Faculty First Year Seminars 197EDU18 - Discourse and Power
Fall
2017
01
1.00
Denise Ives
W 1:25PM 2:15PM
UMass Amherst
42272
Our social worlds?our sense of what is
natural or normal, what is possible or desirable, or who is powerful or not?is constructed through language in use, or discourse. In this seminar students will be introduced to methods for critically analyzing discourse. Critical discourse analyses examine the role of discourse in shaping possibilities for human action, constructing social actors as particular kinds of people, and in maintaining power relations. Questions guiding this seminar include what is discourse analysis, what kinds of problems can DA help solve, how has DA been used in various fields, what are some traditions of discourse analysis, how is discourse analytic knowledge useful in everyday life. Students will conduct a discourse analysis during the class.
natural or normal, what is possible or desirable, or who is powerful or not?is constructed through language in use, or discourse. In this seminar students will be introduced to methods for critically analyzing discourse. Critical discourse analyses examine the role of discourse in shaping possibilities for human action, constructing social actors as particular kinds of people, and in maintaining power relations. Questions guiding this seminar include what is discourse analysis, what kinds of problems can DA help solve, how has DA been used in various fields, what are some traditions of discourse analysis, how is discourse analytic knowledge useful in everyday life. Students will conduct a discourse analysis during the class.
Freshmen Only