Jan Zienkowski
Jan Zienkowski has a long-standing research interest in the transdisciplinary field of discourse studies. He recently published Articulations of self and politics in activist discourse (Zienkowski 2017) and co-edited Imagining the peoples of Europe (Zienkowski and Breeze 2019).
His books and articles focus on issues of reflexivity, critique, discourse, politics and metapolitics and propaganda, ideology and hegemony as articulated in large-scale debates on migration, populism and neoliberalism.
Jan Zienkowski aims to re-articulate linguistic pragmatic, critical and poststructuralist approaches to signification in order to understand how human beings deal with hegemony with varying degrees of awareness. He has a background in communication sciences, international relations and linguistics.
He currently teaches ‘Communication Science’, ‘Corporate Communication and Public Relations’, 'Analysis of Media Institutions' at the Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles (USL-B). At the USL-B, he is associated with Engage: Research Centre for Publicness in Contemporary Communication.
Jan Zienkowski also works as a post-doctaral researcher at the ILC (Institut Langage et Communication / UCLouvain) / Social Media Lab. Here, he works on a methodology for analysing the sequential unfolding of debates and controversies on online forums in an interdisciplinary environment.
Jan Zienkowski has organised various DiscourseNet events and is a member of the DiscourseNet Board. He is also an associated researcher of DESIRE (Centre for Democracy, Signification and Resistance).
His books and articles focus on issues of reflexivity, critique, discourse, politics and metapolitics and propaganda, ideology and hegemony as articulated in large-scale debates on migration, populism and neoliberalism.
Jan Zienkowski aims to re-articulate linguistic pragmatic, critical and poststructuralist approaches to signification in order to understand how human beings deal with hegemony with varying degrees of awareness. He has a background in communication sciences, international relations and linguistics.
He currently teaches ‘Communication Science’, ‘Corporate Communication and Public Relations’, 'Analysis of Media Institutions' at the Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles (USL-B). At the USL-B, he is associated with Engage: Research Centre for Publicness in Contemporary Communication.
Jan Zienkowski also works as a post-doctaral researcher at the ILC (Institut Langage et Communication / UCLouvain) / Social Media Lab. Here, he works on a methodology for analysing the sequential unfolding of debates and controversies on online forums in an interdisciplinary environment.
Jan Zienkowski has organised various DiscourseNet events and is a member of the DiscourseNet Board. He is also an associated researcher of DESIRE (Centre for Democracy, Signification and Resistance).
less
InterestsView All (31)
Uploads
Books by Jan Zienkowski
This book focuses on the discursive processes that allow activists to make sense of themselves and of the modes of politics they engage in. It shows how political and metadiscursive awareness develop in tandem with a reconfiguration of one’s sense of self. The author offers an integrated pragmatic and poststructuralist perspective on self and subjectivity. He draws on Essex style discourse theory, early pragmatist philosophy, and linguistic pragmatics, arguing for a notion of discourse as a multi-dimensional practice of articulation. Demonstrating the analytical power of this perspective, he puts his approach to work in an analysis of activist discourse on integration and minority issues in Flanders, Belgium. Subjects articulate a whole range of norms, values, identities and narratives to each other when they engage in political discourse. This book offers a way to analyse the logics that structure political awareness and the associated boundaries for discursive self-interpretation.
'At a time in which notions of both politics and activism are being profoundly reshaped, Zienkowski's incisive analysis goes to the heart of what may drive such changes. Empirically delicate and theoretically astute, this is discourse analysis at its best.' - Jan Blommaert, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
'This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the discursive logics that shape self and society, as well as how to study them. It combines discourse theory and pragmatic perspectives on interaction, generating an innovative interpretive and functional heuristic for doing poststructuralist discourse analysis. As an added bonus, it provides a creative and critical contribution to discussions on the workings of ideological fantasy. Highly recommended!' - Jason Glynos, Reader, University of Essex, UK
'If you ever wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of well-informed and politically active members of disadvantaged minorities, you must read "Articulations of self and politics in activist discourse". As a discourse analysis with a truly multidisciplinary orientation, Jan Zienkowski offers unrivaled insights which, based on research in a Belgian context, have unfortunately gained relevance through recent dramatic events.' - Jef Verschueren, Professor, University of Antwerp, Belgium
By means of a theoretical and methodological exploration of poststructuralist, pragmatist and linguistic pragmatic approaches to discourse and subjectivity, Jan Zienkowski constructs an interpretive and functionalist heuristic for analysing large-scale socio-political debates. As such, this PhD is more than a set of case studies of the discourse of activists and intellectuals involved in the Flemish minority debate.
