Posts tagged ‘academia’

27 March 2009

Discourse analyst on MTV

Yes, discourse analysis is fashionable enough for MTV. Simon Lindgren, Associate Professor of Sociology at Umeå University, Sweden, is starring in four short clips on Swedish MTV.

In the first one, I say a few words about reality television as a research subject. The second one is about the fact that one can actually make a career out of analyzing popular culture. The third one will appear before episodes of The Hills, and represents an ultra brief reflection on identity work and beauty culture. The fourth and final one will air before episodes of Life of Ryan, and gives an equally brief analysis of changing ideals of masculinity.

He is also presenting an interesting paper at the upcoming CAQR2009 (2nd International Conference on Computer-Aided Qualitative Research), which combines Laclau and Mouffe’s approach to discourse with bibliometric and network analytical tools — albeit focusing analysis on the print-textual level.

13 March 2009

Birkbeck: On the Idea of Communism

communismThe discoursologists are on tour. To London. Hanging out with Judith Balso, Alain Badiou, Bruno Bosteels, Terry Eagleton, Peter Hallward, Michael Hardt, Jean-Luc Nancy, Toni Negri, Jacques Ranciere, Alessandro Russo, Alberto Toscano, Gianni Vattimo and Slavoj Zizek until Sunday.

12 March 2009

Discourse Analysis: A Way of Seeing

Discourse Analysis: A Way of Seeing. That should be the title of my (next) book. Copyright and patented here. Although I’ve unabashedly lifted it from Harry F. Wolcott’s Ethnography: A Way of Seeing in which he argues that ethnography is not simply a way of “looking” but — the subtitle says it — a way of “seeing”.

A way of looking refers, in this sense, to a set of methodological techniques to look at the field, e.g., participant observation, interviewing, case studies, field work in general, etc. A way of seeing, on the other hand, is this way of looking plus “how data subsequently are organized, analyzed, or reported” (p. 46), i.e., an interpretive position integrating the methods with a purposeful way of looking and describing, integrating theory and — central to Wolcott — an orientation to culture.

Now this all sounds eminently plausible and chimes with the way I have begun to think about discourse analysis. Many people think of it as a set of methods; some think of it as an approach, a perspective, a way of seeing, but then conduct and write up studies in which it turns into a way of looking. And many researchers engage with discourse analysis as a way of seeing. This was, in a way, what Teun van Dijk was trying to achieve by renaming the field “discourse studies” rather than “discourse analysis”, since the term “analysis” does seem to encourage the reduction to method.

*

Review of the second edition of Ethnography: A Way of Seeing (2008) available here, including:

This casual yet informed synthesis, written in an engaging style, is what sets Wolcott’s book apart from the humdrum of texts that discuss methods formally, often in a staccato, bland, and abstracted tone, usually detached from application except to highlight the method by tacking on a case study. By contrast, Wolcott’s excursion is a wonderful raft ride through the flows, eddies, and rapids of anthropological experience that is always theoretically informed.

6 March 2009

DAAD position at University of Essex

For German post-structuralist discourse theorists: the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) is sponsoring a temporary lectureship (min 2 years; max 4 years) in political science at the Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, England. Not that all the Essex political scientists are of discourse theoretical colour (by no means). But still.

Deadline: 20.03.2009. Position starts Sept/Oct 2009. Applicants must have doctorate.

Der Lektor / Die Lektorin wird im Undergraduate- und Postgraduatebereich
eines der renommiertesten politikwissenschaftlichen Departments des
Landes tätig sein.

Lehraufgaben: Lehrveranstaltungen vorwiegend in englischer Sprache,
darunter Vorlesungen, Seminare und Tutorien zu Themenbereichen deutscher
und europäischer Politik, v.a. EU-Politik. Mögliche Schwerpunkte: das
politische System Deutschlands, die Politik der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland, deutsche Außenpolitik und EU-Beziehungen, die Politik der
BRD in vergleichender Perspektive.

27 February 2009

Transcription tools for discourse analysis

Blog of the day: Tom Van Hout on Aloxecorton recommends tools for transcribing audio and video data. Including one which links to the audio/video file. Just what I was looking for.

In discourse analysis, transcribing audio or video data is a necessary evil. In this process of entextualization and recontextualization, recordings become transcripts – the textual simulacra discourse analysts rely on to analyze what and how people ‘do things’ with language.

There are number of commercial transcription tools available but if you’re looking for a basic (Windows only) speech transcription utility, I recommend VoiceWalker (if it’s bells and whistles you want, try Transana). VoiceWalker was designed by University of California linguists John W. Du Bois and Mary Bucholtz and can be downloaded freely.

In addition, a somewhat more ambitious tool is SoundWriter. This (beta) software is designed to link a transcription to the audio source file, “to help the researcher hear and visualize relationships between utterances in conversational interaction”. Download for free here.

25 February 2009

Discourse and ethnography

Leon Barkho’s paper “The Discursive and Social Power of News Discourse: the case of Aljazeera in comparison and parallel with the BBC and CNN” in the latest issue of Studies in Language and Capitalism (3/4) (p.111) combines textual (CDA) analysis with ethnographic analysis (e.g.,  observation, stories, field visits, interviews, media reports and style guidelines).

