Discursive Mobility Research Articles

Representações do candomblé em Tenda dos Milagres: a ficção televisiva e suas simbologias

This text derived from a survey on the religiosity afro-Brazilian, especially candomble in the TV series Tent of Miracles, inspired by the work of Jorge Amado. In the light of Lopes (2004), Jost (2007), and Martin-Barbero (2004), among others, it deals with the enjoyment of fictional television genre in addition to the intention of truth, the mobilization of the memory and the imagination of the public, since through this it becomes possible to approximate the specific traditions of a people. From this perspective, the fiction is permeated by discursive and plasticity mobility flows, suitable conditions for movement of thoughts, images, symbols and meanings that serve as keys to interpretation of identitary and socio-historical-cultural processes. Privileging the entanglement with the sphere of afro-Brazilian belief, the article describes some fragments of audiovisual product, identifying religious symbols and myths, in addition to interviews with practitioners of religious strand, in order to think and understand the representations constructed by fiction. As a more expressive result, the study found that the TV series appreciates the cultural expressions, the ethnic identity and religiosity of the multifaceted Bahian people, despite the stigmas and prejudices (Goofman, 1988) related to the traditions of candomble, forging the visibility of fiction television in its convergence with the social reality. Keywords: Tent of Miracles, TV fiction, candomble.

Priming the Nation for War: An Analysis of Organizational Origins and Discursive Machinations of the Serb Democratic Party in Pre-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990–1992

This article examines the role of the Serb Democratic Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina (SDS BiH) in the constitution of Bosnian Serbs as a palpable political group primed for violence, a process that took place in the two-year period preceding the 1992–1995 Bosnian War. In the November 1990 Bosnian elections, SDS BiH won a decisive majority of the vote of ethnic Serbs. Yet, SDS was not an ordinary political party. In the 16 months that followed the elections, it initiated a series of activities that eroded the power of BiH institutions to which it had been elected. SDS BiH declared its own organs superior to those of BiH and established exclusive control in Serb-majority areas. In early 1992, it united these areas into a single Serb Republic, formed an exclusively Serb armed force, and launched a campaign of murder and expulsion of non-Serbs from the territory under its control. This article examines discursive mobilization of affective sensibilities of ethnic Serbs as an important aspect of SDS's ability to gain a mass following of Bosnian Serbs for its ethno-territorial engineering. It offers a discussion of progressive homogenization of ethnic Serbs by looking at SDS's organizational origins and the evolving rhetorical strategies in the period from the party's inception until the onset of the war.

Un-fixing Baker: Against a Criticism of Stasis

Much of the biographical and critical work on Josephine Baker seeks to recuperate Baker from discursive and visual layers of racialized colonial vestments and proposes to repair her story by putting Baker in the role of agent. This locks Baker into a counter-narrative that minimizes the complexity and context of her performances; arguably, these methods lose sight of the aesthetic and political implications of a dancing body that incorporated and put into motion wildly disparate elements and influences. The methodological problems posed by the nature of Baker's work present an opportunity to develop a critical approach that resists fixity in favor of mobility. Methodologies that sustain discursive mobility will equip our critical work to engage with the aesthetic production of the dancing body. In the case of Baker and perhaps more widely, we might draw upon emerging methods that shift critical foci from solid arguments to mobile analyses.

Civil Society Movements and the ‘Twittering Classes’ in the Postcolony: An Indian Case Study

Using Partha Chatterjee's insights on the formation of ‘civil society’ and how this is distinct from ‘political society’, this paper theorises the mobilisation of popular support via social media during the so-called ‘anti-corruption movement’ in India in 2011. It tracks the main themes of the civil society-led movement's Twitter feeds during two crucial phases of fasting by its self-proclaimed Gandhian leader, Anna Hazare. This highlights the mixing of nostalgic pre-independence discourses with new media savvy and provides a means of contextualising what such discursive mobilisation means for contemporary political formations in a post-colonial society such as India. The case study also sheds light on the urban- and middle-class-centred nature of the protest and its preference for media over electoral representation—this is in line with Chatterjee's conceptualisation of a civil society that undermines the authority of the state and excludes the rural and urban poor.

Framing the High North: Public Discourses in Norway after 2000

The article presents an overview of the main public debates in Norway that can be said to have framed and defined the High North since the turn of the Millennium. It is based on a qualitative study of over 3000 articles published in four Norwegian newspapers issued between 2000 and 2006. Our discussion is structured around three overarching, interconnected narratives that we think capture the essence of the Norwegian public discourses on the High North between 2000 and 2006. These are “Fragments from the 1990s”; “The great narrative of the High North”; and “Mixing cold water with hot blood”. The first half of the 2000s is characterised by an almost total absence of the High North as a discursive and politically coherent concept. From 2004, however, usage grew fivefold, alongside an extensive, dynamic discursive mobilisation. When the Russians decided in 2006 to shelve the Shtokman project and critical voices were heard condemning Norway's environmental performance in northwest Russia, public opinion swung back again. A feeling of cold reality replaced the sense of optimism towards the energy potential of the north, and an exercise in collective soul-searching commenced – similar to that of the early years of the decade. We believe the type of discursive change we document in this article constitutes policy trends in connection both with the High North and with other sectors where policy is subject to intense public debate and appraisal. We hope that discourse analysis has enabled us to investigate and share how Norwegian public discourses on the High North are socially produced, framed and maintained but at the same time are always in flux and open to “new” directions which should be possible – at least in theory – to trace by going back in time.

