Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
The paper conducts a comparative analysis of EU (91 texts) and US (93 texts) discourses concerning post-peace accord Colombia (late 2016 to mid-2022). Employing a Bourdieu-influenced methodology, our proposal aims to reconcile Post-Development theories with International Relations research. This innovative and multidimensional approach illuminates both discursive continuities within Global North while concurrently providing a framework that allows to identify and interpret internal political divergences. Our findings highlight a shared commitment to a liberal conception of peacebuilding, alongside internal distinction strategies employed to legitimize respective policies towards Colombia.
Category Archives: SAGE Publications Ltd: Discourse & Society
Ideology and the contextualization of ancient Chinese judicial opinions
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
Legal genres are situation-sensitive and one same genre may take different structural and functional patterns according to the historical context within which it is situated. Judicial opinions of ancient China, for example, look like a totally different genre in contrast with the language of modern Chinese judicial documents. It is not uncommon that county magistrates’ (ancient Chinese judges) writing considerably downplays the task of reasoning and argumentation and becomes fully devoted to the provision of emotional narratives regarding defendants’ wrong-doings and to the meta-communication of imperial ideological values to grassroots. This paper looks into why ideology is a key concern of ancient Chinese judicial writing, what concrete ideological values are actually invoked and how they are interactively disseminated. The analytical framework combines the notion of contextualization (Gumperz, 1982), interactive framing (Tannen, 1993), and footing (Goffman, 1981). Through a nuanced interpretation of the relatedness of imperial ideological values and judicial language structures, the authors attempt to reveal how ancient judicial opinions are built as speech activities of performing identities and activities of presenting ideological stances and beliefs.
Legal genres are situation-sensitive and one same genre may take different structural and functional patterns according to the historical context within which it is situated. Judicial opinions of ancient China, for example, look like a totally different genre in contrast with the language of modern Chinese judicial documents. It is not uncommon that county magistrates’ (ancient Chinese judges) writing considerably downplays the task of reasoning and argumentation and becomes fully devoted to the provision of emotional narratives regarding defendants’ wrong-doings and to the meta-communication of imperial ideological values to grassroots. This paper looks into why ideology is a key concern of ancient Chinese judicial writing, what concrete ideological values are actually invoked and how they are interactively disseminated. The analytical framework combines the notion of contextualization (Gumperz, 1982), interactive framing (Tannen, 1993), and footing (Goffman, 1981). Through a nuanced interpretation of the relatedness of imperial ideological values and judicial language structures, the authors attempt to reveal how ancient judicial opinions are built as speech activities of performing identities and activities of presenting ideological stances and beliefs.
In/exclusion in fashion discourse: Are we in or out?
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
This article analyzes the conceptual framing of inclusion and exclusion in fashion discourse, discussing how women are denied or restricted the access to the bounded space of fashion based on a part of their identity, be it their race, religion, disability, gender identification, body weight, or social class. It relies on the data corpus is 1061 Vogue articles, collected between July 2019 and June 2020 and analyzed qualitatively. The current study complements ample research on the container metaphor in political discourse and aims to open a debate on the role of this metaphorical model in a so far largely overlooked discourse of fashion. Drawing on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discursive Psychology, I demonstrate how the container metaphor pinpoints the repertoire of inclusivity, problematizes the dichotomous relationship between the center and periphery of the fashion industry, and normalizes roles of insiders and outsiders in fashion.
This article analyzes the conceptual framing of inclusion and exclusion in fashion discourse, discussing how women are denied or restricted the access to the bounded space of fashion based on a part of their identity, be it their race, religion, disability, gender identification, body weight, or social class. It relies on the data corpus is 1061 Vogue articles, collected between July 2019 and June 2020 and analyzed qualitatively. The current study complements ample research on the container metaphor in political discourse and aims to open a debate on the role of this metaphorical model in a so far largely overlooked discourse of fashion. Drawing on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discursive Psychology, I demonstrate how the container metaphor pinpoints the repertoire of inclusivity, problematizes the dichotomous relationship between the center and periphery of the fashion industry, and normalizes roles of insiders and outsiders in fashion.
