Rechtspopulistische und faschistische Rhetorik: ein Vergleich

"The relationship between fascism and right-wing populism is a complex one. Again and again, fascist rhetoric integrates populist elements such as the rhetorical figure of 'synecdoche' and the argumentation scheme named 'topos of the people' or - if the argumentation is fallacious - 'argumentum ad populum'. This article investigates both common features and differences between the two kinds of rhetoric. It explains in which sense fascist rhetoric is more radical than right-wing populist rhetoric, as it is the case with respect to the call for violence and the discursive construction of the enemy. It looks at the role of mass-communication and it discusses various forms of the phatic function of language, which plays an important role in fascist and right-wing populist rhetoric. On the whole, the text argues that neither fascist nor rightwing populist rhetoric can be seen as being internally homogeneous and unchanging. Rather, they are historically situated and change according to the political position from which they are articulated, e.g. from Opposition to government." (author's abstract

Discursive Representations of Controversial Issues in Medicine and Health

This editorial is meant to introduce a thematic issue of LCM that addresses representations of controversial issues in medicine and health from the perspective of discourse analysis. Due to their high relevance in everybody’s lives, it comes as no surprise that such issues figure prominently in public debates. Some of the most controversial among them are abortion, medical use of marijuana, euthanasia and assisted suicide, end-of-life care, life support for the terminally ill, gene editing, genomic medicine, donor insemination, surrogacy, to name but a few, in a context where the production and the consumption of scientific information involve, affect and (dis)connect multiple actors, stakeholders and multiple publics, sub-publics as well as counter-publics. It is a picture of remarkable complexity where different values, opinions and beliefs are shaped by a multiplicity of social and cognitive factors. This editorial deals with a few general aspects, providing some background to the more specific studies presented in the articles included in the issues.3reservedmixedGiuliana Elena Garzone; Maria Cristina Paganoni; Martin ReisglGarzone, GIULIANA ELENA; Cristina Paganoni, Maria; Reisgl, Marti

Discourses of cultural heritage in times of crisis:The case of the Parthenon Marbles

The paper focuses on the commodification and politicisation of cultural heritage using as a case study the ongoing debate on the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the U.K. to Greece, recently reignited by the press release for the movie The Monuments Men in 2014. Greece has been in the throes of a severe financial crisis for over six years with the ever imminent threat of Grexit constantly disputed. In parallel with this ongoing turmoil, discourses of Greek antiquity have been persistently prominent in the media. In this context, we problematise the complex nexus of relationships between the financial crisis, national identity and cultural heritage. We combine the Discourse-Historical Approach and Interactional Sociolinguistics drawing data from an online forum, and investigate how the users negotiate pro-/anti-return positions and make the financial crisis relevant in the argumentation process. The analysis shows that history, identity, value, and debt are recontextualised in relation to the Parthenon sculptures. The analysis identifies an underlying process of value trade off and brings the current political and economic environment to the fore. We close the paper by foregrounding the implications of our study and provide directions for further research

80,000,000 hooligans. Discourses of resistance to racism and xenophobia in German punk lyrics 1991-1994

The late eighties and early nineties in Germany were not only marked by the fall of the Wall and German unification, but also by the dramatization of the political issue of asylum, resulting in outbreaks of xenophobic violence. In the context of the asylum debate of the early nineties, a number of punk bands produced songs between 1991 and 1994 which criticise the xenophobic climate created by the asylum debate and undermine an exculpatory official discourse about the violent attacks. The lyrics of these songs will be analysed as instances of counter-discourse emerging from a subcultural sphere that nurtures a critical distance towards hegemonic public and political discourse, arguing that Critical Discourse Analysis should pay more attention to defiance of hegemonic discourse

"Der Balkan" in der Krone: Austria between "frontier Orientalism" and amnesiac nationalism

This article traces the “silent inscription” of (former) colonial relations in the European integration project to their re-inflection in an EU-sceptical medium. To do so, this contribution draws on a corpus of data comprising news-coverage, commentaries and readers’ letters published in Austria’s largest newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung, whose reach, influence and leanings are well-known. The analysis considers the Krone’s representations of, and discursive references to, “the Balkans” during the crises-littered period between 2009 and 2017. For analytical purposes this discussion focuses on a sub-sample of invocations of “the Balkans” in the Krone, which have appeared with growing frequency since 2015. Conceptually, the discourse-analytical notion of the topos, or argumentative structure, and anthropological literature on “identity grammars” inform the analysis. The discussion reveals continuities with Austria’s historically long-established representational regimes of South-Eastern Europe, and novel discursive features. A contemporary paternalism is shown to re-appropriate the nineteenth-century topos of Austria’s alleged “civilizing mission” and what André Gingrich (2005) has described as Central Europe’s “frontier Orientalism”. Further, preoccupations with “the Balkan-route” and its closure articulate a topos of external threats tied to recent migration flows. The article reflects on an “amnesiac nationalism”, and its post-imperial entanglements, that are currently re-shaping the European Union

Discourse and religion in educational practice

Despite the existence of long-held binaries between secular and sacred, private and public spaces, school and religious literacies in many contemporary societies, the significance of religion and its relationship to education and society more broadly has become increasingly topical. Yet, it is only recently that the investigation of the nexus of discourse and religion in educational practice has started to receive some scholarly attention. In this chapter, religion is understood as a cultural practice, historically situated and embedded in specific local and global contexts. This view of religion stresses the social alongside the subjective or experiential dimensions. It explores how through active participation and apprenticeship in culturally appropriate practices and behaviors often mediated intergenerationally and the mobilisation of linguistic and other semiotic resources but also affective, social and material resources, membership in religious communities is constructed and affirmed. The chapter reviews research strands that have explored different aspects of discourse and religion in educational practice as a growing interdisciplinary field. Research strands have examined the place and purpose of religion in general and evangelical Christianity in particular in English Language Teaching (ELT) programmes and the interplay of religion and teaching and learning in a wide range of religious and increasingly secular educational contexts. They provide useful insights for scholars of discourse studies to issues of identity, socialisation, pedagogy and language policy

‘I think it's absolutely exorbitant!’: how UK television news reported the shareholder vote on executive remuneration at Barclays in 2012

The most publicised rebellion during the so-called ‘Shareholder Spring’ of 2012 was at Barclays PLC. Using multi-modal and critical discourse analysis, this paper examines how three UK television channels with different public service obligations covered this story on 27 April 2012. It finds that broadcasters’ regulatory obligations do not obviously impact content and that, for example, simple reporting routines contain judgemental phrases. Generally, the multi-dimensional nature of executive pay is simplified and the real balance between private and individual shareholders is obscured. Analysis also reveals that editing and the use of images can subtly construct discourses that may not reflect the reality of the dissent. The paper concludes that established criticisms that business journalism is indolent and that corporate discourses are privileged are not supported, but also that the coverage contributes little to promote wider understanding of executive pay debates