Critical Discourse Analysis Approach Research Articles

Amplification of regional discrimination on Chinese news portals: An affective critical discourse analysis

Regional discrimination is a significant social issue that leads to divided societies. In China, people from Henan Province, who are verbally abused by non-Henan users on the Internet, are often victims of regional discrimination. This article presents a case study of Chinese Internet users’ discriminatory practice against Henan people in the commentary sections of two major Chinese news portals – Tencent and NetEase. By advancing an affective critical discourse analysis approach with the assistance of content analysis, I analysed user comments on news reports that covered a news event relating to regional discrimination against Henan people. The analysis showed that Internet users’ discriminatory practice was notably amplified by the locative IP-address function in NetEase’s commentary section. The research findings shed light on the interplay between Internet users’ discursive practice and the technological architecture of interactive digital platforms in the context of regional discrimination.

ISLAMIST NEWSPEAK: The Use of Arabic Terms as a Form of Cultural Hegemony in Political Communication by Muslim Fundamentalist Groups in Indonesia

Within Indonesian contemporary political discourse, fundamentalist groups are implementing a linguistic manipulation of Arabic terminology in order to influence the thinking of wider public. Prolific use of Arabic terminology in religious and political discourse is employed by such groups to baffle the thinking of impressionable audience. This study examines the use of Arabic terms by two Islamist groups in Indonesia, namely the Islamic Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam/FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI). It uses in-depth interviews with leaders of those organizations combined with a critical discourse analysis approach. It examines the use of three key Arabic termsjihad khilafah and habibto illustrate how the meaning of those words has been distorted compared with their generally accepted Indonesian definitions. The paper theorizes that this practice conforms to Gramscian notions of cultural hegemony, that a ruling elite manufactures the consent, loyalty and discipline of a mass of followers to uncritically conform to the preferred thought of the hegemony.

MEMBEDAH ANATOMI FIQH SIYASAH DALAM PUTUSAN MAHKAMAH KONSTITUSI TENTANG PRESIDENTIAL THRESHOLD

The Constitutional Court sets presidential threshold as an open legal policy or open law policy for legislators. In other words, presidential threshold as stipulated in Act Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections, especially in the article 222, does not contradict to the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945 and its accordance with efforts to maintain government stability. Although this decision left two constitutional judges dissenting opinion since it was issued, the decision is relevant to the fiqh siya>sah construct concerning the need to maintain government stability through determining sufficient conditions in the selection process for the head of state. Borrowing Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, the decision is in accordance to the fiqh siya>sah dictum for two reasons. First, there is a religious dogma which states that a head of state must come from the strongest clan through prophet tradition (al-hadis) states, al-aimmatu min-quraysyin. Second, in the fiqh siya>sah tradition, any policy can be formulated as long as the benefit of the people can be achieved. The stipulation of strict prerequisites is not intended to obstruct the right of a mukallaf to be elected as head of state, but aims to achieve other interests that are greater and benefit society, in the form of advocating for the rights of the state, ensuring a sense of security, and the realization of religious values in social life.

The Indonesian Government Imagery in the Instagram Comic strip with Covid-19 Themed

At the beginning of 2020, there has been the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus to various countries resulted in a pandemic. Indonesia is one of the countries affected, so the government provides a policy that is expected to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases. The policy issued has drawn criticism from various parties, one of which is the cartoon mice comic, this comic is one of the comics that often comments on social life and the Indonesian government with its comic strips posted on Instagram. This study aims to find the image and role of the government depicted in mice cartoon comics in overcoming Covid-19 in Indonesia, therefore there is a need for analysis and research with descriptive methods and critical discourse analysis approaches to see how the image of the Indonesian government in comic mice cartoons. The results of the analysis of the two comics concluded that the image of the government displayed in the comic strip did not only come from the author's idea but also based on the news that emerged from the government's response to the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Indonesia, with an image style that was distinctive from mice cartoon comics. With this research, the researcher hopes that it can become a recommendation in making comic narratives, especially those discussing social life and government, and can be a reference for research that has the same object.