What if migrants were only people and relatives? Designations used to name people on the move in the Belgian media
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
This article focuses on denominations that are used to name people on the move in Belgian media discourse, but that are not specifically related to migration. It specifically studies the nominal syntagms formed with the noun people (people on the run, people in need) and words of kinship (mother, brother). A Discursive Semantics analysis implemented through Corpus Linguistics is run on a corpus of Belgian news items issued from March 2015 to July 2017. The corpus gathers 13,391 newspaper articles and 3490 TV news items (representing 7,637,986 words). The mention of words of kinship and designations formed with people shows that there is a willingness to humanise media discourses on migration. However, although their mention encourages a humanitarian vision of people on the move, these usually positively connotated designations also foster a vision of people on the move as victims and does not discourage the mention of controversial denominations.
This article focuses on denominations that are used to name people on the move in Belgian media discourse, but that are not specifically related to migration. It specifically studies the nominal syntagms formed with the noun people (people on the run, people in need) and words of kinship (mother, brother). A Discursive Semantics analysis implemented through Corpus Linguistics is run on a corpus of Belgian news items issued from March 2015 to July 2017. The corpus gathers 13,391 newspaper articles and 3490 TV news items (representing 7,637,986 words). The mention of words of kinship and designations formed with people shows that there is a willingness to humanise media discourses on migration. However, although their mention encourages a humanitarian vision of people on the move, these usually positively connotated designations also foster a vision of people on the move as victims and does not discourage the mention of controversial denominations.
Book Review: Mike Savage, The Return of Inequality. Social Change and the Weight of the Past
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
TikTok as a site of social protest in Iran’s Gen-Z uprising
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
This paper argues that understanding the power of TikTok’s visual discourse is a crucial part of conceptualising the character, inspiration, and ambition of Iran’s Gen-Z-led uprising, both at home and across the diaspora. TikTok is a social media platform that depends on visuality. As such, it creates its own specific forms of messaging. This paper seeks to apply an innovative methodology of ‘Visual Discourse Tracing’ to the Iranian protests. It uses this carefully devised, process-driven method, to highlight the core ways in which TikTok has amplified the message of the Iranian protests, connecting to the grassroots movement and to the longer history of Iranian women’s struggle for freedom. Visuality and social media have been crucial in shaping the character of these contemporary protests, necessitating proper theorisation when understanding the wider Iranian protest movement.
This paper argues that understanding the power of TikTok’s visual discourse is a crucial part of conceptualising the character, inspiration, and ambition of Iran’s Gen-Z-led uprising, both at home and across the diaspora. TikTok is a social media platform that depends on visuality. As such, it creates its own specific forms of messaging. This paper seeks to apply an innovative methodology of ‘Visual Discourse Tracing’ to the Iranian protests. It uses this carefully devised, process-driven method, to highlight the core ways in which TikTok has amplified the message of the Iranian protests, connecting to the grassroots movement and to the longer history of Iranian women’s struggle for freedom. Visuality and social media have been crucial in shaping the character of these contemporary protests, necessitating proper theorisation when understanding the wider Iranian protest movement.
Fortifying the otherness in Montenegrin political discourse
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
Following the 2020 elections, Montenegro has experienced an upsurge in ‘patriotic’ political activism, largely supported by the party that lost control of the parliament after three decades of uncontested rule. The continuity and uniqueness of the Montenegrin dual identity, where the categories of Serb and Montenegrin are not mutually exclusive, have been undermined by nationalist aspirations to portray such duality as a delusion. This study examined strategies for the construction of otherness in nationalist political discourse following the 2020 elections in Montenegro, based on the assumption that a threatened identity seeks to re-establish itself through the search for difference and otherness. The Discourse Historical Approach provides an analytical framework for examining the explicit and implicit construction of social actors used to reinforce the ingroup-outgroup rift and portray the other as different and pathological.
