often dismissed, the meanings developed in such domains increasingly intermingle with and inform everyday democratic discourse. While we tend to think of extreme and irrational online discourse as aberrant and alien to everyday democratic discourse, analysis suggests that such discourse in fact is a precise reflection of an everyday ‘post-normative’ democratic discourse that has itself become deeply inflected with reactionary and populist themes.

The Transnationalization of Public Spheres and Global Policy

2019 ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Ingrid Volkmer
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Global Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Container Model

The globalized spheres of digital communication require a substantial revision of conventional conceptions of ‘the public sphere’. This article lays out the core strands of such a new debate by identifying the limitations of traditional public sphere approaches which are caused by the boundedness of the foci on the national ‘container’ model associated with the European nation state. Instead of limiting publicness to national boundaries, new approaches are required to understand the new discursive spheres of connectivity of citizens across all society types, today enabled by digital communication. Such an approach is necessary to map out the new dimension of public discourse. The article concludes with the suggestion of a model of publicness understood as ‘reflective interdependence’ connecting citizens across societies.

scholarly journals Addressing the Question of Homophobia in Jordanian Public Discourse

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad El-Sharif
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Sexually Transmitted Diseases ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
The Public ◽  
Standard Arabic

This article investigates the question of homosexuality, homosexuals, and homophobia in the Jordanian public debate in the aftermath of an LGBTQIA meeting that was held secretly in Amman in May 2015. The main purpose of the article is to demonstrate the constituents and arguments which reproduce the public discourse on anti-homosexuality and anti-homosexuals and homophobia in Jordan. This purpose is reached by analysing 35 journal articles written in Standard Arabic in Jordanian public and open-access media. The analysis involves the qualitative analysis of the argument, processes, and themes used to represent homosexuality and homosexuals by the discourse producers. The analysis reveals that the question of homosexuality and homosexuals in Jordan can be addressed in terms of seven angles: the public anti-homosexuality and anti-homosexuals’ calls, the (Islamic) religious argument, protecting and reinforcing law and order, the argument of (homo)sexually-transmitted diseases, the calls of pro-homosexuality and pro-homosexuals and LGBTQIA’s rights activists, the homosexuals’ own self-representation, and the neutral scientific account and representation.Keywords: Jordan, homosexuality, homosexuals, homophobia, LGBTQIA, discourse analysis

13 Communicative Power and the Public Sphere

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Kreide
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Communicative Power ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractA deliberative model of politics has recently been criticized for not being very well equipped to conceptualize public spheres in world society.A first critique is that this model assumes a conception of public spheres that is too idealistic, because it presupposes counterfactual conditions of communication in public discourse that do not meet empirical real word conditions. Secondly, it assumes an antiquated notion of a shared “we” of political actors. Because of this it does not take into consideration the “digital turn” and the ego-centering and depersonalizing effects of social media like Facebook, twitter, and blogs, which have led to a rapid decline of the public sphere. And a third critique states that the deliberative model ignores the fact that politics, and especially protests and revolutions, are not seminar-like debates but spontaneous, chaotic and sometimes violent expressions. So it is not just unreceptive for the “digital space” but also for gathering and protesting in real public places surrounded by military troops.I will argue that all of these critiques fall short. A deliberative model of politics allows us to address the tension between the ideal and the real, the “old media” and the so-called digitalization of public spheres as well as peaceful discourse and violent uprisings. Especially the concept of communicative power, a notion also used by Hannah Arendt, reveals the potential for future participation in digital spaces and public places.

Transgender identity labels in the British press

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Zottola
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Transgender Identity ◽  
Linguistic Representation ◽  
Collective Representation ◽  
Queer Linguistics ◽  
British Press ◽  
Newspaper Articles ◽  
Identity Labels

Abstract This contribution focuses on the linguistic representation of transgender people in the British press, through the analysis of a corpus of newspaper articles collected between 2013 and 2015. Within the framework of Queer Linguistics and Corpus-based Discourse Analysis, this study analyses the linguistic choices retraceable in the corpus under investigation, conveying a given representation of transgender individuals as social subjects. The analysis focuses on naming strategies and the collective representation of transgender identities.

Datafication: threat or opportunity for communication in the public sphere?

