Discourse Analysis

Question 1

Post-structuralist approach to language (? & ?)

Answer 1

Barthes and Derrida
No single definitive meaning in a text
Meaning of events, objects, identities, etc. constantly being constructed / contested

Question 2

Foucault discourse

Answer 2

1980
Meaning of ‘objects of governance’ must be established and constantly reinforced through discourses
Power of discourse is generative - subjects internalise them and act in the world accordingly

Question 3

Defining discourse analysis re. environmental politics (?;?)

Answer 3

Hajer and Versteeg 2005
Discourse = ideas/concepts through which meaning is given to things; produced and reproduced through practices
Shape what can be thought; delimit policy options
Eco-speak - disciplines societies
Storylines = multiple interpretations = political coalition

Question 4

Green governmentality (?;?)

Answer 4

Rutherford 2007
Discourse of fragile, limited earth necessitates its regulation, management and governing
Sustainable development discourse = about management
Biopower - through science the environment is brought into being and becomes an object of analysis and management e.g. ecology = a power/knowledge regime
Subject formation = productive; technologies of the self = become more virtuous subjects

Question 5

Green governmentality - Local Action Plan on Climate Change, Portland, Oregon (?;?)

Answer 5

Rutland and Aylett 2008
Aim = reduce CO2 emissions
Step 1 - create a ‘governable object’ = statistics; narrow definition to render ‘local emissions’ governable
Step 2 - cultivate ‘self-regulating’ subjects = create environmental subjects
Residents seem themselves in pounds of carbon per year

Question 6

CDA of tourism firms (?;?)

Answer 6

Nilsen and Ellingsen 2015
Tourism firms in Norway
Interviews and participant observation
Three discourses - neoclassical economic, environmental economics, and ecological economics
Hegemonic power of neoclassical economics hampers an environmental focus - power exerted through position of indifference = impairs discussion on environmental matters

Question 7

CDA of GM Nation? 2003 (?;?)

Answer 7

Attar and Genus 2014
Transcripts of the public meetings and emails and comments on the website
Ideological discourse of neoliberal economics –> constraints and issues of power in public engagement re. kinds of arguments that they thought would be valid
- ‘Consumer’ over ‘citizen’ identity
- Rationalisation = key legitimation strategy (not morality or ethics)

Question 8

3-D framework for CDA (?;?)

Answer 8

Fairclough 2003
Text–>discursive practice–>social practice
= map three forms of analysis onto one another
discursive practice = text production, distribution and consumption
social practice = intertextuality, broad context

Question 9

Balance as bias (?;?)

Answer 9

Boykoff and Boykoff 2004
US prestige-press coverage of global warming
Adherence to balance led to informational bias re. anthropogenic climate change

Question 10

Effectiveness of environmental impact assessments (?;?)

Answer 10

Rozema and Bond 2015
re. HS2 and A4DS motorway Netherlands
Interviews with key stakeholders and documentary analysis of documents put out by civil society groups
EIA effectiveness = ability to accommodate civil society discourses
Justification - flawed economically and bad CBA –> not accommodated - didn’t consider no-action alternative
Party politics - vehicle for electoral gain –> not accommodated - supposed to be apolitical
Conservation - AONB –> was accommdated