25 February 2009

NDSU and discourse theory

Fascinating glimpse into non-transparent discourse on “Composition Theory: Me, Thou, Us and Nobody”. It seems to be the course blog for a composition class at North Dakota State University. And of course, since the participants are reacting to readings and discussions they are having, it is a perfect example of a “long conversation” (Janet Maybin) from which I am excluded.

They are currently encountering discourse theory, and I am fascinated by their posts, which in addition to (i) their intrinsic interest, (ii) the successful detective feeling I get when I manage to work out what issue is at hand, and (iii) the feeling of illicitness my reading evokes, illustrate once more that “discourse theory” can have 100 meanings for 100 different people.

The class is not, as far as I can tell, engaging in Laclau and Mouffe’s poststructuralist discourse theory, nor in Habermas. Perhaps CDA, though? And I’d bet on James Paul Gee.

23 February 2009

Guantanamo Bay and Discourse Analysis

The Duck of Minerva writes on experiences at the recent ISA conference, highlighting exceptional multimodal discourse analyses of the images of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. The Duck ponders what I agree is now a pressing question: given current technologies, should academia not find a way of recognizing non-print research output (e.g., documentary films, online visual work)?

I attended several panels on discourse analysis. One panel focused on the study of images as discourse and featured two innovative graduate student papers investigating the discourse of photographs of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. The two papers revealed just how powerful these images have been world-wide, impacting the understanding of the US occupation of Iraq and War on Terrorism. Gitmo, in part, has become such a powerful international symbol because of the images the world has seen of prisoners there. As a field, we have historically focused on discourse as text, privileging the primary discourses of speeches and archival records. As a discipline, we ask researchers to publish papers and present without access to LCD displays. The presenter of the Gitmo paper managed to put up some color overheads, which made her presentation significantly more effective. And my question to them was–why are you writing a paper about pictures?

It would seem to me that there is room in the field for us to innovate beyond the 10,000 word journal article and engage the Web and digital media. James DerDerian, who was discussant on one of these panels, is doing some remarkable work with documentary film. The two papers on images would be so much more powerful as multi-media enterprises but the field has no way to recognize that. And, ISA has no way to present that to a panel.

21 February 2009

Critique: An interdisciplinary day conference

An interdisciplinary day conference critiquing the notion of Critique is being held on 26th June 2009 at the Dept of Social Sciences, Loughborough University. Key speakers are Michael Billig, Paul Chilton, Lilie Chouliaraki and Andrew Sayer.

Critique and being critical are key notions across the social sciences and humanities, but they are rarely subject to discussion and examination. What do we mean by ‘critique’? What does it mean to be ‘critical’? Despite being central to the whole approach to language and semiosis advanced by CDA scholars, until recently, this key concept has received surprisingly little (critical) attention and explication. This comparative silence has prompted a variety of scholars – both sympathetic and antagonistic to CDA as an analytic approach – to fill this gap with a variety of interpretive possibilities.

These and other issues will be addressed at the Critique day conference – the latest in a biannual series of events organised by an informal international grouping of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) scholars.

CDA is a heterogeneous and multidisciplinary approach to the examination of the role of language and semiosis in social life, and the speakers have been chosen with this heterogeneity in mind. The day conference will host four speakers from cognate academic disciplines: sociology, social psychology, linguistics and media studies. Each speaker will summarise their approach to critical analysis and provide an account of the enduring importance of ‘being critical’ in social research. The advantage of limiting the day to four keynote speakers in this way means that we maximise time for questions, discussion (and critique!), and identify useful parallels and potential areas of cross-fertilisation from the complementary disciplinary approaches.

Our confirmed speakers:

  • Professor Michael Billig, Professor of Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University: ‘The language of critique’
  • Professor Paul Chilton, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University: ‘Critical perspectives’
  • Professor Lilie Chouliaraki, Professor of Media and Communications, Department of Media, London School of Economics: ‘Critique as Phronesis: Ethics and the Critical Analysis of Discourse’
  • Professor Andrew Sayer, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University: ‘What is critical about critical social science?’

Registration costs:critique-online_003
£20.00 Academic and academic related staff
£10.00 Students and researchers

Places are limited, so early registration is recommended.

Please email john_e_richardson@hotmail.com for a registration form.

…pic from inkygirl

16 February 2009

Alternative media and protest

An article in the most recent Communication Quarterly is exactly the sort of linear media effects studies I mentioned yesterday. But this study analyses the positive, democratic, activist effects of alternative media rather than the traditional focus on the effects of violence on mainstream television. The results seem to be cause for optimism.

Abstract

Much research has explored the role media use plays in political participation. A limitation of this work is that alternative forms of media (e.g., protest Web sites) and participation (e.g., protests) have largely been ignored. Research shows that news media treat protest activity critically, suggesting mainstream media use might discourage alternative participation. This study employs a Random Digit Dialing survey (N = 476) of a large Midwestern community to examine the role mainstream and alternative media play in influencing both traditional political participation and protest forms of participation. The findings suggest that alternative media are positively related to alternative participation and underscore the emerging importance of Web-based media.

Michael P. Boyle and Mike Schmierbach (2009) ‘Media Use and Protest: The Role of Mainstream and Alternative Media Use in Predicting Traditional and Protest Participation’. Communication Quarterly 57 (1): 1 – 17.

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