The author empirically investigates the way people use abstract categories such as identity, community, and integration. He describes the various functions these notions perform in relation to a preferred sense of self and in relation to a preferred sense of politics. This involves an exploration of the large-scale interpretive logics people use when linking these concepts to each other and to the socio-political practices constitutive of the public sphere.
This PhD thesis addresses key issues related to discourse, subjectivity and political engagement. How do activists and intellectuals analyse, criticise, and shape the various worlds wherein they find themselves? In what ways are preferred modes of politics linked to a preferred sense of self? How do people manage to make sense of the multiplicity of abstract categories that structure socio-political debates? How can one identify the boundaries of a debate? Why do people value one set of abstract categories over another? And how may one empirically investigate the way one functionally relates a preferred sense of self to a preferred mode of political engagement?
The analyses presented in this book exemplify the heuristic and theoretical concepts Zienkowski argues for. He provides a set of empirical studies of the various functions that abstract categories such as identity, community and integration perform in relation to a preferred mode of subjectivity. Throughout these analyses and theoretical explorations, a debate characterised by a high degree of reflexivity emerges.
De auteurs en de vrijwilligers hebben meer dan een jaar lang de communicatie van N-VA in de mainstreammedia onder de loep genomen. “Dat is zeker niet het enige”, gaat Ico Maly verder: “Op Facebook hebben we verschillende ‘N-VA-stemmen’ gemonitord en gezien hoe ze Facebook gebruiken als een politiek instrument. Daarnaast zijn we ook de circulatie nagegaan van het N-VA-discours op commentaarmodules onder artikels van De Standaard.”. De combinatie tussen een kritische analyse van het N-VA-discours en de circulatie ervan, maakt het boek uniek in zijn soort. “Het Rijpen van de Geesten biedt namelijk een genuanceerde analyse van de impliciete en de expliciete boodschappen in de retoriek van de N-VA.” aldus Jan Zienkowski. “De tegenstrijdigheden die zo aan het licht komen laten ons toe om voeding te geven aan een debat dat tot nu toe nauwelijks in de diepte werd gevoerd”.
Zoals de vorige e-boeken is ook “Het rijpen van de geesten” gratis beschikbaar op de website van Kif Kif. Het kan naar hartenlust gedownload worden op e-readers of gelezen op PC. Bovendien stellen we het e-book beschikbaar als pdf, zodat mensen het ook kunnen afdrukken. Wilt u toch liever een ingebonden versie van het boek, dan helpt Prima Copy uit Brussel u graag verder.
Papers by Jan Zienkowski
des « new ways of working » (NWOW, ou « nouvelles formes d’organisation du
travail », NFOT). Cette étude vise à élucider la manière dont les employé·es « de
bureau » donnent sens aux NWOW. Nous empruntons le concept de logique à la
théorie post-structuraliste et psychanalytique lacanienne du discours (Laclau et
Mouffe, 1985 ; Glynos 2008 ; Glynos et Stavrakakis, 2008) selon laquelle une logique
structure la manière dont on articule des éléments sémiotiques entre eux.
Nous nous appuyons en particulier sur l’élaboration des concepts de logiques sociales
et fantasmatiques par Glynos et Howarth (2007). Nos questions de recherche
sont : Quelles sont les logiques sociales ou interprétatives qui structurent le discours
NWOW articulé par les employé·es de bureau ? De quelle manière ces logiques
peuvent-elles donner des points d’appui à la critique de certains aspects des
NWOW ? En quoi les logiques du discours NWOW structurent-elles la subjectivité
des employé·es capables d’un certain degré de réflexivité vis-à-vis de leur sens de
soi et de leurs pratiques discursives au travail ?
