The Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG) of the UK’s Political Studies Association and the Centre for Political Research, Panteion University are co-organising a two-day intensive seminar from 30th November – 1st December on research methods. The course is designed to help doctoral and advanced postgraduate students to develop their research skills in research methods and more specifically on critical discourse analysis.
The term discourse remains ambiguous, although is understood in various ways in the Social Sciences and Humanities. In the same vein, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is currently used by different disciplines beyond Linguistics and Semiotics, such as Political Science, Communication and Media Studies. CDA is broadly concerned with the way that language and other semiotic modalities reflect, legitimate and instantiate power and inequality in social relations. This seminar aims to familiarise participants with the interdisciplinary character of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), especially the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) and its analytical frameworks that have led to the introduction of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). Participants will have the opportunity to apply methodological and theoretical skills in analysing a range of spoken and written data from different political genres including political campaign speeches, statements, press releases, parliamentary debates and social media uploads. Drawing upon the Greek political scene, and by focusing on issues such as immigration, populism, far right rhetoric, nationalism and antisemitism, this seminar intends to explore how discourse contributes to the construction of ideology and the legitimation of power relations and social action.
In particular, during the seminar we will have the opportunity to cover the following:
- From Discourse Analysis to Critical Discourse Analysis- Focuses on ideology and power relations in the study of language.
- Introduction to the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).
- The Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) and Argumentation Theory- Rhetoric, Discourse and Persuasion.
- Multimodality and Critical Discourse Studies (CDS)- Media and new media discourses on political issues: Towards a new public sphere?
At the end of the course, students should have improved their understanding of and ability to assess the debate over the appropriate use of critical discourse analysis, as well as their ability to carry out qualitative research.
Applications should email the following material to Vasiliki Georgiadou ([email protected]), Salomi Boukala ([email protected]) and Vasiliki (Billy) Tsagkroni ([email protected]) no later than 11th November 2022.
- A short Curriculum Vitae (max two pages)
- A short cover letter (max one page) in which applicants explain how their participation in the seminar benefits their research.
Successful applicants will be notified by email only by 18th November 2022. Selected applicants must be able to confirm their participation within a week of acceptance. The seminar will accommodate about 15 participants.
The working language will be Greek and English. Participants are required to bring their own laptop. The seminar will take place at the venue of the Centre for Political Research at Panteion University.
The full seminar programme will be made available shortly.
Salomi Boukala is Assistant Professor at Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences. She is a specialist on political and media discourses and has published widely in the field of Critical Discourse Studies. She is the author of European Identity and The Representation of Islam in the Mainstream Press: Argumentation and Media Discourse (Palgrave, 2019). Her research interests are argumentation, the discursive construction of political and (supra)national identities, political rhetoric, discriminatory discourse and digital ethnographic approaches. Recent publications include ‘We need to talk about the hegemony of the left’: Τhe Normalisation of Extreme Right Discourse in Greece’ (In Journal of Language and Politics, 2021) and ‘Far-right Discourse as Legitimacy? Analysing Political Rhetoric on the ‘Migration Issue’ in Greece’ (in Studies in Communication Sciences, 2021).