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derina Holtzhausen
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communication Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the threats and potential of Big Data for strategic communication. It explains the concepts of datafication and Big Data and establishes the social and cultural context of Big Data from the way those constructing algorithms superimpose their value systems and cultural references onto the data. It links Big Data and strategic communication through the segmentation devices and strategies both use and propose discourse analysis as a valid method for the critique of Big Data. The importance of strategic communication for the public sphere suggests that Big Data can pose a serious threat to public discourse. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual and theoretical paper that first explains and interprets various new terms and concepts and then uses established theoretical approaches to analyze these phenomena. Findings – The use of Big Data for the micro-segmentation of audiences establishes its relationship with strategic communication. Big Data analyses and algorithms are not neutral. Treating algorithms as language and communication allow them to be subjected to discourse analysis to expose underlying power relations for resistance strategies to emerge. Strategic communicators should guard the public sphere and take an activist stance against the potential harm of Big Data. That requires a seat at the institutional technology table and speaking out against discriminatory practices. However, Big Data can also greatly benefit society and improve discourse in the public sphere. Research limitations/implications – There is not yet empirical data available on the impact of datafication on communication practice, which might be a problem well into the future. It also might be hard to do empirical research on its impact on practice and the public sphere. The heuristic value of this piece is that it laid down the theoretical foundations of the phenomena to be studied, which can in future be used for ethnographic research or qualitative studies. It might eventually be possible to follow personalized messages generated through datafication to study if they actually lead to behavior change in specific audience members. Practical/implications – As guardians of the public sphere strategic communication practitioners have to educate themselves on the realities of Big Data and should consciously acquire a seat at the institutional technology table. Practitioners will need to be involved in decisions on how algorithms are formulated and who they target. This will require them to serve as activists to ensure social justice. They also will need to contribute to organizational transparency by making organizational information widely available and accessible through media bought, owned, and earned. Strategic communicators need to create a binary partnership with journalists of all kinds to secure the public sphere. Social/implications – The paper exposes the role of algorithms in the construction of data and the extent to which algorithms are products of people who impose their own values and belief systems on them. Algorithms and the data they generate are subjective and value-laden. The concept of algorithms as language and communication and the use of Big Data for the segmentation of society for purposes of communication establish the connection between Big Data and strategic communication. The paper also exposes the potential for harm in the use of Big Data, as well as its potential for improving society and bringing about social justice. Originality/value – The value of this paper is that it introduces the concept of datafication to communication studies and proposes theoretical foundations for the study of Big Data in the context of strategic communications. It provides a theoretical and social foundation for the inclusion of the public sphere in a definition of strategic communication and emphasizes strategic communicators’ commitment to the public sphere as more important than ever before. It highlights how communication practice and society can impact each other positively and negatively and that Big Data should not be the future of strategic communication but only a part of it.

scholarly journals Patterns of discourse semantics

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melani Schröter ◽  
Petra Storjohann
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
Generic Matrix ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Newspaper Articles

Corpus-assisted analyses of public discourse often focus on the lexical level. This article argues in favour of corpus-assisted analyses of discourse, but also in favour of conceptualising salient lexical items in public discourse in a more determined way. It draws partly on non-Anglophone academic traditions in order to promote a conceptualisation of discourse keywords, thereby highlighting how their meaning is determined by their use in discourse contexts. It also argues in favour of emphasising the cognitive and epistemic dimensions of discourse-determined semantic structures. These points will be exemplified by means of a corpus-assisted, as well as a frame-based analysis of the discourse keyword financial crisis in British newspaper articles from 2009. Collocations of financial crisis are assigned to a generic matrix frame for ‘event’ which contains slots that specify possible statements about events. By looking at which slots are more, respectively less filled with collocates of financial crisis, we will trace semantic presence as well as absence, and thereby highlight the pragmatic dimensions of lexical semantics in public discourse. The article also advocates the suitability of discourse keyword analyses for systematic contrastive analyses of public/political discourse and for lexicographical projects that could serve to extend the insights drawn from corpus-guided approaches to discourse analysis.

On Waxen Wings: Challenges to the Public Sphere in the Network Age

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Francoeur
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Multiple Viewpoints ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Economic Production ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Communicative Space

There is a tendency, particularly among Western pundits and technologists, to examine the Internet in almost universally positive terms; this is most evident in any discussion of the medium’s capacity for democratization. While the Internet has produced many great things for society in terms of cultural and economic production, some consideration must be given to the implications that such a revolutionary medium holds for the public sphere. By creating a communicative space that essentially grants everyone his or her own microphone, the Internet is fragmenting public discourse due to the proliferation of opinions and messages and the removal of traditional gatekeepers of information. More significantly, because of the structural qualities of the Internet, users no longer have to expose themselves to opinions and viewpoints that fall outside their own preconceived notions. This limits the robustness of the public sphere by limiting the healthy debate that can only occur when exposed to multiple viewpoints. Ultimately, the Internet is not going anywhere, so it is important to equip the public with the tools and knowledge to be able to navigate the digital space. 

scholarly journals Conocimiento cultural como base para la construcción de identidad nacional. Un análisis del discurso de la prensa sobre el default de 2014 en Argentina

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-103
Author(s):  
Simone Mwangi
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Identidad Nacional ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
Crisis Events

AbstractEconomic and political crisis situations are interpreted differently in different societies and cultures. What is perceived as a major threat in one society can be experienced as an everyday occurrence in other societies. This shows that crises are not issues that exist independently of people, but that they are to a large extent the result of social interpretations. An example of how a community interprets events as a surmountable challenge, rather than a crisis, is Argentina’s public discourse on the 2014 default. Instead of a discourse that concentrates on economic, political and social problems, the event provoked a political discourse on national identity. The present paper uses the methods of descriptive discourse analysis to study this solution-driven way of handling crisis events. The investigation focuses on the cultural knowledge and discourse traditions used in Argentina to interpret the country’s situation in the summer of 2014. The study analyzes how these cultural and linguistic resources contribute to coping with the situation of default while strengthening national identity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document