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.
Reading ‘between the lines’: How implicit language helps liberal media survive in authoritarian regimes. The Kommersant Telegram posts case study
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
This case study demonstrates identification, explicitation, and validation of the implicatures found in the Kommersant (Russia) Telegram channel posts. It explores the primary reasons for Kommersant’s implicature use and the language means employed for the creation of the implicature. The contributors to the Kommersant Telegram channel use irony/sarcasm, creative neologisms, wordplay, metaphors, and legally imposed euphemisms for the expression of the implicit meaning. The use of implicatures is mainly motivated by the authors’ desire for self-protection and cooperation. Kommersant’s implicit language also contributes towards the creation of a circle of loyal readers who may enjoy explicitating the implicatures so as to feel they belong to a specific socio-political group. The multi-stage perceptual analysis substantiates the assumption that readers with prior knowledge of Kommersant’s style are more sensitive to its implicatures. The report also concludes that at times of rigid war-time media regulation in Russia, Kommersant’s reporters use a code of implicit expressions as a means to preserve a certain objectivity in their reporting and to maintain their loyal readership.
This case study demonstrates identification, explicitation, and validation of the implicatures found in the Kommersant (Russia) Telegram channel posts. It explores the primary reasons for Kommersant’s implicature use and the language means employed for the creation of the implicature. The contributors to the Kommersant Telegram channel use irony/sarcasm, creative neologisms, wordplay, metaphors, and legally imposed euphemisms for the expression of the implicit meaning. The use of implicatures is mainly motivated by the authors’ desire for self-protection and cooperation. Kommersant’s implicit language also contributes towards the creation of a circle of loyal readers who may enjoy explicitating the implicatures so as to feel they belong to a specific socio-political group. The multi-stage perceptual analysis substantiates the assumption that readers with prior knowledge of Kommersant’s style are more sensitive to its implicatures. The report also concludes that at times of rigid war-time media regulation in Russia, Kommersant’s reporters use a code of implicit expressions as a means to preserve a certain objectivity in their reporting and to maintain their loyal readership.
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.
Wikipedia and AI: Access, representation, and advocacy in the age of large language models
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
Wikipedia, despite its volunteer-driven nature, stands as a trustworthy repository of information, thanks to its transparent and verifiable processes. However, Large Language Models (LLMs) often use Wikipedia as a source without acknowledging it, creating a disconnect between users and Wikipedia’s rich framework. This poses a triple threat to information literacy, Wikipedia’s vitality, and the potential for dynamic, updated information. This article explores the interplay between representation, accessibility, and LLMs on Wikipedia, highlighting the importance of preserving Wikipedia as a space for access, representation, and ultimately advocacy in an increasingly LLM-dominated information landscape. This article contends that, despite being over two decades old, Wikipedia remains vital not only for knowledge accumulation but also as a sanctuary for the future of knowledge representation, championing representation and accessibility in the age of closed-system LLMs.
Wikipedia, despite its volunteer-driven nature, stands as a trustworthy repository of information, thanks to its transparent and verifiable processes. However, Large Language Models (LLMs) often use Wikipedia as a source without acknowledging it, creating a disconnect between users and Wikipedia’s rich framework. This poses a triple threat to information literacy, Wikipedia’s vitality, and the potential for dynamic, updated information. This article explores the interplay between representation, accessibility, and LLMs on Wikipedia, highlighting the importance of preserving Wikipedia as a space for access, representation, and ultimately advocacy in an increasingly LLM-dominated information landscape. This article contends that, despite being over two decades old, Wikipedia remains vital not only for knowledge accumulation but also as a sanctuary for the future of knowledge representation, championing representation and accessibility in the age of closed-system LLMs.
Book Review: The perception machine: Our photographic future between the eye and AI
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
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.
Credibility in corporate testimonial videos: Addressed from a combined interactional and multimodal semiotic perspective
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
The article reports a study of corporate testimonial videos from a Danish tech SME. The aim of the study is to show how combining Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis (EMCA) and Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) may provide new insight into the persuasive appeal of corporate testimonial videos. The study uses EMCA to demonstrate how participants interactionally construct a position of credibility and authenticity from which to deliver the recommendation. It uses MCDA to show how the interaction is integrated into a larger set of multimodally constructed meanings with a specific strategic communicative purpose, specifically how visual and editorial choices contribute to the credibility of the videos by creating a sense that viewers are watching a spontaneous (online) conversation rather than a staged corporate video. The article concludes that the videos construct credibility by providing access to a curated backstage region which viewers are invited to understand as ‘authentic’ and ‘unedited’.
The article reports a study of corporate testimonial videos from a Danish tech SME. The aim of the study is to show how combining Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis (EMCA) and Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) may provide new insight into the persuasive appeal of corporate testimonial videos. The study uses EMCA to demonstrate how participants interactionally construct a position of credibility and authenticity from which to deliver the recommendation. It uses MCDA to show how the interaction is integrated into a larger set of multimodally constructed meanings with a specific strategic communicative purpose, specifically how visual and editorial choices contribute to the credibility of the videos by creating a sense that viewers are watching a spontaneous (online) conversation rather than a staged corporate video. The article concludes that the videos construct credibility by providing access to a curated backstage region which viewers are invited to understand as ‘authentic’ and ‘unedited’.
Book review: Rowan R Mackay, Multimodal Legitimation: Understanding and Analysing Political and Cultural Discourse
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.