Panels

MEDIATED CONSTRUCTIONS OF CRISIS, SEX DISCRIMINATION, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN EUROPEAN (NEW) MEDIA DISCOURSE

Convener: Marianna Patrona, Hellenic Military Academy, Greece

Discussant: Göran Eriksson, Örebro University, Sweden

This panel sets outs to explore current developments in critical research on (new) media discourses in the European broadcast, print, and new media. More specifically, the six papers included in the panel tackle mediated representations of and discourses on such topical issues, as contemporary financial, political, industrial, and social crisis in Europe, the Scottish independence referendum, national and EU identity. The panel affords a cross-cultural perspective in critically addressing mediated discursive and textual practices in Greece, the UK, Sweden, and Italy. Papers span an array of media contexts and genres, such as broadcast media (television news, comic fiction series), print media and social media. Finally, they bring together diverse methodological orientations, such as Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, and Frame Analysis.

More specifically, two of the papers focus on Greece, as the epicentre of financial (and political) crisis in the Eurozone, illustrating how the Greek crisis and an interpretive framework around it are talked into being in television news and TV comic fiction. Crisis, specifically industrial crisis, is also dealt with in a paper exploring the discursive construction of political accountability in Swedish television news interviews over three historic periods of industrial crisis (from 1968 to 2010). In the fourth paper, through a comparative study of Italian and UK television news media, different representations of the EU and constructions of European identity are examined against the background of the immigration crisis in the EU.
The fifth paper focuses on discourses of otherness by examining the construction of anti-Britishness in print and social media discussions of the Scottish independence referendum. The final paper tackles the issues of otherness and sex discrimination by analysing how
pre-feminist discourses of male domination are re-worked on a 21st century new media platform, namely Twitter.

The panel aspires to bring together the multi-disciplinary areas of media studies and critical discourse studies, and, thus, bring to light shared conceptual and methodological aspects
between these two, often conceived of as disparate, domains of study. The panel will be of interest to scholars of discourse and the (new) media, who seek to exchange ideas and perspectives within a critical-analytical framework.


METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES IN POLITICAL
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Convenor: Prof. Lea Sgier, Department of Political Science,
Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary
sgierl@ceu.hu

Discussant: tbc

Discourse analysis has become increasingly popular in political analysis over the last two decades, and is now widely used across the subfields of the discipline. Political analysts have proposed approaches that engage with the political nature of discourse in general – discourse as a key aspect in the negotiation of collective power relations in society. They have also proposed approaches that are more specifically designed for the analysis of sub-types of political discourse, such as policy discourse, international relations and foreign policy, social movements and mobilisation, memory politics or political doctrines and ideologies.

This panel proposes to critically engage with some of these developments and raise questions such as: How do discourses operate to reduce the complexity of a “problem” or field? Are all types of political discourse necessarily "performative", or can we draw a meaningful distinction between discourses that are performative and those that are not ("façade" discourses for example in foreign policy discourse)? How does discourse frame, constrain, sustain or trigger political action? Conversely, how is political action possibly dependent upon discourse? How are political actors and identities constituted through discourse? How do they challenge or change dominant discourses? How do discourses compete for attention in a given political space, and what makes their failure and success? How do discourses and institutions interlink, not only in liberal democracies but also in authoritarian or totalitarian systems?

Underlying these questions are more general stakes for both political science and discourse analysis: What can political science learn from discourse analytical approaches, and conversely, what can conventional political science possibly teach discourse analysis? What is possibly specific to political discourse analysis (as opposed to discourse analysis in the social
sciences in general)? What do discourse-analytical approaches add to – or how do they challenge – established theoretical frameworks such as neo-institutionalism, mobilisation theory or rational choice theory?

These and other questions will be debated in a series of papers that propose a methodological reflection on the basis (mostly) of empirical cases from various subfields of political analysis.


MUSIC AND DISCOURSE

Convener: Lyndon Way

The music panel will explore the broad area of music and discourse from a critical-analytical perspective.
Papers may wish to explore (but are not limited to) discourses in music in the areas of

• popular music
• music in advertisement
• music and identity
• music and authenticity
• music and oppression
• music and subversion.