Notre corpus consiste en des retranscriptions d’entretiens avec 29 employé·es dans
huit organisations privées ou publiques belges de différentes tailles et de différents
secteurs. L’analyse des entretiens met au jour les logiques interprétatives suivantes :
page 221
gestion2000.vol.37.1-2.book Page 15 Thursday, May 21, 2020 9:29 AM
16
Gestion 2000 1-2 janvier/février – mars/avril 2020
une logique néolibérale (avec son emphase sur le management par résultats et le
management de soi), une logique humanisante (avec son accent sur le bien-être au
travail), une logique expressive/consultative, une logique participative (qui valorise
la co-décision) appliquée au niveau de l’équipe, une logique pseudo-participative,
une logique d’autorité, et une logique de service public de qualité. L’investissement
affectif des employé·es dans les logiques qui structurent les pratiques discursives du
NWOW est soutenu par une logique fantasmatique qui rend l’implémentation du
NWOW apparemment nécessaire. Les employé·es recourent à certaines de ces logiques
pour s’engager dans une critique généralement limitée du NWOW et légitimer
des micro-résistances. La critique est rarement synonyme d’opposition aux
NWOW et à leur raison d’être. Enfin, nous montrons comment le discours NWOW
célébratoire structure la subjectivité des employé·es en construisant une opposition
binaire entre un·e employé·e « idéal·e » et son contraire.
Zusammenfassung: Der folgende Artikel plädiert für einen Kritikbegriff, der Kritik als öffentlichen Meta-Diskurs konzipiert, welches es Subjekten ermöglicht, all jene Logiken und Rationalitäten, die so-ziales Leiden verursachen, zu erkennen, zu re-artikulieren und zu re-konfigurieren. Veranschaulicht wird dies anhand einer Analyse der spezifischen Kritikformen bzw.-modi innerhalb der von flämisch-nationalistischen Politikern initiierten Debatte um die vermeintliche Relativität von Rassismus. Die Analyse dieser Debatte orientiert sich hierbei an einer interpretativen und funktionalen Konzeption der Diskursanalyse. Für diese Analyseheuristik ist eine Operationalisierung des poststrukturalistischen Ar-tikulationskonzepts zentral. Im Zuge der Untersuchung werden verschiedene Arten und Weisen der kritisch-diskursiven Intervention in diese Debatte identifiziert. Dadurch können gleichsam die Grenzen bzw. Grenzmarker der »Rassismus-ist-relativ-Debatte« skizziert werden: hegemoniale Ansprüche, ideo-logische und metalinguistische De-Legitimierungen sowie Konkretisierungsstrategien. Die identifizier-ten kritischen Interventionen wurden von einer Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Akteure (Bürger, Aktivisten, Wissenschaftler und Politiker) innerhalb verschiedenster Medienpublikationen, im Zeitraum zwischen 2013 und 2015, artikuliert. Die Grenzen politischer Interpretationsräume werden von sozialen Akteu-ren durch dieses Spiel diskursiver Interventionen verhandelt und herausgefordert. Der folgende Artikel veranschaulicht, dass die meisten Kritiken der Behauptung, Rassismus sei relativ, die diesem rassisti-schen Diskurs zugrundeliegenden Logiken und Artikulationsformen nicht radikal genug herausfordern bzw. untergraben. Auf theoretischer Ebene sollte er zudem DiskursforscherInnen für die Differenzie-rung spezifischer Kritikmodi sensibilisieren, da nur durch eine solche differenzierende Identifizierung die komplexen Artikulationsformen einer öffentlichen Debatte angemessen analysiert werden können.
This book focuses on the discursive processes that allow activists to make sense of themselves and of the modes of politics they engage in. It shows how political and metadiscursive awareness develop in tandem with a reconfiguration of one’s sense of self. The author offers an integrated pragmatic and poststructuralist perspective on self and subjectivity. He draws on Essex style discourse theory, early pragmatist philosophy, and linguistic pragmatics, arguing for a notion of discourse as a multi-dimensional practice of articulation. Demonstrating the analytical power of this perspective, he puts his approach to work in an analysis of activist discourse on integration and minority issues in Flanders, Belgium. Subjects articulate a whole range of norms, values, identities and narratives to each other when they engage in political discourse. This book offers a way to analyse the logics that structure political awareness and the associated boundaries for discursive self-interpretation.
