Transcript Language Planning - University of Essex

Political Discourse Analysis
Language, Media, and Politics (with a special focus on the
representation of Islam, in recognition of the University of
Essex’s Islamic Awareness Week, 18 – 22 February 2008)
Sociolinguistics LG232
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The last 5 weeks (Part 1) we have looked at:
Macro-level: the ways language is politicised by different
groups (language movements, governments) to achieve
certain aims.
Such as: national unity, regional identity, as a basis to
claim rights/resources for minority groups.
The ways in which multilingualism is managed in
societies.
And that for power to exist, there must be resistance
What we haven’t looked at: resistance at the individual
level in terms of use of language (weeks 23 – 25)
Or … actual ‘language use’
Critical Discourse Analysis
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Draws heavily on the work of Foucault.
Discourse: statements about things, which come to be considered
‘true’
And which produce ideological positions
Discourses on medicine, psychiatry – even language
Also draws on theorists such as Bourdieu
Discourse can also be: conversations, written material (such as
newspapers, or political speeches)
But even these discourses produce concepts and ‘truths’ and limit
what can and cannot be said about a subject in a particular context
Critical Discourse Analysis looks at ‘real’ natural language
(as opposed to, e.g. syntacticians, who look at made-up examples)
Critical Discourse Analysis
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Sees words, utterances not in isolation
But in relation to other utterances, etc.
All discourse seen as TEXTS to be read
In webs or networks of relations of power
Context specific
And the same language or concept can be used and
interpreted in very different ways
Particularly concerned with language used in political
speeches and the media
So not just context specific, but audience-specific
Though it has implications for individual language use:
what words or phrases might we NOT use now that were
acceptable 30 years ago?
E.g. terms considered racially derogatory, homophobic
Critical Discourse Analysis
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Sees language and discourse as social practice
And as productive of knowledge which maintains
power
Not just a top-down operation of power
Power/Knowledge
CDA enables resistance by understanding power
relations and their manifestation in discourse
Case Study 1: Sharia Law in Britain
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Sharia law: Islamic / Muslim law which basically (depending on your
interpretation) is a moral and criminal code
Requires giving alms (aid) to the poor as a moral duty; that money loaned
should not be subject to interest; that your savings at the end of the year
(not income) should be taxed by 10% for the good of the community
Northern Rock? Sub-prime credit crisis?
Certain brands of Sharia provide for punishment for e.g. adultery
The most potent symbol of Sharia in British society is states like Sudan,
Saudi Arabia (often ‘Western’-backed, with the exception perhaps of Iran)
which cut off the hands of thieves, stone adulterers to death.
Though most scholars would agree that this is not the true intention of
Sharia law, and is simply an authoritarian political system or state misusing
the tenets of Sharia for social control
And … the Arabic proverb ‘ta’bash fi el’beit el’aumi, shauf’ (the weak
sighted man in the house of the blind is he who sees best) – emblematic of
Foucault’s riposte to the criticism that ‘no-one is outside discourse’ allowing
for power/resistance within the confines of structure/agency
‘Makes the people accountable to Allah through the Government, rather
than the Government accountable to the people.’ (Price, field notes 2000)
Claim it is based on the Koran … but don’t forget the Christian Old
Testament is full of smiting and stoning – ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.’
And: Tower of Babel … punishment for monolingualism
What the Archbishop Said
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From the text of Archbishop Williams’ lecture:
‘Among the manifold anxieties that haunt the discussion of the place of Muslims in British society,
one of the strongest, reinforced from time to time by the sensational reporting of opinion polls, is
that Muslim communities in this country seek the freedom to live under sharia law. And what
most people think they know of sharia is that it is repressive towards women and wedded to
archaic and brutal physical punishments; ‘
‘This lecture will not attempt a detailed discussion of the nature of sharia, which would be far
beyond my competence; my aim is only, as I have said, to tease out some of the broader issues
around the rights of religious groups within a secular state, with a few thought about what might
be entailed in crafting a just and constructive relationship between Islamic law and the statutory
law of the United Kingdom.’
‘In this sense, while (as I have said) we are not talking about two rival systems on the same
level, there is some community of understanding between Islamic social thinking and the
categories we might turn to in the non-Muslim world for the understanding of law in the most
general context. There is a recognition that our social identities are not constituted by one
exclusive set of relations or mode of belonging’
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‘Our social identities are not constituted by one exclusive set of relations or mode of belonging’ –
almost Foucauldian or post-structrualist in its construction.
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1575
What the media said he said …
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The Sun: Williams had "handed al-Qaida a victory“
The Express: he had "surrendered to fanatics"
Interesting use of metaphor:
‘Victory’ … ‘Surrender’: metaphor of battle/war … why?
Implicitly: Al Qaida – adversary in the ‘war on terror’
Muslim ‘fanatics’ but British/US soldiers in Iraq = ‘Our Boys.’
The Daily Mail: ‘Ayatollah of Canterbury’ – suggesting ‘divided
loyalties’
= traitor?
Archbishop Williams’ clearly did not propose the kind of dualism
(duel-ism) which would form the basis of a ‘battle’
Anchoring: using text with image
Framing: distorting what was said … in
order to make it unassailable
• Why was this picture NOT on the first
page?
•Why is he described as being in ‘his
pomp’?
•How can we read this choice of picture in
terms of Archbishop Williams smiling, and
in clearly religious dress?
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Use Sharia law on bike thieves, says MP
Boris
First it was Liverpudlians, then Papua New Guineans and then Jamie
Oliver. Now Boris Johnson has a new target in his sights - bicycle
thieves. Fed up with having his bike stolen and wheel nuts taken,
the outspoken Tory MP and cycling enthusiast wants to get tough on
bike thieves.
"I think these people deserve punishment and I'm calling for Sharia
law for bicycle thieves."
In the past, Johnson has accused Liverpool residents of 'wallowing'
in grief after the death of Iraq hostage Ken Bigley, linked Papua
New Guineans to cannibalism and said he would "get rid of celebrity
chef Jamie Oliver" if he ever ran the country.
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(Daily Mail - 16th March 2007)
Case Study 2: Terrorists, Terrorism, and the War
on Terror
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the problem of extradition of terrorists has given us much anxiety. It has imposed constraints on
the work of our Security Forces and courts in the United Kingdom
There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries … They will hand over the
terrorists, or they will share in their fate. These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to
disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful,
retreating from the world and forsaking our friends … They stand against us, because we stand in
their way ... We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before.
They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to
serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in
the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism.
What we witnessed in London last Thursday week was not an aberrant act. It was not random. It
was not a product of particular local circumstances in West Yorkshire … What we are confronting
here is an evil ideology. It is not a clash of civilisations - all civilised people, Muslim or other, feel
revulsion at it. But it is a global struggle and it is a battle of ideas, hearts and minds, both within
Islam and outside it …
Who are the terrorists here?
Thatcher, 1978
Bush, 2001
Blair, 2005
(And how do/can we read this slide as a text?)
More stuff …
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Bush after 9/11
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Bush and Steve Bridges
Summary
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PDA / CDA …
Overtly political in terms of its aims (Kress, 1990)
About framing of specific issues within specific discourses
Concerned with ‘representation’ of people, concepts, ideas (Stuart
Hall ref) in particular ways that maintain (or challenge)
asymmetrical power relations in society
Sees texts not just as individual words (and not even just words –
pictures and symbols too) but as whole bodies of information which
have internal power relations, as well as power relations with
external texts and discourses
We can use CDA to identify the ways in which ideologies of hatred
and prejudice are perpetuated
Thus, as individuals, we can formulate strategies of resistance!