Abstracts of 250-350 words excluding references should be sent as MS Word attachment
to Lyndoncsway@hotmail.com before 15 October 2013. Please include in the body of the email but not in the abstract itself (1) your name, (2) affiliation and (3) email address. Notifications of acceptance will be communicated by 15 November 2014. Abstracts which are not accepted in to the panel can then be submitted to the general CADAAD call for papers, the deadline for which is 15 December 2013.

For further information about the panel, please contact Lyndon WAY at the above email address.


PERSUASION IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE:
FUNCTIONAL AND COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES

Conveners: Louis Wei-lun Lu and Jana Pelclova (Masaryk University, Brno)

We invite submission of abstracts for a panel entitled "Persuasion in Public Discourse: Functional and Cognitive Perspectives", to be proposed as a part of The Fifth International Conference on Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines (CADAAD 2014), which will take place at ELTE (Loránd Eötvös University) in Budapest, Hungary, 1-3 September 2014. The proposed panel aims to investigate persuasion as a rhetorical phenomenon, from both functional and cognitive perspectives. We welcome papers based on authentic discourse data in the public sphere.

Present scholarship has identified various lexico-grammatical means of persuasion, such as modal verbs, adverbs, pronoun use, etc., and has also uncovered systematic conceptual strategies such as metaphor and metonymy. At the cognitive level, persuasion may also involve inserting personal voice to an intersubjective end, inducing an alternative worldview, and manipulating social actions. However, although persuasion has been extensively investigated as an interpersonal and cognitive phenomenon by researchers across disciplines, the above levels of analysis have so far been treated in a separate manner. In view of a potential synergy, the present panel aims to explore how persuasive effects can be investigated, based on functional and cognitive approaches to language. We are in particular interested in papers that explore how grammar and lexical choice creates persuasive effects and, meanwhile, how such choices co-contribute for the purpose of changing the audience's mental states.

We are especially interested in discussions based on authentic data, with a special focus on public discourse for its hugely influential nature at various levels of human social life. By use of language, the participants of public discourse are able to air personal views, shape and reshape collective opinions and memories, as well as to achieve mutual judgments and decisions. Since its effects may come in a wide variety of forms with powerful social consequences, such as changes in a group's collective behavior and consuming habits, increase in social awareness or depreciation of a political stance and societal problems, the compelling> nature of persuasion in the public domain constitutes a highly practical concern and therefore deserves due scholarly attention. The possible text types that we are interested may range from the domain of politics, business, mass media to that of religion and academia.

Submissions of 250-350 words abstracts are welcome. Please include in your abstract: 3-5 keywords, type of data, methodology, expected outcome and possible contribution to the field, and a list of bibliography. Please send in a separate file containing your name, affiliation, contact details, and a brief bio-note. Submissions are due 31 October, 2013. Notification of acceptance will be sent 15 November, 2013. For inquiry or submission, contact either of the panel conveners: Louis Wei-lun Lu (weilunlu@gmail.com) and Jana Pelclova (pelclova@phil.muni.cz).

More information available at:

http://www.cadaad.net/cadaad_2014 (main conference website)
http://weilunlu.blogspot.cz/2013/09/panel-proposal-for-cadaad-2014.html (CFP in full)


THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES IN
CRITICAL DISCOURSE STUDIES

Conveners: Bernhard Forchtner (Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany) &
Michał Krzyżanowski (Örebro University, Sweden)

This panel aims to discuss theoretical and conceptual challenges facing Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). At the time when Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has been opening up as well as becoming embraced by various social sciences and gradually evolved into Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), the recent socio-political dynamics have posed many questions with regard to the validity and viability of several long-established theoretical and conceptual tools in CDA/CDS. As we claim, the rise of ‘post-heroic' societies and the latters' distinct constructions of common pasts; the increasing discontinuity and fragmentation of public and other modes of discourse; the role of technology as ever more persuasive and its connection to and effect on discourses; the collapse of democracy within formally stable democratic regimes; and, of course most recently, the financial and economic crisis, have changed very profoundly the dynamics of discursive practices which no longer undergo the once long-standing socio-political or politico-economic dynamics. We thus see a need to rethink the theoretical and conceptual apparatus of CDS and to make it more relevant to the current, rapid and often abrupt social dynamics as well as, in particular, to the contemporary dynamics and logic of increasingly fragmented discourses in both public and private settings.

