A Critical Discourse Analysis of Power and Ideology in Ilhan Omar’s Victory Speech

Abstract

Critical Discourse Analysis supports the idea that there are hidden meanings in discourse which should be analysed beyond the borders of the structure of a text. Concepts like power and ideology are examples of these meanings. Such concepts can be discovered through analysing discourse critically. Critical discourse analysis is of great importance, as it is the tool through which these hidden meanings are explained. In the present study, Ilhan Omar’s victory speech, who is an American Muslim politician and a member of the Congress, is analysed to reveal power and ideology in her speech. The methodology used in this study is Fairclough’s three dimensional approach (2015). These three dimensions are: textual analysis, discursive practice , and social practice. This study follows a qualitative quantitative method because it is devoted to describe power relations and hidden ideologies depending on the theoretical framework of the adopted model. Moreover, it has also been utilized to give accurate descriptions in terms of the frequencies and percentages in the occurrence of each dimension. The most important conclusions of the study are: (i) with respect to textual analysis, vocabularies are the most commonly used by Ilhan Omar, and (ii) concerning discursive practice, presupposition is used more than intertextuality