Popular in Professional

Culture and Society

The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place

New York University Harvey Moltoch

Education

The Role of Education in Reducing Racial Inequality

University of Southern California Pedro A. Noguera

Law

Diversity and Social Mobility in the UK legal profession

Law Society I. Stephanie Boyce

Internet Law

The Law of AI for Good

University of San Diego Orly Lobel

Pharmacy

Cytotoxic Activity and Anti-Migratory Effect of Berberine-Phytantriol Liquid Crystalline on Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

University of Technology Sydney Kamal Dua

Human Rights Law

Transforming Restorative Justice for Transitional Settings

University of Nottingham Kerry Clamp

Education

Why Critique Should not Run out Of Steam

View more insights in Professional - Journalism and Media

View more figures from University of South Florida

View the page of Mariaelena Bartesaghi

Read the Study

· Tools Cite Embed

Mariaelena Bartesaghi deconstructs CDA’s unaccountable intentionality, hiddenness, and hegemony. The study shows how unaccountable claims can hinder critical discourse.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 29, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month.

Workspace

<< >>

Video Summary
Similar Studies
AI Chat
Key Points
Key Quotes
Summary Translate
Full Transcript

Export as PDF

This video video discusses the proliferation of critical work, specifically in the field of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The speaker expresses concern over the ambiguity of the term "critique" and its implications for their own work. They reflect on their understanding of critique and the potential disconnect between critical analysis and actual emancipatory change in social practice. The speaker critiques traditional CDA for its focus on deconstruction without necessarily facilitating real-world change. They argue that effective critique should be practical, moving towards reconstructive purposes instead of merely emphasizing critique itself. This video video proposes a shift from a purely critical approach to a more applied one, where insights from analysis are made accessible and collaborative for those experiencing power asymmetries in their contexts. The speaker highlights the importance of reflexivity in analysis, recognizing that researchers are part of the very structures they study. They emphasize the need for language in critical discourse studies to be understandable and actionable, enabling transformation in social practices. Ultimately, the text advocates for the reorientation of critical discourse studies towards meaningful, practical action that aims for emancipation rather than just critique for its own sake.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.015 --> 00:03.365
There is a proliferation of critical work.

00:03.585 --> 00:08.485
And so that the, the term critique as a, as a prefix to

00:09.485 --> 00:11.485
analysis has proliferated.

00:12.345 --> 00:13.725
And it's unclear

00:13.955 --> 00:16.045
what this actually should mean if we all

00:16.095 --> 00:18.525
understand critique the same way.

00:19.625 --> 00:23.025
Um, and it, it seems,

00:23.205 --> 00:26.505
to me like work that is not,

00:27.675 --> 00:30.665
introduced as critical, then becomes less critical.

00:31.125 --> 00:33.585
And, so this is a problem

00:33.585 --> 00:35.985
because I always thought I was doing critical work.

00:36.165 --> 00:37.905
So what is the meaning of critique?

00:38.405 --> 00:41.985
Am I not doing critical work if I do not, say

00:41.985 --> 00:44.705
that I am doing, critical discourse analysis?

00:45.085 --> 00:47.745
So as a discourse analyst, this, this bothered me.

00:48.325 --> 00:52.065
Um, there's, there's also,

00:52.585 --> 00:56.585
probably I confess a distaste with what I, understood

00:56.645 --> 00:59.745
to be the, the purpose of critical discourse analysis,

00:59.885 --> 01:03.865
the claims made of an emancipatory, effort

01:03.925 --> 01:05.705
of critical discourse analysts.

01:06.005 --> 01:10.465
And I wanted to make the idea of critical

01:10.725 --> 01:13.705
and the, the premises of critical discourse analysis,

01:13.705 --> 01:17.105
subject of empirical investigation themselves.

01:17.165 --> 01:20.065
So the, the topic, the topic of analysis,

01:20.605 --> 01:23.825
and also I wanted to undertake a reflexive move

01:23.885 --> 01:28.385
to understand my own understanding of what is critical and,

01:28.405 --> 01:29.625
and my own analysis.

