Analyzing Political Engagement: the case of evolving political identities among the Moroccan Population of Antwerp, Belgium (1964-present) from a linguistic pragmatic and poststructuralist perspective

Zienkowski, Jan
(2008) GURT′08 Telling stories: building bridges among langugage, narrative, identity, interaction, society and culture — Location: Georgetown University (14.March.2008)

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  • Zienkowski, JanUSL-B
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Abstract
This poster investigates the possibilities of a rapprochement between (1) linguistic pragmatics conceived as the study of linguistic phenomena from the point of view of their usage properties and processes and (2) poststructuralist perspectives on discourse conceived as a relational totality of signifying sequences that consitute a more or less coherent framework for what can be said and done. Both traditions are infused with an awareness of the hybrid relationship between thought and reality. Consequently, they find themselves deeply concerned with pragmatic aspects of meaning generation. The hypothesis that both perspectives could be articulated into a coherent framework suited for empirical analysis, is to be tested by means of an analysis of (a) elicited discourse focussing on personal narratives of identity politics within migrant new social movements and of (b) publicly accescible data of various genres produced by representatives and sympathisants of these organisations from 1964 to present. Empirical ideology research on societal debates demands the inclusion of a variety of discursive genres as well as a variety of levels of analysis. Such levels include patterns of word choice, implication, and presupposition-carrying constructions, interaction profiles and global meaning constructs. Exactly what linguistic tools are most appropriate for an analysis of ideological patterns of political debates within migrant communities is the principle question informing this poster presentation. The relevance of this project overflows the porous domains of linguistics and political philosophy. The poststructuralist concern with open, contingent and productive ideologies is also relevant within other disciplines informing this project, ranging from oral and postsocial history over anthropology and sociology to political philosophy.
Affiliations
  • Antwerp Center for PragmaticsUniversiteit Antwerpen

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Zienkowski, J. (2008). Analyzing Political Engagement: the case of evolving political identities among the Moroccan Population of Antwerp, Belgium (1964-present) from a linguistic pragmatic and poststructuralist perspective. GURT′08 Telling stories: building bridges among langugage, narrative, identity, interaction, society and culture, Georgetown University. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/92533