'At a time in which notions of both politics and activism are being profoundly reshaped, Zienkowski's incisive analysis goes to the heart of what may drive such changes. Empirically delicate and theoretically astute, this is discourse analysis at its best.' - Jan Blommaert, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
'This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the discursive logics that shape self and society, as well as how to study them. It combines discourse theory and pragmatic perspectives on interaction, generating an innovative interpretive and functional heuristic for doing poststructuralist discourse analysis. As an added bonus, it provides a creative and critical contribution to discussions on the workings of ideological fantasy. Highly recommended!' - Jason Glynos, Reader, University of Essex, UK
'If you ever wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of well-informed and politically active members of disadvantaged minorities, you must read "Articulations of self and politics in activist discourse". As a discourse analysis with a truly multidisciplinary orientation, Jan Zienkowski offers unrivaled insights which, based on research in a Belgian context, have unfortunately gained relevance through recent dramatic events.' - Jef Verschueren, Professor, University of Antwerp, Belgium
By means of a theoretical and methodological exploration of poststructuralist, pragmatist and linguistic pragmatic approaches to discourse and subjectivity, Jan Zienkowski constructs an interpretive and functionalist heuristic for analysing large-scale socio-political debates. As such, this PhD is more than a set of case studies of the discourse of activists and intellectuals involved in the Flemish minority debate.
The author empirically investigates the way people use abstract categories such as identity, community, and integration. He describes the various functions these notions perform in relation to a preferred sense of self and in relation to a preferred sense of politics. This involves an exploration of the large-scale interpretive logics people use when linking these concepts to each other and to the socio-political practices constitutive of the public sphere.
This PhD thesis addresses key issues related to discourse, subjectivity and political engagement. How do activists and intellectuals analyse, criticise, and shape the various worlds wherein they find themselves? In what ways are preferred modes of politics linked to a preferred sense of self? How do people manage to make sense of the multiplicity of abstract categories that structure socio-political debates? How can one identify the boundaries of a debate? Why do people value one set of abstract categories over another? And how may one empirically investigate the way one functionally relates a preferred sense of self to a preferred mode of political engagement?
The analyses presented in this book exemplify the heuristic and theoretical concepts Zienkowski argues for. He provides a set of empirical studies of the various functions that abstract categories such as identity, community and integration perform in relation to a preferred mode of subjectivity. Throughout these analyses and theoretical explorations, a debate characterised by a high degree of reflexivity emerges.
De auteurs en de vrijwilligers hebben meer dan een jaar lang de communicatie van N-VA in de mainstreammedia onder de loep genomen. “Dat is zeker niet het enige”, gaat Ico Maly verder: “Op Facebook hebben we verschillende ‘N-VA-stemmen’ gemonitord en gezien hoe ze Facebook gebruiken als een politiek instrument. Daarnaast zijn we ook de circulatie nagegaan van het N-VA-discours op commentaarmodules onder artikels van De Standaard.”. De combinatie tussen een kritische analyse van het N-VA-discours en de circulatie ervan, maakt het boek uniek in zijn soort. “Het Rijpen van de Geesten biedt namelijk een genuanceerde analyse van de impliciete en de expliciete boodschappen in de retoriek van de N-VA.” aldus Jan Zienkowski. “De tegenstrijdigheden die zo aan het licht komen laten ons toe om voeding te geven aan een debat dat tot nu toe nauwelijks in de diepte werd gevoerd”.
Zoals de vorige e-boeken is ook “Het rijpen van de geesten” gratis beschikbaar op de website van Kif Kif. Het kan naar hartenlust gedownload worden op e-readers of gelezen op PC. Bovendien stellen we het e-book beschikbaar als pdf, zodat mensen het ook kunnen afdrukken. Wilt u toch liever een ingebonden versie van het boek, dan helpt Prima Copy uit Brussel u graag verder.
des « new ways of working » (NWOW, ou « nouvelles formes d’organisation du
travail », NFOT). Cette étude vise à élucider la manière dont les employé·es « de
bureau » donnent sens aux NWOW. Nous empruntons le concept de logique à la
théorie post-structuraliste et psychanalytique lacanienne du discours (Laclau et
Mouffe, 1985 ; Glynos 2008 ; Glynos et Stavrakakis, 2008) selon laquelle une logique
structure la manière dont on articule des éléments sémiotiques entre eux.