01:30.545 --> 01:35.185
Critical discourse analysis is a project that evolved to,

01:36.525 --> 01:39.785
to sort of, dispute the,

01:40.125 --> 01:41.865
the leading chomsky

01:42.205 --> 01:45.705
and cesareans understanding of, of language that

01:46.295 --> 01:48.145
perhaps still prevail,

01:48.685 --> 01:52.465
but certainly prevailed, in, in the 1960s

01:52.725 --> 01:53.785
and and seventies.

01:54.165 --> 01:57.665
Um, the assumptions of the Chomsky

01:57.665 --> 02:01.705
and cesarean approaches is that we should focus on,

02:02.065 --> 02:05.505
a sort of orthodoxy of how language should, should be

02:05.805 --> 02:09.665
as opposed to how language is actually practiced and used.

02:10.405 --> 02:15.145
And so, the, the impetus of critical linguistics,

02:15.405 --> 02:16.505
of, of Fowler

02:16.525 --> 02:20.505
and Cress, also halladay, which which came

02:20.565 --> 02:23.145
as a response, to this was that

02:24.065 --> 02:26.865
language is shot ideologically through and through.

02:27.155 --> 02:29.265
There is no escaping,

02:29.635 --> 02:32.225
right from the ideological purpose of language.

02:32.365 --> 02:35.345
And so we we're looking at language,

02:35.965 --> 02:40.705
in its political context as a doing, as as action.

02:40.885 --> 02:42.785
And so we're looking at language in use,

02:43.165 --> 02:47.345
and we're looking at language as grammar as not,

02:47.445 --> 02:49.665
an orthodoxy of how it should be

02:50.125 --> 02:55.065
or as a universal, universal structure as,

02:55.085 --> 02:58.705
as Tomsky would have it, but as, as competence and,

02:58.845 --> 03:01.965
And as a doing, and this doing is, is political.

03:02.185 --> 03:05.165
It it, it it is within a social context.

03:05.945 --> 03:09.605
So this is the, the premise of critical discourse analysis

03:09.865 --> 03:11.565
and,

03:12.045 --> 03:15.325
critical discourse analysis gained traction mostly due

03:15.325 --> 03:18.765
to the, the work of Van D**e,

03:19.345 --> 03:20.525
AK and Faircloth.

03:21.105 --> 03:24.085
And they're all, European scholars.

03:24.145 --> 03:27.205
And a and a lot of cri critical discourse analysis is

03:27.205 --> 03:28.605
still European focused.

03:29.465 --> 03:31.165
Um, perhaps

03:31.165 --> 03:35.605
because Europeans are more sensitized to the political

03:35.825 --> 03:39.565
and ideological, thrust

03:39.665 --> 03:42.165
of language than, than than the us.

03:42.365 --> 03:43.805
I, I actually work in the us

03:43.825 --> 03:48.045
but I am a European, so, so there's more sensitization

03:48.425 --> 03:51.725
to, to what's going on in the world, perhaps,

03:52.405 --> 03:55.965
I don't know, but it is still, even to this day, mostly,

03:56.025 --> 03:59.205
you know, a, a European, practice enterprise.

04:00.505 --> 04:04.245
My critique of critical discourse analysis is that

04:04.395 --> 04:07.165
with this premise though, it has a premise of emancipate

04:07.805 --> 04:08.925
emancipation, right?

04:08.985 --> 04:13.885
Uh, the, a movement, an emancipatory, intent

04:15.625 --> 04:16.725
to me,

04:18.565 --> 04:21.045
focusing on deconstruction and critique.

04:21.265 --> 04:25.165
If we believe that discourse constitutes our social world

04:25.425 --> 04:27.565
and is, is action within our social world

04:28.085 --> 04:30.725
focusing on critique, no matter how stunning,

04:30.865 --> 04:32.845
and well executed this critique is

04:33.435 --> 04:36.645
recreates the very conditions that we are trying

04:36.665 --> 04:38.005
to emancipate from.

04:39.065 --> 04:43.565
So, if we, so the, the critique

04:43.565 --> 04:47.885
of ideology in a sense has to work through,

04:48.785 --> 04:53.645
assumptions of intentionality, hiddenness of purpose,

04:54.225 --> 04:57.725
what I call an, an ontology of, of the critical

04:58.265 --> 05:00.725
and, implicit oppression.