Approaching the North: Norwegian and Russian foreign policy discourses on the European Arctic

The aim of this article is to identify Norwegian and Russian official foreign policy discourses on the European Arctic, and how perceived challenges are understood, framed and presented by the governments in their respective countries. The article makes use of discourse analysis to grasp how the Norwegian “High North” strategy is framed by the Norwegian government and, likewise, how the Russian approach to the European Arctic is framed by the Russian government. The empirical foundation is a study of primary texts such as white papers, official reports, speeches and strategies. We find that the Norwegian approach to the High North features in a powerful official discourse resulting from a robust and broad domestic discursive mobilization. The Russian approach is that of an increasingly assertive nation for which the zero-sum game and relative gains seem to be the main rationale, judging by the official discourse. The Russian approach is not as coherent or based on a broad discursive mobilization as in Norway’s case.We identify energy, security, the economy and the environment as key discursive nodal points that the foreign policy discourses of the two countries evolve around: we find that both countries regard the European Arctic’s potential as a future energy province to be the region’s most prominent aspect. The discourses show that energy is regarded to be of vital national interest, but the countries have differing perceptions on international cooperation. However, as the countries have some important common frames of references, a favourable climate for extended future cooperation could be further developed.

Approaching the North: Norwegian and Russian foreign policy discourses on the European Arctic

The aim of this article is to identify Norwegian and Russian official foreign policy discourses on the European Arctic, and how perceived challenges are understood, framed and presented by the governments in their respective countries. The article makes use of discourse analysis to grasp how the Norwegian “High North” strategy is framed by the Norwegian government and, likewise, how the Russian approach to the European Arctic is framed by the Russian government. The empirical foundation is a study of primary texts such as white papers, official reports, speeches and strategies. We find that the Norwegian approach to the High North features in a powerful official discourse resulting from a robust and broad domestic discursive mobilization. The Russian approach is that of an increasingly assertive nation for which the zero-sum game and relative gains seem to be the main rationale, judging by the official discourse. The Russian approach is not as coherent or based on a broad discursive mobilization as in Norway’s case.We identify energy, security, the economy and the environment as key discursive nodal points that the foreign policy discourses of the two countries evolve around: we find that both countries regard the European Arctic’s potential as a future energy province to be the region’s most prominent aspect. The discourses show that energy is regarded to be of vital national interest, but the countries have differing perceptions on international cooperation. However, as the countries have some important common frames of references, a favourable climate for extended future cooperation could be further developed.

Nostalgia, Melancholy, Anxiety: Discursive Mobility and the Circulation of Bodies

Nostalgia, Melancholy, Anxiety: Discursive Mobility and the Circulation of Bodies

Situating local experience of risk: Peripherality, marginality and place identity in the UK foot and mouth disease crisis

Research into exposure to, and experience of, environmental risk that has an explicitly spatial focus can be broadly differentiated into two strands. The first strand focuses on the responses of communities of exposure (or the threat of exposure) to some form of environmental hazard and to the policies put in place by institutional actors to manage the hazard. The second strand addresses social inequalities in exposure to environmental hazards and seeks to correlate uneven spatial distributions of risk across different social groups. It is argued that both strands are limited by their respective understandings of space – and that the way in which vulnerable communities experience environmental risk and its management will be shaped significantly by the complex interactions of different spatialisations or constructions of space. We explore this process by examining accounts of local experience of the UK’s 2001 foot and mouth disease crisis and its management in terms of the interplay of two different spatialisations: socio-cultural marginality and political–economic peripherality. We trace the relationship between these cultural and political–economic spatialisations through an analysis of the discursive mobilisation of contrasting place rhetorics. We conclude that focusing on these rhetorics can enhance our understanding of the spatial processes which are constitutive of place identity and in turn mediate the experience of environmental risk and its management.

Discursive Mobility and Double Consciousness in S. Weir Mitchell and W. E. B. Du Bois

Here are two stones about double consciousness: they will become, eventually, stories about the public sphere: W. E. Β. Du Bois formulating the theory of double consciousness, and S. Weir Mitchell presenting Mary Reynolds's case history, an instance of a mental disorder known in the nineteenth century as double consciousness. I will begin with Du Bois's story, by far the most familiar to us: few texts are more central to contemporary rhetoric or cultural studies than the discussion of double consciousness in

Developing Identities: Indigenous Mobilization, Rural Livelihoods, and Resource Access in Ecuadorian Amazonia

In the 30 years since Ecuador’s agrarian reform, indigenous organizations have had a major impact on the country’s institutional, political and natural landscapes. Originally formed largely in accordance with state-prescribed models, and with considerable guidance from external institutions, these organizations have worked to defend existing land claims; access institutional, financial and natural resources; and make civil rights claims against the state. Regional and national indigenous organizations have mobilized discourses of cultural identity in strategic ways in order to achieve these goals. This paper examines the scalar linkages between the processes of economic and social transformation in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the ways in which indigenous organizations have responded to these changes since the country’s agrarian reform. I argue that the material and discursive mobilization of identity has been central to the aims of accessing resources and claiming political rights. Through a comparative case study of a regional indigenous federation and one of its constituent base communities, I highlight the differences between organizational histories, capacities and aims. Most studies of indigenous movements in the Amazon Basin have considered only regional or national organizations, often giving a false impression of homogeneity within such movements. I contend that detailed analysis of the relations between regional secondary-level indigenous federations and local base communities, as well as the micro-level processes of production and resource mobilization at the community and household scales, is crucial in understanding indigenous organizing processes in Ecuador today.