Framing (social sciences)

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For other uses, see Framing (disambiguation).

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent aworldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (July 2010) It has been suggested that this article or section be merged withFraming effect (psychology). (Discuss) Proposed since
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Contents
[hide]

1 Explanation of the Concept 2 Framing effect in communication research

o o o

2.1 Frame building 2.2 Frame Setting 2.3 Framing, priming, and agenda setting

3 Framing effect in psychology and economics

o o o o o

3.1 Experimental demonstration 3.2 Absolute and relative influences 3.3 Frame-manipulation research 3.4 Theoretical models 3.5 Neuroimaging

4 Framing theory and frame analysis in sociology

4.1 History

o o

4.2 Social movements 4.3 Frame-alignment

4.3.1 Types

5 Frame analysis as rhetorical criticism

5.1 Episodic Framing vs. Thematic Framing

6 Framing vs. Other Media Effects

o o

6.1 Accessibility vs. applicability effects 6.2 Framing as an extension of agenda setting

7 Politics

7.1 Examples

8 Applications

o o

8.1 Finance 8.2 Law

9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

A frame in social theory consists of a schemaof interpretation that is, a collection of anecdotes and stereotypesthat individuals rely on to understand and respond to events.[1][page needed] In simpler terms, people build a series of mental filters through biological and cultural influences. They use these filters to make sense of the world. The choices they then make are influenced by their creation of aframe. Framing is also a key component of sociology, the study of social interaction among humans. In psychology, framing is influenced by the background of a context choice and the way in which the question is worded (see Framing effect (psychology)). Framing, a term used in media studies,sociology and psychology, refers to the social construction of a social phenomenon by mass media sources or specific political or social movements or organizations. It is an inevitable process of selective influence over the individual's perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases. A frame defines the packaging of an element of rhetoric in such a way as to encourage certain interpretations and to discourage others.

[edit]Explanation

of the Concept

When one seeks to explain an event, the understanding often depends on the frame referred to. If a friend rapidly closes and opens an eye, we will respond very differently depending on whether we attribute this to a purely "physical" frame (s/he blinked) or to a social frame (s/he winked). Though the former might result from a speck of dust (resulting in an involuntary and not particularly meaningful reaction), the latter would imply a voluntary and meaningful action (to convey humor to an accomplice, for example). Observers will read events seen as purely physical or within a frame of "nature" differently than those seen as occurring with social frames. But we do not look at an event and then "apply" a frame to it. Rather, individuals constantly project into the world around them the interpretive frames that allow them to make sense of it; we only shift frames (or realize that we have habitually applied a frame) when incongruity calls for a frame-shift. In other words, we only become aware of the frames that we always already use when something forces us to replace one frame with another.[2][3] Framing is so effective because it is a heuristic, or mental shortcut that may not always yield desired results; and is seen as a 'rule of thumb'. According to Susan T. Fiske and Shelley E. Taylor, human beings are by nature cognitive misers, meaning they prefer to do as little thinking as possible.[4]Frames provide people a quick and easy way to process information. Hence, people will use the previously mentioned mental filters (a series of which is called a schema) to make sense of incoming messages. This gives the sender and framer of the information enormous power to use these schemas to influence how the receivers will interpret the message.[5]

[edit]Framing

effect in communication research

In the field of communication, framing defines how news media coverage shape mass opinion. To specific, framing effects refer to behavioral or attitudinal outcomes that are due to how a given piece of information is being framed in public discourse. Today, every volume of the major communication journals contains at least one paper on media frames and framing effects ([6]). However, it needs to classify different approaches to framing research in communication into two groups: studies of framing as the dependent variable and studies of framing as the independent variable ([7]. The former usually deals with frame building (i.e., how frames creates societal discourse about an issue and how different frames are adopted by journalists) and latter concerns framing setting (i.e., how media frame influences on audience).

[edit]Frame

building

Frame building is related to at least three areas: journalist norms, political actors, and cultural contexts. It assumes that several media frames compete to set one frame regarding an issue, and one frame finally gains influence because it resonates with popular culture, fits with media practices, or is heavily sponsored by elites. First, in terms of practices of news production, there are at least five aspects of news work that may influence how journalists frame a certain issue: larger societal norms and values, organizational pressures and

constraints, external pressures from interest groups and other policy makers, professional routines, and ideological or political orientations of journalists. The second potential influence on frame building comes from elites, including interest groups, government bureaucracies, and other political or corporate actors. Empirical studies show that these influences of elites seem to be strongest for issues in which journalists and various players in the policy arena can find shared narratives. Finally, cultural contexts of a society are also able to establish frame. Goffman[8] assumes that the meaning of a frame has implicit cultural roots. This context dependency of media frame has been described as 'cultural resonance' [9] or 'narrative fidelity' [10]

