How language is used in social interaction to construct socio-political realities. Recently I’ve been looking at the controversy over the risks with hydrofracking for natural gas, at how ethnopolitical accounts are told, and at how news stories are constructed from interviews. Key terms: accounts of and for action, metadiscourse, reported speech, expert discourse, contesting and defending practices. Phone: +1-315-443-5137 Address: Dept of Communication & Rhetorical Studies
Syracuse University
113 Sims Hall
Syracuse, New York 13244
USA
New York is the only state in the US with sizable deposits of natural gas that has banned hydraul... more New York is the only state in the US with sizable deposits of natural gas that has banned hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. Whether or not to permit fracking has been one of the most divisive environmental disputes in New York and in several other states and countries in recent times. The aim of this work is to explain the competing rhetoric and discourses on fracking among advocates, experts, the grassroots, and political officials and how these positions evolved over time and eventually arrived at a decision to ban this extractive technology. The focus here is on the discursive construction of risk in environmental, public health, and community contexts. My approach provides both a historical recounting of the key events of this seven-year conflict, along with four in-depth case studies: of a grassroots citizen group, of a public hearing with physicians and scientists, of a key intergovernmental hearing, and of a formal debate among experts.
Given the fact that being vegan is generally considered odd or deviant from the mainstream norms ... more Given the fact that being vegan is generally considered odd or deviant from the mainstream norms of carnism, we examine how vegans manage such social positioning in their dealings with omnivores. This article employs a discursive analysis of vegans’ narratives of problematic moments with omnivores and how they manage such situations and their identity. The vegans’ narratives ranged from problem stories where some troublesome event occurred, but was not resolved, to solution stories of the best ways of dealing with meat eaters. In each case, being vegan is a social positioning that is problematized in various ways and a positioning that needs to be accounted for. The narrators give voice to themselves or others through the discursive practices of metadiscourse and reported speech in constructing the problem story. Vegans face the ideological dilemma in how to speak about their veganism as choice of diet, for environmental reasons or ethical considerations.
An inter-governmental hearing on hydrofracking for natural gas is examined. The Department of Env... more An inter-governmental hearing on hydrofracking for natural gas is examined. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and takes questions from the New York State Assembly. Assembly members pose concerns with the EIS. The DEC’s responses at times appear to not address the question, but rather to challenge or rework the question in a way that can be answered from the DEC perspective. Assembly members assess seeming evasive answers in critical ways. This interactional pattern is examined from a discursive analysis perspective as problem–accounts–assessments sequences. Especially notable are the discursive practices of reported speech and metadiscourse in these accounting sequences. The conflicting assessments are not based on ‘the facts’, but on which facts are relevant. The DEC can be heard as advocating for their draft of the EIS despite the concerns raised by the Assembly. At certain junctures, Assembly members accus...
New York is the only state in the US with sizable deposits of natural gas that has banned hydraul... more New York is the only state in the US with sizable deposits of natural gas that has banned hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. Whether or not to permit fracking has been one of the most divisive environmental disputes in New York and in several other states and countries in recent times. The aim of this work is to explain the competing rhetoric and discourses on fracking among advocates, experts, the grassroots, and political officials and how these positions evolved over time and eventually arrived at a decision to ban this extractive technology. The focus here is on the discursive construction of risk in environmental, public health, and community contexts. My approach provides both a historical recounting of the key events of this seven-year conflict, along with four in-depth case studies: of a grassroots citizen group, of a public hearing with physicians and scientists, of a key intergovernmental hearing, and of a formal debate among experts.
Given the fact that being vegan is generally considered odd or deviant from the mainstream norms ... more Given the fact that being vegan is generally considered odd or deviant from the mainstream norms of carnism, we examine how vegans manage such social positioning in their dealings with omnivores. This article employs a discursive analysis of vegans’ narratives of problematic moments with omnivores and how they manage such situations and their identity. The vegans’ narratives ranged from problem stories where some troublesome event occurred, but was not resolved, to solution stories of the best ways of dealing with meat eaters. In each case, being vegan is a social positioning that is problematized in various ways and a positioning that needs to be accounted for. The narrators give voice to themselves or others through the discursive practices of metadiscourse and reported speech in constructing the problem story. Vegans face the ideological dilemma in how to speak about their veganism as choice of diet, for environmental reasons or ethical considerations.
An inter-governmental hearing on hydrofracking for natural gas is examined. The Department of Env... more An inter-governmental hearing on hydrofracking for natural gas is examined. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and takes questions from the New York State Assembly. Assembly members pose concerns with the EIS. The DEC’s responses at times appear to not address the question, but rather to challenge or rework the question in a way that can be answered from the DEC perspective. Assembly members assess seeming evasive answers in critical ways. This interactional pattern is examined from a discursive analysis perspective as problem–accounts–assessments sequences. Especially notable are the discursive practices of reported speech and metadiscourse in these accounting sequences. The conflicting assessments are not based on ‘the facts’, but on which facts are relevant. The DEC can be heard as advocating for their draft of the EIS despite the concerns raised by the Assembly. At certain junctures, Assembly members accus...
... Richard Buttny & John W. Lannamann Page 3. PhIlOsOPhICAl TARgeT ARTICle In RAdICAl COnsTR... more ... Richard Buttny & John W. Lannamann Page 3. PhIlOsOPhICAl TARgeT ARTICle In RAdICAl COnsTRuCTIvIsM 16 ... Here Ol-mert is doing a variety of things in attempt-ing to raise doubts about Bishara and open up a space for an alternative real story. ...
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