Post-Critical Discourse Analysis: Examining the Case of the Student Wellbeing Discourse

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines how the critical tradition initiated by Nietzsche and pursued through post-structuralism might be compatible with what is currently being described as post-critique. It does so by looking at the example of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The first section gives some indications about the state of the methodology currently known as critical discourse analysis and introduces what a “post-critical” reaction could look like. The second section focuses on a concrete example and presents the main critical literature about the student wellbeing discourse, showing that it generally limits itself to a debunking attitude. The third section explores how the affirmative and creative dimension of critique, its “post-critical” dimension has been and could be put forward to contribute to what could be called a post-critical discourse analysis methodology