Nous nous appuyons en particulier sur l’élaboration des concepts de logiques sociales
et fantasmatiques par Glynos et Howarth (2007). Nos questions de recherche
sont : Quelles sont les logiques sociales ou interprétatives qui structurent le discours
NWOW articulé par les employé·es de bureau ? De quelle manière ces logiques
peuvent-elles donner des points d’appui à la critique de certains aspects des
NWOW ? En quoi les logiques du discours NWOW structurent-elles la subjectivité
des employé·es capables d’un certain degré de réflexivité vis-à-vis de leur sens de
soi et de leurs pratiques discursives au travail ?
Notre corpus consiste en des retranscriptions d’entretiens avec 29 employé·es dans
huit organisations privées ou publiques belges de différentes tailles et de différents
secteurs. L’analyse des entretiens met au jour les logiques interprétatives suivantes :
page 221
gestion2000.vol.37.1-2.book Page 15 Thursday, May 21, 2020 9:29 AM
16
Gestion 2000 1-2 janvier/février – mars/avril 2020
une logique néolibérale (avec son emphase sur le management par résultats et le
management de soi), une logique humanisante (avec son accent sur le bien-être au
travail), une logique expressive/consultative, une logique participative (qui valorise
la co-décision) appliquée au niveau de l’équipe, une logique pseudo-participative,
une logique d’autorité, et une logique de service public de qualité. L’investissement
affectif des employé·es dans les logiques qui structurent les pratiques discursives du
NWOW est soutenu par une logique fantasmatique qui rend l’implémentation du
NWOW apparemment nécessaire. Les employé·es recourent à certaines de ces logiques
pour s’engager dans une critique généralement limitée du NWOW et légitimer
des micro-résistances. La critique est rarement synonyme d’opposition aux
NWOW et à leur raison d’être. Enfin, nous montrons comment le discours NWOW
célébratoire structure la subjectivité des employé·es en construisant une opposition
binaire entre un·e employé·e « idéal·e » et son contraire.
Zusammenfassung: Der folgende Artikel plädiert für einen Kritikbegriff, der Kritik als öffentlichen Meta-Diskurs konzipiert, welches es Subjekten ermöglicht, all jene Logiken und Rationalitäten, die so-ziales Leiden verursachen, zu erkennen, zu re-artikulieren und zu re-konfigurieren. Veranschaulicht wird dies anhand einer Analyse der spezifischen Kritikformen bzw.-modi innerhalb der von flämisch-nationalistischen Politikern initiierten Debatte um die vermeintliche Relativität von Rassismus. Die Analyse dieser Debatte orientiert sich hierbei an einer interpretativen und funktionalen Konzeption der Diskursanalyse. Für diese Analyseheuristik ist eine Operationalisierung des poststrukturalistischen Ar-tikulationskonzepts zentral. Im Zuge der Untersuchung werden verschiedene Arten und Weisen der kritisch-diskursiven Intervention in diese Debatte identifiziert. Dadurch können gleichsam die Grenzen bzw. Grenzmarker der »Rassismus-ist-relativ-Debatte« skizziert werden: hegemoniale Ansprüche, ideo-logische und metalinguistische De-Legitimierungen sowie Konkretisierungsstrategien. Die identifizier-ten kritischen Interventionen wurden von einer Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Akteure (Bürger, Aktivisten, Wissenschaftler und Politiker) innerhalb verschiedenster Medienpublikationen, im Zeitraum zwischen 2013 und 2015, artikuliert. Die Grenzen politischer Interpretationsräume werden von sozialen Akteu-ren durch dieses Spiel diskursiver Interventionen verhandelt und herausgefordert. Der folgende Artikel veranschaulicht, dass die meisten Kritiken der Behauptung, Rassismus sei relativ, die diesem rassisti-schen Diskurs zugrundeliegenden Logiken und Artikulationsformen nicht radikal genug herausfordern bzw. untergraben. Auf theoretischer Ebene sollte er zudem DiskursforscherInnen für die Differenzie-rung spezifischer Kritikmodi sensibilisieren, da nur durch eine solche differenzierende Identifizierung die komplexen Artikulationsformen einer öffentlichen Debatte angemessen analysiert werden können.
