Why Discourse Matters

Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. (PhD, University of Missouri) is Director of the Institute for International Journalism and Associate Professor of Journalism in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. He is author of African Media and Democratization (Lang, 2011) and editor of the International Communication Research Journal (ICD-AEJMC), effective August 2014. Monika Weronika Kopytowska (PhD, University of Lodz, Poland) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Pragmatics at the University of Lodz. She is co-editor of Lodz Papers in Pragmatics and associate editor of CADAAD Journal.

«It is heartening to come upon a volume for which the chapter authors not only represent multiple countries – but to as well have a preponderance of Africa-connected authors. Because I believe that the twenty-second century will be Africa’s, I see this ambitious collection as startlingly prescient. The co-editors have brought together a wide-ranging group of writings in this impressive volume.» (Anne Cooper-Chen, Professor Emerita, Ohio University)«The editors are right to focus on the fact that identity is a major reason why discourse matters. What is certainly needed is for linguists, cultural analysts, sociologists, psychologists, and other scholars to provide detailed descriptions and to raise questions. The present book offers an extraordinarily diverse array of such studies.» (From the Preface by Paul Chilton)

• Contents: Paul Chilton: Why Discourse Matters: Negotiating Identity in the Mediatized World – Monika Weronika Kopytowska/Yusuf Kalyango, Jr.: Introduction: Discourse, Identity, and the Public Sphere – Mei Li Lean/Maya Khemlani David: Media Discourse as a Double-Edged Sword in Ethnic Integration – Li Zeng/Zhiwen Xiao/Khalat Tahat: Terrorism and Middle East Identity on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya Websites – Laura Filardo-Llamas/Elena González-Cascos Jiménez: Memory and Identity in the Public Sphere: Northern Irish Murals – Enakshi Roy: Identity, Discourse and Cultural Signifiers in Indian Game Shows – Monika Weronika Kopytowska: Pictures in Our Heads: Crisis, Conflict and Drama – Godwin Etse Sikanku/Margaret Ivy Amoakohene: Media Discourse of President Barack Obama in Sub-Saharan Africa – Yusuf Kalyango Jr./Jared Henderson: New York Times Rhetorical Discourse Framing of Two Gadhafian Protégés – Kate Azuka Omenugha: Reading Images: African Women in the British News – Bryan McLaughlin/Hemant Shah: Agent of Change or Compromise? Jesse Jackson’s 1988 Presidential Campaign – Jared Henderson/Yusuf Kalyango, Jr.: The Ideology of Sexuality in Media Discourse and Text – Ashley D. Furrow: Framing Discourse and the Collective Memory of College Athletics – Christopher Hutton: «Soft» and «Hard» Theories of Identity: Orientalism, Aryanism, and Race – Piotr Cap: Proximization, Threat Construction, and Symbolic Distancing in Political Discourse – Padmini Banerjee/Myna German: Religious-Ethnic Identities in Multicultural Societies: Identity in the Global Age – Majid Khosravi Nik: Critical Discourse Analysis, Power, and New Media Discourse – Bob Hodge: Discourse Analysis and the Challenge of Identities – Monika Weronika Kopytowska: Discourse Matters: Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries.