Discourse AnalysisNatalie Koch

Geography 5161March 2, 2009

Discourse analysis Discourse

• “a specific constellation of knowledge and practice through which a way of life is given material expression” (Doel 2003, 49)

Discourse analysis• “discloses how this constellation of

knowledge and power is structured, and situates it within its appropriate social, cultural and geo-historical context” (Doel 2003, 49)

Postmodernism “incredulity toward metanarratives” reality and identities as chaotic,

messy, multiple, plural emphasizes multiple interpretations

of a text, its silences, incoherencies, limits, unintended effects

Origins

Lyotard

Derrida

Foucault

Latour

What is a text?

MapsGuidebooksFilmsTelevision(Urban) landscapesGov’t publicationsAcad. publicationsMuseumsNewspapers

PhotographsTextbooksComic booksPolitical cartoonsMonumentsSpeeches??

Discourse analysis tools Semiotics Textual deconstruction Content analysis Reading landscapes Iconology Hermeneutics

Strengths Weaknesses

Broad application Challenging

dominant discourses

Useful starting point for mixed-methods studies

Entry point for words/world debate

One-sided, selective, subjective

Quantification difficulties (content analysis)

Time-consuming (especially without software)

The reception question Original theory vs. contemporary

application Discourses as inseparable from the

context in which they are produced Multiplicity of interpretations of texts –

limitations of the researcher’s analysis Analyst as the detached observer

• Sharpe 2000 – critique of Ó Tuathail’s Critical Geopolitics – where does he stand?

Examples Dowler 2001 Dittmer 2005 Falah 2005 McDowell 2008 Megoran 2005 O’Loughlin, Ó Tuathail, Kolossov 2004

Dowler 2001

Dittmer 2005

The “clash of civilizations” imagination in Captain America: Terrorists seize control

of the church in Centerville

Falah 2005

“The Visual Representation of Muslim/Arab Women in Daily Newspapers in the United States”

• 2 media portrayals of Muslim women passive victims active political agents

McDowell 2008

Megoran 2005

O’Loughlin, Ó Tuathail, Kolossov 2004

“Russian geopolitical storylines and public opinion in the wake of 9-11”

Storylines1. Putin’s “common enemy” storyline2. “Skeptical” storyline3. “American imperialism” storyline

Attitudes of ordinary Russians - surveys