Die zentrale Figur ist die siebzehnjährige Sarah, die als Tochter eines marokkanischen Vaters und einer deutschen Mutter in einem Gymnasium zwei Leistungskurse in Deutsch und Sozialwissenschaften besucht. Sie sieht sich auf Grund ihrer ungezügelten Intelligenz, ihrer rebellischen Art und ihrer interkulturellen Biographie in ihrer Schule tendenziell als eine Außenseiterin. In der Schule hat sie mit LehrerInnen „aus altem Schrot und Korn“ zu tun. Mit ihren top-down pädagogischen Methoden stehen diese für ältere strukturalistische Tendenzen in der Soziologie und Linguistik. Ihre Eltern dagegen, die die pragmatisch-interaktionistische Wende in diesen Disziplinen personifizieren, sind von dem liberalen und kritischen Geist der 1970er Jahre getragen. Sarah ist kein Kind, das sich einfach mit den Rollen arrangieren würde, die an es herangetragen werden. Immer wieder unterläuft sie die in der Schule vorgeschriebenen Regeln, entzieht sich den normativen Erwartungen ihrer Eltern und verwickelt sich in kritische theoretische Auseinandersetzungen mit ihren FreundInnen.
We invite authors to examine the relationship between concepts such as propaganda, ideology, hegemony and discourse in today’s digital environment. Both empirical and theoretical contributions are welcome.
The notion of propaganda was seminal to the field of communication studies in the beginning of the 20th century. It derives its negative connotations from the way mass media have been intentionally used by state and corporate actors for partisan interests. Even though the term ‘propaganda’ may have grown out of fashion – both inside and outside of academia – its practices have not.
Notions such as ‘public relations’, ‘advertising’, ‘political marketing’, ‘public diplomacy’, ‘political marketing’ and ‘advocacy’ have now transplanted propaganda even though they often refer to similar discursive strategies of persuasion or (dis)information. As the term ‘propaganda’ grew less popular new terms emerged in order to label similar communication strategies that shape contemporary discourse and communication until this day.
Many critical approaches in discourse studies have treated propagandistic modes of communication through the lenses of ‘ideology’, ‘hegemony’, ‘discourse’ and ‘power’. However, whereas all propaganda is ideological, not all ideology manifests itself as propaganda. Likewise, whereas all propaganda operates through discourse and communication, not all discourse or communication performs the function of propaganda.
Different forms of critical discourse studies have paid attention to ideological phenomena, but the term propaganda is remarkably absent from this field of inquiry. This may be explained with reference to underlying theoretical premises of specific discourse theoretical and discourse analytical approaches, a hypothesis that may also be explored at this conference.
In a global context marked by ‘a return of the political’, by an intensification of political debates across the political spectrum, and by a (re-)articulation of old and new political fault lines crossing local, regional, national and/or transnational contexts, the seemingly outdated notion of propaganda may provide a useful entry point for examining the (partially) strategic modes of communication practiced by activists on all sides of the ideological spectrum.
If propaganda is no longer associated exclusively with traditional institutional actors such as the state or corporations, the political and communicative strategies of social and political actors such as eco-activists, AltRight trolls, neoliberal think tanks or the peace movement may be (re)thought in terms of propaganda. This brings us back to the old question whether (specific forms of) propaganda hinder or facilitate democracy. It also leads us to explore uses of digital and algorithmic propaganda in contemporary populist projects.
Regardless of the question whether and how the term propaganda is used, ‘strategies’ of white, black and grey propaganda are practiced on an everyday basis while new ways of doing propaganda continue to be developed. In fact, propaganda practices are constantly being adapted to specific social, political and technological developments. As new technologies become available, the range of actors able to practice propaganda expands.
