Theories of discourse: poststructuralism, feminism and sociolinguistics
Terry Threadgold
8 or 12 points
* 2.5 hours per week
* First semester
*
Clayton
Objectives On successful completion of this subject students should have developed an understanding of contemporary approaches to discourse analysis in linguistics, learned to read and understand a number of alternative approaches, and developed sufficient understanding of critical discourse analysis to use it effectively in a range of contexts.
Synopsis The subject will focus on a variety of approaches to discourse analysis from the perspective of recent critical, literary and feminist theory. This subject will be structured around four major areas. The first includes formal approaches which construe discourse as text. The second covers modes of analysis which have taken discourse to mean conversation. The third will deal with the critical approach to discourse that is typical of the work of continental discourse theorists like Foucault, Bourdieu and de Certeau. The fourth will explore feminist approaches to language, semiotics and discourse (Deborah Cameron, Julia Kristeva, Teresa de Lauretis, and a number of Australian feminists). The subject will ask questions about the possible relations between these approaches and try to develop the resources for critical and politically informed kinds of discourse analysis in a variety of contexts and fields.
Assessment (8 points) Discourse Analysis (2000 words): 30%
*
Seminar paper (1500 words): 30%
* Essay (3000 words): 40%
Assessment (12 points) Discourse Analysis (2000 words): 30%
*
Seminar paper (3000 words): 30%
* Essay (4000 words): 40%
Recommended texts
Ang I Living room wars Routledge
Bourdiere B Language and symbolic power Polity Press
Butler J Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity Routledge
Cameron D Feminism and linguistic theory Macmillan
de Certeau M The practice of everyday life U California P
de Lauretis T Alice doesn't: Feminism, semiotics, cinema Indiana U P
Fairclough N Language and power Longman
Foucault M Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison Allen Land
Foucault M Language, counter-memory, practice: Selected essays and interviews OUP
Halliday M A K Explorations in the functions of language Arnold
Smith D Texts, facts and femininity Routledge
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