Following the 2020 elections, Montenegro has experienced an upsurge in ‘patriotic’ political activism, largely supported by the party that lost control of the parliament after three decades of uncontested rule. The continuity and uniqueness of the Montenegrin dual identity, where the categories of Serb and Montenegrin are not mutually exclusive, have been undermined by nationalist aspirations to portray such duality as a delusion. This study examined strategies for the construction of otherness in nationalist political discourse following the 2020 elections in Montenegro, based on the assumption that a threatened identity seeks to re-establish itself through the search for difference and otherness. The Discourse Historical Approach provides an analytical framework for examining the explicit and implicit construction of social actors used to reinforce the ingroup-outgroup rift and portray the other as different and pathological.
‘As long as you have the guts’: The discourse of drug offending
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
Despite the harsh punishment and measures taken to crack down on drug-related crimes in China, drug offending presents a growing threat. This paper, based on in-depth interviews with 24 drug offenders who are now under incarceration, explores how drug offending is described and presented. The results reveal that drug offending is not merely simplified as good or evil, but constructed as individuals’ only, attractive, or non-existent option. The implications of the results are briefly discussed in regard to the reduction in drug crimes and policy improvement.
Despite the harsh punishment and measures taken to crack down on drug-related crimes in China, drug offending presents a growing threat. This paper, based on in-depth interviews with 24 drug offenders who are now under incarceration, explores how drug offending is described and presented. The results reveal that drug offending is not merely simplified as good or evil, but constructed as individuals’ only, attractive, or non-existent option. The implications of the results are briefly discussed in regard to the reduction in drug crimes and policy improvement.
Reporting assassinations in the Ethiopian press
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
This paper aims at analyzing the reporting of assassinations in the Ethiopian press from a discourse analytical perspective. The study attempted to answer three questions: 1) How are assassinations represented in the press? 2) What identities are set up for those involved in the assassinations? And, finally, how is meaning communicated in various discursive structures and communicative events? To that end, the study employed Jeffrie’s critical stylistics as an analytical framework within a qualitative design. The data were collected from five Ethiopian newspapers that were selected purposively in line with predetermined criteria. A corpus of 102 media stories that were published from June 2018 to June 2020 was setup. The findings show that each outlet reported the incidents synonymously, emphasizing a scapegoating process that could ideologically reaffirm the dominant political discourse. In doing so, four naming and labeling strategies were identified: lionizing (making the dead a hero), blaming and demonizing, victimizing (making the dead innocent and martyrs), and ethnification (connecting both the victims and offenders to their ethnic belongings). Polarized representations of actions, space, time, and society were evident in the selected stories. The government, together with its different organs and affiliates, was used as the sole and primary source of information. The voices of the government on the incidents were reported as widely accepted facts, as evidenced by the blurred line between direct and indirect speeches. This in turn helped to reaffirm the existing dominant political discourse – the status quo.
This paper aims at analyzing the reporting of assassinations in the Ethiopian press from a discourse analytical perspective. The study attempted to answer three questions: 1) How are assassinations represented in the press? 2) What identities are set up for those involved in the assassinations? And, finally, how is meaning communicated in various discursive structures and communicative events? To that end, the study employed Jeffrie’s critical stylistics as an analytical framework within a qualitative design. The data were collected from five Ethiopian newspapers that were selected purposively in line with predetermined criteria. A corpus of 102 media stories that were published from June 2018 to June 2020 was setup. The findings show that each outlet reported the incidents synonymously, emphasizing a scapegoating process that could ideologically reaffirm the dominant political discourse. In doing so, four naming and labeling strategies were identified: lionizing (making the dead a hero), blaming and demonizing, victimizing (making the dead innocent and martyrs), and ethnification (connecting both the victims and offenders to their ethnic belongings). Polarized representations of actions, space, time, and society were evident in the selected stories. The government, together with its different organs and affiliates, was used as the sole and primary source of information. The voices of the government on the incidents were reported as widely accepted facts, as evidenced by the blurred line between direct and indirect speeches. This in turn helped to reaffirm the existing dominant political discourse – the status quo.
Book review: Rowan R Mackay, Multimodal Legitimation: Understanding and Analysing Political and Cultural Discourse
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.