We welcome contributions that focus on the multimodal propaganda strategies and material (text, images, video, digital content, digital education, algorithms, Virtual Reality) of states, political parties, and corporate actors. We equally welcome contributions focusing on the communicative activities of social movements, think tanks, algorithms, advertising agencies, social media and public relations counselors. All abstracts fitting one or more of the following themes will be considered but we also leave space for interesting contributions that may not be that easy to classify:
• Theme 1: Conceptual and methodological issues for studying activism and propaganda
• Theme 2: Historical and contemporary transformations in activism and/or propaganda
• Theme 3: Democratic and anti-democratic modes of discourse, communication and ideology
• Theme 4: Digital and multimodal forms of activism, persuasion and disinformation
• Theme 5: Transdisciplinary dialogues on discourse and communication as propaganda and/or activism
• …
We especially welcome papers that rethink the notions of propaganda and activism in relation to key concepts in discourse studies. Such notions include power, subjectivity, reflexivity, critique, identity, context, language use and multimodal communication. Papers may also focus on the ethical problems that come with propagandistic activities. For instance, what does propaganda mean for notions such as knowledge, political correctness, freedom of speech or critical awareness?
As the field of discourse studies is inherently transdisciplinary, we welcome authors from disciplines as varied as communication science, psychology, sociology, philosophy, literature, media studies and linguistics. Likewise, we seek to provide a forum for all methodological and theoretical orientations provided that the authors connect with the themes outlined in this call for papers.
Comparative discourse studies of populist projects across the ideological spectrum are rare. Leftwing populist projects have received less attention and are not always analysed under this header. The signifier populism seems to be connoted differently by political actors in the South and in the NorthEast of Europe. Whereas radical leftwing actors in the South frequently equate populism and democracy, leftwing thinkers in the North of Europe generally take the opposite stance. This is reflected in the fact that most critical discourse studies have focused on rightwing manifestations of populism. Because of radically different connotations of populism, it is unlikely that a consensus about the term will be reached. Nevertheless, because of the shared formal structure of these ideologies, a comparative perspective is warranted. In the edited volume titled 'imagining the peoples of Europe' we will collect discourse studies that focus on the way ‘the people’ is labelled, addressed, conceptualised, and interpellated in different ideological projects across European regions and nationstates. This common focus on ‘the people’ - e.g. de mensen (Dutch); das Volk or d ie Menschen (German); el pueblo or la gente (Spanish); les gens or le peuple (French) allows for a cross European comparative perspective.
Put differently, we seek to collect papers focusing on the way notions of ‘the people’ are articulated with other concepts and identities. For instance, what are the characteristics of the people imagined? And how are its friends, allies, adversaries and opponents constructed across a range of multimodal media formats and discursive tropes? And what does this tell us about the dynamics of democratic and/or populist politics?
We welcome contributions from all perspectives in the transdisciplinary field of discourse studies, ranging from linguistic pragmatics and multimodal discourse analysis, over critical ethnography, critical discourse analysis and discourse historical analysis to poststructuralist discourse theory, and anything in between or beyond. We welcome both qualitative and quantitative research projects. The main criterium for selection will be the topical focus of the contribution.
Please submit your abstracts here before August 15th, 2016. Abstracts should be no longer than 550 words. In order to submit your abstracts, you will need to log in on discourseanalysis.net . If you do not have a profile yet, you can create one on the DiscourseNet website.
Once logged in, you can upload your abstract to the webpage for the book project Imagining the Peoples of Europe (see link). In order to go directly to the module for uploading abstracts, click here. Please read the instructions for uploading your abstract carefully and do not forget to push the ‘submit abstract’ button. Don't forget to mention:
- Your research problem and/or the general topic of your paper
- Your discourse analytical and theoretical perspective(s)
- The type of data you will analyse in your paper
- The general methodological, theoretical or societal issues you want to address
- The overall argument you would like to make
The selection of abstracts will be made by September,1st 2016 and you will receive a letter of acceptance or rejection in the week thereafter. Authors of accepted abstracts will then be offered a letter of commitment in which they will be asked to declare that they will deliver the full text of their paper on January 31st, 2017.
The book will be published with an international publisher and will be edited by Jan Zienkowski and Ruth Breeze.
This book will be published with the support of: the Spanish MINECO Project FFI201565252R titled E l “demos” en el imaginario de la nueva politica: el debate sobre la voluntad popular en el discurso público en Europa; and the GRADUN project of the Instituto Cultura y Sociedad at the University of Navarra, Spain.