05:00.785 --> 05:04.365
So, so deciding these things, so the analyst would, would,

05:04.385 --> 05:08.845
decide these things ahead of time in a sense, know

05:08.955 --> 05:11.525
what power is, and know where power lies

05:12.225 --> 05:15.965
and with the danger of replicating, the, these very,

05:16.455 --> 05:18.125
these very assumptions and

05:18.125 --> 05:19.805
therefore not liberating us at all.

05:20.705 --> 05:25.365
So the, the enterprise of critical discourse studies

05:26.015 --> 05:29.685
moves away, from, from the

05:30.955 --> 05:35.165
sort of the normative, practice of,

05:35.225 --> 05:37.965
of CDA, and in fact, moves away by saying

05:38.075 --> 05:39.525
that this is a practice,

05:39.905 --> 05:41.725
and in order for it to be a practice,

05:42.185 --> 05:46.005
it should be practical, it should make a difference,

05:46.015 --> 05:48.285
difference, in order for emancipation

05:48.345 --> 05:49.445
to actually happen.

05:49.945 --> 05:54.125
Uh, critique should be, a reconstruction

05:54.145 --> 05:56.605
of social practice in order to

05:57.375 --> 05:59.365
Enact change in social practice.

06:00.145 --> 06:04.165
And, so not just for the deconstructive purpose,

06:04.425 --> 06:06.485
but for a reconstructive purpose

06:07.265 --> 06:10.965
and for this reason, takes up, different sorts of,

06:11.145 --> 06:12.405
approaches.

06:13.505 --> 06:15.965
Um, not just a textual based approach,

06:16.825 --> 06:19.285
but a multimodal approach,

06:19.505 --> 06:22.565
and attention to, to bodies

06:23.025 --> 06:25.325
and, embodied experience.

06:26.185 --> 06:28.725
Um, and let's see, and,

06:28.745 --> 06:32.965
and also a reflexive, a reflexive, sensibility

06:33.745 --> 06:35.405
toward our own assumptions,

06:35.405 --> 06:37.365
because in fact, we cannot escape

06:38.025 --> 06:41.325
as analysts from the very structures

06:41.955 --> 06:44.565
that we intend to dismantle.

06:44.865 --> 06:47.805
We are part of them, and academia is certainly part of them.

06:48.075 --> 06:52.605
What what is interesting is that CCDA already had,

06:53.385 --> 06:56.685
and perhaps it wasn't, emphasized as much, but,

06:57.065 --> 07:00.845
but has an, a critique of itself embedded within it.

07:01.505 --> 07:05.645
Um, and so of, of, you know, the, the potential,

07:07.705 --> 07:10.045
the, the potential limitations, okay?

07:10.105 --> 07:12.645
So had, has a critique embedded within it.

07:12.785 --> 07:16.445
And, and so critical discourse studies takes up this

07:16.725 --> 07:20.165
critique and wants to,

07:20.785 --> 07:23.445
my understanding is that it, it wants to,

07:23.455 --> 07:24.885
focus on the tensions

07:24.885 --> 07:27.725
between doing this work isn't acknowledgement

07:27.945 --> 07:32.165
of the analytical tensions in an examination of,

07:32.305 --> 07:33.405
of, of discourse.

07:34.585 --> 07:38.085
And, I, in, in, in this paper,

07:38.405 --> 07:41.365
I noticed the tensions, you know, I, I I wanted

07:41.425 --> 07:43.125
to call myself accountable

07:43.125 --> 07:45.845
or make myself accountable to these tensions of,

07:46.345 --> 07:49.965
of a unilateral and analyst led critique,

07:50.235 --> 07:54.605
because when, when, you know, we, we, assume power

07:55.185 --> 07:58.645
and we assume ideology going into an analysis,

07:59.585 --> 08:00.605
we will find it.

08:01.585 --> 08:05.405
So this is, the, the reflexive move, on, on,

08:05.755 --> 08:10.085
analyzing our own practices of finding the very things,

08:10.595 --> 08:13.005
that, that we assume to be there.

08:13.225 --> 08:15.725
And it is very seductive,

08:15.865 --> 08:17.525
to perform this sort of analysis.