Exploring Gender Ideologies in Social Media Jokes During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract This paper investigates contemporary gender ideologies as manifested in social media during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Using a Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis approach, the author analyses jokes in memes and news items posted through social media in the form of videos, pictures, and texts. Specifically, it focuses on how gender stereotypes and ideologies are constructed and sustained through humour, in several themes built upon gendered representations. The author analyses the complex configuration of factors such as beliefs, stereotypes, and ideologies, which, closely interwoven, form the tapestry of the gender order. Additionally, in order to establish the constancy of gender ideologies over time and across cultures, a correlation is made between the gender ideologies reflected in proverbs and those manifested in the internet memes. The study contends that the complex role of humour enhances the subtle propelling of gender stereotypes and ideologies and ultimately, the existing gender status quo.

Comparative Analysis of Indonesian Presidents’ Identities in Wayang during the Reformasi Era

This study comparatively analyses the allusion and analogies of Indonesian Presidents’ by wayang characters and stories. It particularly interrogates how wayang characters and lakon allude and mediate the personal and political identities of Indonesian presidents in the Reformasi era. The study focuses on the portrayal of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jokowi during Reformasi era. The study is a qualitative research and deploying Textual and Critical Discourse Analysis approaches. These are to examine how language in the selected wayang kulit and wayang golek stories, as a form of social and cultural practice, constructs the personal and political identities of the presidents. Central to the analysis, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in most cases alluded as Semar, and his association with selected lakon significantly inform on the political and personal identities among Indonesians and the International community. On the other hand, Jokowi is alluded to as Petruk but presenting contradicting allusions and analogies in Indonesian politics. Generally, findings suggest that the portrayal of Indonesian presidents’ identities by wayang characters and in the lakon is never fixed. The change of political atmosphere and failure to meet peoples’ expectations culminate in changes on the portrayal of political and personal identities of presidents.

Prospects and Implications of Students Politics in Educational Institutions of Pakistan

The objective of this study is to critically analyse the problems of students politics in the educational institutions and know about its prospects and implications. This is an important phenomenon playing crucial role in a democratic states like Pakistan. Students politics is an important research problem. There are many underlying questions like what is the importance and prospects of student politics? What are its implications? Why it leads to violence how it can be overcome and more result oriented? Students are the leaders of tomorrow therefore student politics in educational institution of a democratic state like Pakistan is very important phenomenon. It has many prospects like most of the mainstream top seed politicians are the product of student politics, providing educated and well-trained political leaders and workers, strengthen political participation, increase turnout, helpful to address the issues of students and create sense of political awareness, but at the same time it has also many implications like student unions are working as pressure groups, organize strikes, marches, using force against opponent groups, wasting student’s precious time in off-campus activities, intoxication and developed weapon culture. This research is a qualitative in nature and based on critical discourse analysis, descriptive and analytical approaches.

Retratos sobre a migração na série televisiva brasileira “Portugal pelos Brasileiros”

Neste artigo, focamos na relação entre o discurso midiático e as migrações a partir da perspectiva das representações sociais. Analisamos o caso do fluxo de imigração brasileira em Portugal que vem aumentando nos últimos anos, conforme retratado na primeira temporada da série televisiva brasileira “Portugal pelos Brasileiros”. Utilizamos a abordagem da Análise Crítica do Discurso para entender como a significação da experiência migratória está incorporada na série por meio das representações sociais. Como resultado, pudemos identificar que os novos imigrantes brasileiros em Portugal são retratados de maneira parcial e excludente, por meio de um discurso midiático ancorado em traços culturais e socioeconômicos específicos.

Readibility, Meaning, and Function of Foreign Language on Billboards in Surakarta: A Critical Discourse Analysis

This research aims to describe the use of foreign languages on billboards in Surakarta. This research was a single case study obtained from the objective data of billboards along Slamet Riyadi Street Surakarta. The data sources were from the commercial billboards considering several criteria that have been determined in which the billboards should not be owned by either district government or individual, for campaign purposes, made in 2018, and so on. Those billboards are billboard from Gofood, McDonald's, and Samsung Galaxy Note9. Subsequently, effective data were obtained through observation and interview from informants in readability process. Manifestation of billboard as a form of discourse generates meaning based on critical discourse analysis approach. In addition to the function of billboard as marketing aspect of the company, it also functions to deliver important information, knowledge, and educative information for the readers. This research results show that the readability, meaning, and function of foreign languages assumption on advertisement of billboard are different from the marketing concept. Nonetheless, an emergence of foreign languages provides space for the readers to learn the vocabulary in facing globalization era. Moreover, it also reminds us not to forget the existing culture in Surakarta.

The Discourse of Covids-19 Pandemic Policies in Indonesia

Since covid-19 has become pandemic, an abundance of coronavirus news fills the mass media throughout the world. The pandemic is constructed verbally from various perspectives for many purposes. In Indonesia, the discourse of the pandemic is not only about the disease, but also about other social issues related to the pandemic. Through certain discourses, the text producers may present various meanings. This study purposes to uncover social meanings presented in the discourses constructed by the mass media regarding the Indonesian government policies to cut the Covid-19 pandemic. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, the researchers analyze clauses containing three terms: Isolasi Mandiri, PSBB, and local lockdown from 28 downloaded texts. The focus of analysis is on the selection of lexico-grammar used to represent the policies to cut the chain of the pandemic. The result shows that there are three patterns in positioning participants regarding who has to take the responsibility for the implementation of the policies. The discourse about Isolasi Mandiri position residents as a party who has to be responsible and the government was positioned as the controller. The discourse of PSBB has positioned the government as a party that conducts and controls the implementation of the policies. The discourse of local lockdown represented that the policy was only as planning urged by the NGO and has not been conducted by the government. The context influencing the discourse is the socio-economic context. The discourses also show that the way media represented the policies is in line with the government agenda.

"It's Pure Panic": The Portrayal of Residential Care in American Newspapers During COVID-19.

Background and ObjectivesThis study examines the discursive construction of residential care during the COVID-19 pandemic in three leading American newspapers: The New York Times, USA Today, and The New York Post.Research Design and MethodsA total of 54 news articles between 21 January and 8 May 2020 were identified from the LexisNexis academic database for analysis. The articles were analyzed using both a critical discourse analysis approach and a thematic analytical framework.ResultsFindings indicate that residents’ voices are excluded and superseded by others, namely their family members. Literary elements were used to portray residential care as shockingly dangerous, deceptive, and problematic. Blame was often assigned to an individual or group according to the political tendency of the newspaper.Discussion and ImplicationsA cultural model of panic and dishonesty begins to take shape through the COVID-19 pandemic. Fearmongering and the portrayal of residential care as lacking transparency will likely create future mistrust of the industry. The depiction of vulnerability and the illusion of resident inclusion in the news coverage enable paternalistic decision-making and care practices in the name of supposed protection.

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: Women’s accounts of feigning sexual pleasure

Faking orgasm has been identified as a common practice among women and feminist scholars have probed the connections between the socio-cultural meanings associated with faking and heterosex. Expanding on this line of inquiry, feigning sexual pleasure was explored in interviews with 14 women who reported having sex with men. Using a feminist critical discourse analytic approach, we attend to the dilemma that was frequently evoked in women’s accounts. Participants explained that feigning sexual pleasure was done in order to protect their partners’ ego. However, participants also talked about faking orgasm as being problematic in the sense that it was “deceitful” and “dishonest”. These contrasting discursive patterns created a dilemma whereby faking was situated as “necessary” but “dishonest”. As a way of negotiating this dilemma, participants made a distinction between exaggerating sexual pleasure and faking orgasm. We posit that exaggeration can be interpreted as a form of material (during the sexual encounter) and discursive (during accounting of the encounter) disruption of dominant discourses of heterosex such as the orgasmic imperative. Drawing on Annamarie Jagose’s and Hannah Frith’s problematizations of the prevailing tendency to position orgasm as either “authentic” or “fake”, we discuss women’s negotiation of the limited constructions of “real” pleasure.

Appraisal and Party Positioning in Parliamentary Debates: A Usage-Based Critical Discourse Analysis

This article presents a corpus-driven study of evaluative discourses surrounding asylum seekers in parliamentary debates. It explores how Australian political parties have expressed unfavorable attitudes toward asylum seekers. These attitudes are operationalized by implementing Martin and White’s appraisal framework, which comprises affectual (affect), ethical (judgment), and aesthetic (appreciation) values. The findings reveal that the subcategories of affect, judgment, and appreciation are strategically deployed by both right- and left-wing parties. The right-wing discourse, conveying ethical values, emphasizes the difference between “in” and “out” groups, whereas the left-wing discourse, engaged in affectual values, demonstrates their humanitarian side. The study has also a methodological focus, namely, testing the feasibility of the behavioral profile approach in critical discourse analysis to obtain more replicable and reliable quantitative results. The method consists of the manual annotation of the corpus and multivariate statistical analysis.

What is the practice of spiritual care? A critical discourse analysis of registered nurses' understanding of spirituality.

Spirituality has been a part of nursing for many centuries and represents an essential value for people, including nurses and patients. Cumulative evidence points to the positive contribution of spiritually on health and wellbeing. However, there is little clarity about what spirituality means. The literature reveals that nurses have ascribed a diversity of interpretations to spirituality. However, no studies have investigated how registered nurses construct their understanding of spirituality using a critical discourse analysis approach. Therefore, the aim of this study was to uncover how registered nurses construct their understanding of spirituality using a critical discourse analysis approach. Twenty registered nurses from a non-denominational public hospitaland a faith-based private hospital were interviewed about their understanding of spirituality and practice of spiritual care. A critical discourse analysis approach was used in the examination of the interview texts to uncover underlying social and power features. Links were made between the linguistic features the registered nurses used in their interviews and the broader social context of the study. Three discourses emerged from the interview texts. These include constructing spirituality through personal religious beliefs discourse, holistic discourse and empathetic care discourse. The findings of this study have implications for nurse education and policy makers.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Selected Utterances of State Actors on the 2019 Xenophobic Attacks on Nigerians in South Africa

The study examined the discourse strategies employed by state actors in expressing their views on the 2019 xenophobic attack in South Africa. The objective is to examine how this group of people explores the provisions of critical discourse to shape and pattern their communicative intention. The data employed for the study were sourced from selected online media sources between September and November 2019. The study employed the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach with a particular focus on the Discourse Historical Approach framework proposed by Wodak (2001) as its theoretical springboard. The study established that different state actors from each of the countries under scrutiny engage in positive self and negative others presentation. This showed that from their discourses, it can be deduced that the state actors were all out to launder the image of their respective countries on the one hand and that of the kith and kin on the other hand.

Representation of Male Dominance in the Character of Heathcliff in E. Bronte' Wuthering Heights: A Critical Discourse Analysis

The present paper is the discursive interpretation of dominance and barbarity in Bronte's Wuthering Heights. The researcher's main aim of the study is to explore the issues under consideration through Critical Discourse analysis (CDA). It is the best way to address power relations and dominance. Fairclough's (1989) CDA approach is the basic tool for the analysis of any kind of discourse/text, i.e., spoken or written. CDA is suitable for the analysis of texts which deals with power relations, hegemony and dominance, as well as violence. The research examines the relationship between cognitive, textual as well as Socio-cultural levels of discourse. Fairclough's (1989) framework of CDA has been used in the current research study so as to maintain diverse methods for analyzing ideological processes and power relations in the text. Research on Heathcliff and other characters is also recommended from the perspective of feminism, stylistic or marxism

A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reports on Sino-US Trade War in The New York Times

