Discourse Analysis

Examples: Film: What does it mean to be white?Article:Discourse analysis: Baby Haven

Discourses – (Crowe)

Patterns of ways of representing such phenomenon in language.

Words and actions are understood by the context in which they occur. The context determines what the word means and what practice it is expected to invoke. (p.56)

“Discourse analysis involves reading texts and practices for their significance and meaning within their sociopolitical and cultural context” (p57)

Discourse analysis

Analysis means a close engagement with one's text or transcripts, and the illumination of their meaning and significance through insightful and technically sophisticated work. In a word, Discourse Analysis means Doing (Show the underlying meaning – analyze what is “said”.)

Analysis. It allows us to become aware of how the language we use and the objects that surround us determines our actions

We continually build and rebuild our worlds through language and symbol interpretation -- process

Language is not only a tool for description and a medium of communication but as a social practice, or a way of doing things. (eg. conventional view of birth). Individuals learn to use language according to the norms within that culture. E.g. individuals status – white female, other powerful words such as slut also have a sociopolitical context..

Object of analysis is the text Texts are regarded as cultural

representations Represent cultural values

Traditional research

Positivist fail to acknowledge the social and cultural context of the research question

Traditional research methods attempt to isolate the data from the context in which they are collected

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) A Tale of Power--Our Words are Never

Neutral The words of those in power are taken as

"self-evident truths" and the words of those not in power are dismissed as irrelevant, inappropriate, or without substance

CDA helps make clear the connections between the use of language and the exercise of power

It tries to illuminate ways in which the dominant forces in a society construct versions of reality that favor their interests. By unmasking such practices, CDA scholars aim to support the victims of such oppression and encourage them to resist and transform their lives

Oppression, repression, and marginalization go unchallenged if the text is not critically analyzed to reveal power relations and dominance. CDA focuses on how social relations, identity, knowledge, and power are constructed through written and spoken texts in communities, schools, the media, and the political arena

How to conduct CDA

First reading: submit to the power of the text, regardless on one’s own position, thereby accepting the reading and offering unquestioning support of the status quo

Second reading: coming at the text a second time with a critical eye. This involves revisiting the text at different levels, raising questions about it, imagining how it could have been constructed differently, mentally comparing it to related texts. What sort of perspective is being presented—what angle, slant, or point of view.

This is called framing the details into a coherent whole and can be accomplished by several techniques

Framing – process for analysis

1. Examine word choice, photos, material etc, for meaning

2. Think about what headings were used (e.g, newspaper) or keywords

3. What was not mentioned (portrayed, discussed)

4. Question: were certain ideas taken-for-granted? - “What could have been said that wasn’t, and why not”

Starting with the full text, working down to the individual word level, one can peel back the layers to reveal the “truth behind the regime”—the profoundly insidious, invisible power of the written word, spoken word, images etc.

As we examine what our language reflects about our community’s practice and beliefs, we inevitably discover how and why these practices and beliefs are (re)produced, resisted, changed, and transformed

Baby Haven (example of examining material discourse)

Alternative discourse

(birthing is a natural process)

Midwife Private Low-tech Quiet Option of water birth

Dominant Discourse (medical model – birthing is a medical problem)

Noisy environment Doctors and nurses

coming in and out Lots of machinery

What does it mean to be white?

42-year old White businessman

A: Frankly, I don’t know what you’re talking about!

Q: Aren’t you White?

A: Yes, but I come from Italian heritage. I’m Italian, not White.

Q: Well then, what does it mean to be Italian?

A: Pasta, good food, love of wine (obviously agitated). This is getting ridiculous!

(see analysis next slide)

Questioning the reactions of white people – a discourse analysis White people:

(1) often find the question perplexing,

(2) would rather not think about their whiteness,

(3) are uncomfortable or react negatively to being labeled “White”,

(4) deny its importance in affecting their lives, and

(5) seem to believe that they are unjustifiably accused of being bigoted by virtue of being White.

The pretense by White Americans that they do not see color is motivated by the need to appear free of bias and prejudice, fears that what they say or do may appear racist or as an attempt to cover up hidden biases.

To be color blind not only denies the central importance of racial differences in the psychological experience of minorities (racism and discrimination), but also allows the White person to deny how his or her whiteness intrudes upon the person of color.

What does it mean to be white?

39-year-old Black Male Salesman (after he explains to his manager that his sales are related to his race – people are more likely to approach white sales person)

When I mention this to our manager, who is White, he tells me I’m oversensitive and being paranoid. That’s what being White means. It means having the authority or power to tell me what’s really happening even though I know it’s not. Being White means you can fool yourself into thinking that you’re not prejudiced, when you are. That’s what it means to be White.

Question the meaning/ Discourse analysis – underlying meaningsFor people perceived as “white,” whiteness means

To be socialized into a world of White supremacy.

To inherit and benefit from a world of White privilege.

To knowingly or unknowingly have a stake in the perpetuation of White racism.

To deny the reality of people of color and to define their experience from a White perspective.

To be oblivious to your own biases and prejudices.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of texts, which views "language as a form of social practice" (Fairclough 1989: 20) and attempts "to unpack the ideological underpinnings of discourse that have become so naturalized over time that we begin to treat them as common, acceptable and natural features of discourse"