Discourse Analysis Workshop - Language, Hidden Meanings and Power
Karen Potter and John Sturzaker,
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool
Thursday 17 May 2012
10am - 4pm
Room S1.7, Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester
A workshop exploring the opportunities offered by ‘critical discourse analysis’
to shed light and add further insight to policy analyses
We all know how powerful language can be – think about Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” or Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” as examples of the words people use that have an impact on public consciousness. However, it is not only this type of front-page grabbing rhetoric which has an effect on how people think and act – all of us are continually exposed to language used in ways which are designed, overtly or covertly, to shape our day to day lives and how we think. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a method developed by linguists for analysing this language, or ‘discourse’, and trying to unpick the assumptions and hidden meanings behind it.
This full day workshop is led by an experienced social scientist (John Sturzaker) and an environmental to social scientist convert (Karen Potter), who are emphatically not experts in linguistics, but rather have used CDA to explore the development and implementation of public policy in a range of fields, from rural housing to flood risk management. The workshop will discuss how CDA can be used to unmask ideologies and uncover the exercise of power by different groups in society; perpetuate or change directions in policy which can privilege certain interests; and provide in-depth understanding of the motivations of policy-makers. ‘Critical’ discourse analysis is problem orientated; the workshop will offer attendees the opportunity to practice the method for themselves. (Participants are asked to bring along a policy document from their own field of research and/or an extract from an interview transcript for this purpose.)
Programme
Discourse Analysis Workshop Slides
| 10.00 - 11.00 | An Introduction to Discourse Analysis and Critical Policy Analysis Practical exercise 1 |
| 11.00 - 11.20 | Coffee/Tea |
| 11.20 - 12.20 | The Practice of Discourse Analysis; including Historical Discourse Analysis Practical exercise 2 |
| 12.20 - 13.20 | Lunch |
| 13.20 - 14.20 | The Use of Different Theoretical Approaches to Complement, Situate and Direct Discourse Analysis |
| 14.20 - 14.40 | Coffee/Tea |
| 14.40 - 15.40 | Practical Exercises Using Participants’ Own Texts |
| 15.40 - 16.00 | Round Up and Summary |