Critical Discourse Analysis is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse regarding language as a form of social practice. As a specific discourse, news discourse is a representation of the journalists’ expression and construction of events, as well as readers’ understanding and cognition of the events reported. It functions as a carrier that transmits ideologies and social values. Recently, news reports on the trade conflicts between China and the US has been the focus of world attention. A study of news reports on Sino-US trade conflicts with Critical Discourse Analysis approach helps interpret the relation between language use and social contexts and reveal ideological significance and power struggle in language. Twenty pieces of news reports on China’s tariff actions on the United States, collected from The New York Times from 2018 to 2019 are studied and the result shows that the use of language in the news texts is not arbitrary, but rather dominated by the medium. The options of lexical expressions in news, the selection of clause types and the position of participants enable the medium to construct a negative image of China and to define China as an unfavorable country. The reasons deciding the language use in this discourse are the tension and balance of the power relation between the U.S. and China in the trade war, and the institution’s favor of the American interest, the American political hegemony and the advocacy of force.

Deceptive transparency and masked discourses in Ponzi schemes: a critical discourse analysis of MMM Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study examines specifically, the mission statement and ideology as discursive practices of the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM) Ponzi scheme. As the demand for transparency in governance, public and private practices increase, there is also a rising proliferation of counter forms of transparency in financial sectors. While studies have focused on the practices of transparency in the reports of public and private institutions, very little attention has been paid to the perils of transparency in mission statements of online scam practices such as Ponzi schemes that parade as transparent financial schemes. Using a critical discourse analytic approach, this study investigates Ponzi schemes in Nigeria and their ideology of a ‘transparent economic system’. These schemes claim to operate a mutual benefit fund for the poor and discourage individuals from investing in banks. The critical discourse analysis draws attention to masked discourses of MMM and examines how the transparent discourse of the MMM generally constitutes deceptive discourse. The findings of the study reveal that factual and political arguments and propagandas are strategies of negative other representation that attempt to discredit the government and other legitimate financial institutions and at the same time attempt to control the mind of the participants by presenting the schemes as reliable thereby defrauding their victims.

War songs and hope during the Second Chimurenga in Zimbabwe: a critical discourse analysis approach

War songs played a pivotal role during the struggle for independence in Zimbabwe. War songs provoked people’s thoughts, feelings and mood to fight for the liberation of the country. Slogans, songs and music that were sung and performed during the war of liberation, popularly known as the Second Chimurenga (1971–1979), instilled hope in both the liberation fighters and the masses as they gave them the strength to continue fighting until the attainment of independence. The war songs that were inextricably linked to the hard-fought struggle were the bedrock or cornerstone in boosting the fighters’ morale. Thus, the aim of the article is to discuss the pivotal role of war songs in winning the struggle against colonialism through instilling hope in both the masses and fighters. The language embedded in war songs oozed with power and urged the African fighters to soldier on despite all odds. Using critical discourse analysis of six war songs, namely Maruza imi (You have been defeated), Rova ngoma Mutavara (Hit the drum, Mutavara), Nyika yedu yababa (Our country, the land of our forefathers), Mhoroi mose mose (Greetings everyone), Tichafara tasvika muZimbabwe (We will be happy when we get to Zimbabwe) and Mbuya Nehanda kufa vachitaura (Grandmother Nehanda died speaking), the article argues that war songs are embedded with messages and emotions that give participants the vigour and energy to succeed despite the odds.

Migration and Migrants between the Favorable and the Problematic

Migration has significantly shaped the changing demographics of Turkey and the interplay between the self-image of the state and its citizens as elements of nation-building policies, dating back to the late Ottoman period. Although the effects of migration and its representations have been the subject of scholarly studies about collective memory, textbooks have largely been omitted from studies about migration. This article analyzes the topics and discursive strategies used to construct narratives of migration and migrants in secondary-level history textbooks by considering ways in which textbooks construct and transmit collective self-images. Adopting a critical discourse analysis approach, the author demonstrates how topoi are used to present a favorable or problematic image of migration.