Introduction to Discourse Analysis

To most people, discourse simply means discussion. For academics however, it is far more than that. Discourse covers all forms of communications. It can be argued that communication shapes the world we live in. To communicate, we draw from assumptions and generally accepted knowledges, to make statements that will make sense to others. By doing so, we either reinforce those challenges or reinforce them, but either way, we are contributing to the flow of commonly accepted knowledge, known as discourse.

The French philosopher and sociologist Michel Foucault is known to be a famous discourse theorist.

(Figure 1, Michel Foucault)

Foucault was interested between the relation of knowledge and power. He examined what people in France held to be true about the nature of crime and how they sorted to protect society from it. He then showed how the concepts and theories that people have on the subject gravitate about certain themes and certain points of time. He also showed that we can explore these themes by analyzing what has been said and what has been written on these subjects (the conventions, values, norms, habits,…). He then demonstrated how this discourse shaped political decisions on what to do with those who transgressed against society’s norms and values. For Foucault, discourse crystalizes into political institutions with for instances police offices or prisons all with a technology that aim to discipline society. Those measures have real consequences on how people live their lives. Foucault paid close attention to the ways various institutions and practices defined what it was to be human.

 

(Figure 2, The Presido Modelo Prison in Cuba – An example of disciplinary technologies, modelled after the Panopticon that Foucault analyzed)

Foucault was interested in the question of how the power worked instead of why power works the way it does (Rose, 2012, p. 194). Discourse is powerful because human subjects are produced through discourses (Rose, 2012, p. 192). Rose explains Foucault ideas that “our sense of our self is made through the operation of discourse. So too are objects, relations, places, scenes: discourse produces the world as it understands it” (Rose, 2012, p. 192). Therefore, power, instead of being something imposed from the top, “is everywhere since discourse is everywhere” (Rose, 2012, p. 192). Moreover, some discourse where more powerful than others because they claimed the absolute truth and “the construction of claims to trust lies at the heart of the intersection of power/knowledge” (Rose, 2012, p. 193).

As Rose (2012) explains it, “the notion of discourse is central to both Foucault’s theoretical arguments and to his methodology” (p. 190). Discourse “refers to groups of statements that structure the way a thing is thought, and the way we act on the basis of that thinking” (Rose, 2012, p. 190). In other words, “discourse is a particular knowledge about the world which shapes how the world is understood and how things are done in it” (Rose, 2012, p. 190). Discourses are articulated through all sorts of practices such as visual images, language, texts,… As Rose (2012) notices it, “the diversity of forms through which a discourse can be articulated means that intertextuality is important to understanding discourse” (p. 191). Indeed, discursive image or text depend also on the meaning carried by other text or images.

The method Rose describes as the discourse analysis I pays attention to images and to their social production and effect and thus addresses questions of power/knowledge. The discourses are expressed through different sources (images, texts…) so the first step in doing analysis discourse is to think carefully about what sort of sources are needed. Some sources will be more productive or particularly interesting but then others coming from others research might complement those ones. This intertextual search should end when the researcher thinks that there is “enough material to persuasively explore its intriguing aspects” (Rose, 2012, p. 199). Having intriguingly texts is a starting point for a discourse analysis.

Rose mentions iconography which method can be used in to approach images in discourse analysis I. Iconography is defined as “the branch of the history of art which concerns itself with the subject matter or meaning of works of art, as opposed to their form” (Rose, 2012, p. 202). It need however a thorough grounding in historical context to be successful. However, one should be careful when building an argument as with intertextuality, different meanings can be given to themes by different texts or images. Therefore, discourse analysis “depends on reading with great care for detail” (Rose, 2012, p. 219). Moreover, discourses are complex, and one of the emphasis of discourse analysis is the complexity and contradictions internal to discourse (Rose, 2012, p. 217). For example, with the Contagious Disease Act of 1860s, campaigners against this one expressed that it was actually men who spread the disease, and usually bourgeois ones visiting working-class prostitutes (Rose, 2012, p. 219). As Tonkiss says “the discourse analyst seeks to open up statements to challenge, interrogate taken-for-granted meanings, and disturb easy claims to objectivity in the texts they are reading. It would therefore be inconsistent to contend that the analyst’s own discourse was itself wholly objective, factual or generally true” (Rose, 2012, p. 222). Therefore, one should acknowledge that choices are made in choosing what to discuss, or emphasizing such materials at the expense of others.

In summary, the discourse analysis described here by Rose imply looking at your sources with fresh eyes; immersing yourself in your sources; identifying key themes in your sources that appear among the different materials; examining their effects of truth; paying attention to their complexity and contradictions; looking for the invisible as well as the visible; and paying attention to details. It also implies that the social location a discourse’s production is important to consider in relation to its effects (Rose, 2012, p. 221).

Elliott argues that Starbucks has created a regime of truth by creating an identity around coffee and creating their customers their identity as coffee drinkers. The brand wants to give the idea of authenticity, quality and exotism with coffee beans coming from different places in the world.

(Figure 3)

Elliott argues that in aiming to be seen as a authentic and fairtrade brand, Starbucks is actually the core of orientalism and what westerners see and want to consume from the East. Starbucks is only reinforcing the idea which they are claiming not to be part of. The repetition of Starbucks’ discourse is seen as normal because it has created a regime of truth, but Elliott questions this discourse and consider that Starbucks is presenting itself as a global brand but is actually reinforcing the power relation that the western coffee (and world) is normal compare to eastern countries.

(Figure 4)

(Figure 5)

In studying this discourse, Elliott immerse herself in all the materials Starbucks produce for its brand to create a regime of truth. She emphasis the contradiction Starbucks’ discourse has in claiming to be an authentic coffee house when what it does is actually reinforcing the orientalist view of Western opposed to the East and that our own western consumer culture is based on exploiting non-western culture.


Sources:

Elliott, C. (2001). Consuming caffeine: The discourse of Starbucks and coffee. Consumption Markets & Culture, 4(4), pp.369-382.

Rose, G. (2012). Visual methodologies. 1st ed. London: Sage.

 

Images sources:

Featured Image: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2017, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/8623886644

Figure 1. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2017, from http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/essais/20121106.OBS8175/daniel-defert-les-archives-de-foucault-ont-une-histoire-politique.html

Figure 2. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/87538786479524326/

Figure 3. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457326537135191030/

Figure 4. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2017, from http://www.noemieblum.com/starbucks/

Figure 5. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2017, from http://bradhoffmann.com/2013/03/27/starbucks-sexuality-and-slavery.html

 

 

 

 

 

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