For more information: jzienkowski@unav.es .
discursivity, the nodal point, the empty signifier, logics of equivalence and difference, as well as a brief introduction the Lacanian approach to discourse and subjectivity. The chapter also discusses new tendencies in poststructuralist discourse theory. Special attention goes to the subfield of fantasy studies, to inquiries into the logics of populism, as well as to theoretical and empirical explorations of the discursive-material knot. The final section of this chapter provides a brief discussion of the way lin-
guistic pragmatics and poststructuralist thought might be articulated together and enrich each other. If linguistic pragmatics offers insight into the pragmatic dimension of articulatory practices, highlighting the importance of reflexive awareness, choice-making, and indexicality in discourse (Verschueren 2011, 1999; Robinson 2006), discourse theory
offers a powerful explanative framework for the human impulse to find meaning in productive but vain attempts to fix the boundaries of identities, groups, and entire societies.
Collard, A.-S., Patriarche, G., Zienkowski, J., Ramioul, M., Jacques, J., & Fastrez, P. (2019). Chapter 7: How can digital media literacy be further integrated in team and distance work structurs and practices in order to support effective, stimulating and meaningful ways of working? In J. Jacques & A.-S. Collard (Eds.), Digital media literacy in teamwork and distance work: competences discourse and organizational design (pp. 213-220). Namur: Presses Universitaires de Namur.
work; (2) the concept of “newness” in discussions of DML and new ways of working (NWOW); (3) DML as a social construct; (4) implications of collaborative and distance work for well-being; (5) the issue of digital (social) inclusion; (6) the role of technology; and (7) management in team- and distance work. These issues were selected on the basis of their salience in contemporary debates on office work and their relevance for the different theoretical and empirical approaches applied in the project.
Jacques, J., Zienkowski, J., Philippette, T., Ramioul, M., Patriarche, G., & Collard, A.-S. (2019). Chapter 6: Digital media literacy in collaborative and distance work: building bridges to key organizational dimensions and challenges. In J. Jacques & A.-S. Collard (Eds.), Digital media literacy in teamwork and distance work: competences discourse and organizational design (pp. 187-211). Namur: Presses Universitaires de Namur.
apparatus. The authors base their analysis on principles derived from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Poststructuralist Discourse Theory (PDT) (Fairclough, 1992; Glynos & Howarth, 2007; Zienkowski, 2017). They analyze interviews conducted with employees (managers, team leaders and team members) working in a selection of public and private enterprises where NWOW are being or have been implemented. The authors show that celebrations and critiques of NWOW are both marked by complex articulations of norms, values, practices, and identities that follow specific interpretive logics. The analysis shows that even though office workers generally use several logics to embrace celebratory NWOW discourse, many of them are able to engage in a limited form of critique regarding real or potential perverse effects of NWOW. At times they even rely on certain logics in order to develop micro-resistances to specific aspects of the NWOW apparatus without calling its 'raison d’être' or constitutive logics into question. Nevertheless, truly oppositional critiques remain rare and do not necessarily lead to actual practices of resistance. Overall the analysis demonstrates the extent to which celebratory accounts of WOW enjoy a relatively high degree of hegemony on the work floor.
Zienkowski, J., Dufrasne, M., Derinöz, S., & Patriarche, G. (2019). Chapter 5: Re-shaping the managerial logics of office work: discourse and subjectivity in office cultures applying New Ways of Working (NWOW). In A.-S. Collard & J. Jacques (Eds.), Digital media literacy in teamwork and distance work: competences, discourse and organizational design (pp. 131-186). Namur: Presses Universitaires de Namur.
http://www.litmeatwork.be/publications/digital-media-literacy-in-teamwork-and-distance-work.pdf
Zienkowski, J. (2017). Articulations of self and politics in activist discourse: A discourse analysis of critical subjectivities in minority debates. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature. xix + 451pp.
Jan Zienkowski. (2017) Articulations of Self and Politics in Activist Discourse. A Discourse Analysis of Critical Subjectivities in Minority Debates. Palgrave. ISBN 978-3-319-40703-6, £109.99. (hb) Reviewed by Thomas Jacobs (Ghent University)
doi 10.1075/jlp.18035.jac