08:18.285 --> 08:21.205
I wouldn't say easy, because it is, you know, it, it,

08:21.205 --> 08:23.605
it is done very well and very carefully.

08:23.865 --> 08:28.365
But, there is once, once you presume power

08:28.585 --> 08:30.525
and ideology, hegemony

08:30.585 --> 08:33.725
and oppression, it will, will be,

08:34.145 --> 08:36.965
you'll be facilitated in a sense as an analyst

08:37.705 --> 08:39.085
to find it in the data

08:39.345 --> 08:42.685
and not let the data tell you something you don't know.

08:43.105 --> 08:47.005
What's interesting is that in, in creating suggestions, you,

08:47.065 --> 08:50.765
you run across or right, the, the very same problems

08:50.765 --> 08:52.005
that you have critiqued.

08:52.625 --> 08:54.605
Um, some suggestions

08:54.675 --> 08:57.685
Come from, from c critical discourse studies.

08:57.945 --> 09:01.285
For instance, a very radical suggestion is Bartlett's,

09:02.005 --> 09:04.805
proposal for a positive discourse analysis.

09:04.945 --> 09:08.085
So instead of a critical discourse analysis, let's move

09:08.105 --> 09:12.565
to look to look at how, how, the

09:13.165 --> 09:16.645
critique could be in fact, turned around to,

09:16.785 --> 09:18.885
to affect positive change.

09:19.225 --> 09:23.005
So, if we, if we take, if we take

09:23.005 --> 09:27.155
what we learn from a critique, where do we go from there?

09:27.335 --> 09:29.035
How can people actually use it

09:29.535 --> 09:31.475
and apply it in their own lives?

09:31.655 --> 09:35.435
So there is a, there is a, an effort

09:35.855 --> 09:39.115
to do research in, in applied settings, for instance,

09:39.175 --> 09:42.995
in organizations so that insights can be fed back

09:43.495 --> 09:46.155
to the people who would find these insights useful.

09:46.335 --> 09:50.355
So it is not a top-down analyst led analysis,

09:50.615 --> 09:54.115
but it is more, I would say it is more meaningful

09:54.215 --> 09:58.195
and collaborative with people who live in the setting,

09:58.255 --> 10:02.425
and are experiencing the, the, the,

10:03.285 --> 10:04.665
the asymmetries, right?

10:04.665 --> 10:08.585
The, the power asymmetries that, that we, we theorize about.

10:09.565 --> 10:13.745
So how can we make this firstly, one of the critiques

10:13.745 --> 10:18.425
of CDA is that its language, is, is,

10:19.485 --> 10:23.945
is is so specific that it, it is not necessarily meaningful

10:24.045 --> 10:28.585
to, to the people who it should be talking, who it talks,

10:28.645 --> 10:32.995
to the people who are theorized

10:33.295 --> 10:36.795
and, therefore subject, of this critique.

10:36.815 --> 10:39.395
So it should be understandable, and

10:39.395 --> 10:43.075
because it, it is understandable, it can,

10:43.095 --> 10:45.675
it is practical and it, it is usable.

10:46.295 --> 10:48.795
It is usable, and because it is usable,

10:49.145 --> 10:52.595
therefore it can lead to different sorts of action

10:53.095 --> 10:55.795
and different sorts of action are not just a matter

10:55.795 --> 10:57.755
of critique, but are a matter of doing.

10:58.735 --> 11:02.375
And, by changing action,

11:02.715 --> 11:06.375
you can aim toward emancipatory, purposes,

11:06.705 --> 11:09.295
which is in fact, the, the aim.

11:09.475 --> 11:13.975
So the, the move is from critique for the sake of critique.

11:13.995 --> 11:16.415
Of course, it's never for the sake of critique, but,

11:16.555 --> 11:20.255
but the, the stunning, virtuosity of, of a,

11:20.315 --> 11:25.175
of a critique to, the everyday, you know,

11:25.315 --> 11:27.375
the, the perhaps mundane, I don't know,

11:27.375 --> 11:31.215
more mundane practicality of what people can, can do with,

11:31.285 --> 11:33.255
with a, with critical reflection.

Faculti AI can make mistakes