While we recognize that some theoretical reflection has recently been undertaken in CDS, it must be noted that it has mainly taken place strictly within the traditional ‘schools' of CDA (cf. e.g. van Dijk 2008, Forchtner 2011), or, if looking at the wider CDS, it was proposed within works advocating new methodological and analytical orientations, often of an integrative nature (e.g. Mautner 2009, Krzyżanowski 2011, Hart 2013, Machin 2013). However, it seems it has now been over a decade since a general debate about theories and concepts of CDA/CDS - and their applicability in interdisciplinary social research across the social sciences - has taken place (cf. Wodak and Weiss 2002). To be sure, this has also been the period when CDS has often become challenged by some more theoretically-oriented approaches to discourse analysis (e.g. from within the non-CDS post-Marxist or post-Foucauldian approaches) which to some extent promised to offer relevant theoretical and conceptual depth sometimes missing in CDS.

Thus, we welcome papers proposing new theories, concepts and interpretative frameworks in CDS. Given the inherent plurality of CDS, no general suggestions can be expected - yet, this panel attempts to offer different perspectives which tackle the aforementioned social, political and economic dynamics as well as the recent developments in social theory and social research.

We welcome abstracts of 250-350 words (excluding references) to be sent as MS Word (.doc or .docx) attachment to both Bernhard Forchtner (b.forchtner[at]hu-berlin.de) and Michał Krzyżanowski (michal.krzyzanowski[at]oru.se). Please include in the body of the email but not in the abstract itself (1) your name, (2) affiliation and (3) email address.

Submissions are due by 31 October 2013 at the very latest. Notification of acceptance to the panel will be sent on ca. 15 November 2013. All abstracts will then be subject to the general CADAAD review processes after 15 December 2013. Once definitely accepted, draft papers or extended abstracts of the papers will be expected to be sent to the conveners (who will also forward them to the assigned discussant) by the end of July 2014.


THE LANGUAGE OF CRISIS: THE ROLE OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS, METONYMIES, AND FRAMES

Conveners: Zoltán Kövecses and Judit Pethő-Szirmai (ELTE, Budapest)

We invite the submission of abstracts for a panel entitled “The Language of Crisis: The Role of Conceptual Metaphor, Metonymy, and Frames” to be held in the framework of CADAAD 2014. The panel aims to explore the language of crisis with the help of the tools of cognitive linguistics.

In times of crisis probably more than ever, we need language to come to grips with our experience, whether collective or personal. A crisis is always a disturbing and intense experience demanding a prompt reaction and interpretation. In crisis-related discourse, we can often identify a search (conscious or intuitive) for the appropriate framing of the events until certain cognitive devices and their linguistic manifestations are selected, and the individual or the linguistic community affected by the crisis settles on them. Crises have several aspects: they begin, develop, and come to a head; they are managed and resolved. Metaphors and metonymies can help the participants of the crisis situation to find a solution to the crisis, thus language and the underlying cognitive mechanisms may serve as facilitators in problem-solving. The attenuation and resolution of these situations often requires challenging previous, conventionalized metaphors, metonymies, and frames, and progress depends on our ability to accept the new ones.

In light of the above, this panel would like to investigate discourse used in any kind of crisis situation (personal, psychological, emotional, religious, economic, political, international, and so on). We are interested in the cognitive analysis of the tools used to structure previously unstructured experience: crisis itself. We will explore conceptual metaphors and metonymies on the basis of authentic data of all kinds that are relevant from the perspective of handling crises.

We welcome abstracts of 250-350 words (without references) to be sent as MS Word attachment to the panel conveners, Zoltán Kövecses (kovecses.zoltan@btk.elte.hu) and Judit Pethő-Szirmai (pszirmai.judit@gmail.com). The deadline for submission is October 31, 2013. Please include in the body of the email but not in the abstract itself (1) your name, (2) affiliation and (3) email address. Notification of acceptance will be sent by November 15, 2013. Abstracts which are not selected into the panel may then be submitted to the general CADAAD call for papers by December 15, 2013. The definitive acceptance of panel proposals and notification is expected after March 1, 2014.