[edit]Frame

Setting

When people are exposed to novel news frame, audience will accept the constructs made applicable to an issue, but they are significantly more likely to do so when they have existing schema for those constructs. It is called the applicability effect. That is, when news frame invites people to apply their existing schema to an issue, the implication of that application depends, in part, on what is in that schema. Therefore, generally, the more the audiences know about issues, the more effective are frames, but it is not always possible. There are a number of levels and types of framing effects which have been examined. For example, scholars have focused on attitudinal and behavioral changes, the degrees of perceived importance of the issue, voting decisions, and opinion formations. Others are interested in psychological processes other than applicability. For instance, Iyengar [11] suggested that news about social problems can influence attributions of causal and treatment responsibility, an effect observed in both cognitive responses and evaluations of political leaders, or other scholars looked at the framing effects on receivers' evaluative processing style and the complexity of audience members' thoughts about issues.

[edit]Framing,

priming, and agenda setting

One of the controversial issues regarding framing in the field of communication is the matter of theoretical integration. Many communication scholars theoretically attempt to either integrate [12], [13]or distinguish [14] framing from related concepts in communication, including agenda setting and priming. Kosicki and McCombs & Shaw suggest the theoretical integration of framing and priming under the umbrella of agenda setting as a complex model of media effects hypothesis linking media production, content, and audience effects. Kosicki attempts to embrace the much informal and loose talk or writing describing agenda setting as a hypothesis to expand the theoretical and empirical boundaries and scope of agenda setting. He criticizes the limited characteristics of news issues that are frequently adopted in framing research; that is, issue [of framing] should be something in dispute, that is, something about which it is possible to articulate more than one point of view, but he also argue that agenda setting framework almost everything worth knowing about how the media cover an issue.

Recently, Scheufele & Tewksbury suggest that talking the three effects models together is good because they all mark a transition away from traditional media effect theories, such as Cultivation and Spiral of Silence, that hypothesize unidirectional and unmediated media effects on various perceptual and behavioral outcomes. However, they argue that those three concepts cannot be integrated due to the underlying theoretical differences. According to these authors, agenda setting and priming are based on the same premises, salience-based effects (accessibility effects), but framing is based on premises differ from those of agenda setting and priming, applicability effects. Framing is conceptually differentiated from agenda setting and priming. Framing is based on the assumption that how an issue is characterized in new reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences. That is, framing influences how audiences think about issues, not by making aspects of the issue more salient (or accessible), but by invoking interpretive schemas that influence the interpretation of incoming information. In contrast, the effects of agenda setting and priming are based on cognitive processing of semantic information. By receiving and processing information, issues are primed and made more accessible in an individuals memory. The idea of accessibility is the foundation of a memory-based model of information processing, which assumes that judgments and attitude formation are directly correlated with the ease in which instances or associations could be brought in mind. That is, both approaches assume that media can make a certain issue more accessible for people and thereby influence the standards they use when forming attitudes about the issue. The authors imply that those three approaches should not be simply integrated for the sake of parsimony because of the different premises.

[edit]Framing

effect in psychology and economics

Daniel Kahneman

Main article: Framing effect (psychology) Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman have shown that framing can affect the outcome (ie. the choices one makes) of choice problems, to the extent that several of the classic axioms of rational choice do not hold.[15] This led to the development of prospect theory as an alternative to rational choice theory.[16]

The context or framing of problems adopted by decision-makers results in part from extrinsic manipulation of the decision-options offered, as well as from forces intrinsic to decision-makers, e.g., their norms, habits, and unique temperament.

[edit]Experimental

demonstration

Tversky and Kahneman (1981) demonstrated systematic reversals of preference when the same problem is presented in different ways, for example in the Asian disease problem. Participants were asked to "imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume the exact scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows." The first group of participants was presented with a choice between programs: In a group of 600 people,

Program A: "200 people will be saved" Program B: "there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved"

72 percent of participants preferred program A (the remainder, 28 percent, opting for program B). The second group of participants was presented with the choice between: In a group of 600 people,

Program C: "400 people will die" Program D: "there is a one-third probability that nobody will die, and a two-third probability that 600 people will die"

In this decision frame, 78 percent preferred program D, with the remaining 22 percent opting for program C. Programs A and C are identical, as are programs B and D. The change in the decision frame between the two groups of participants produced a preference reversal: when the programs were presented in terms of lives saved, the participants preferred the secure program, A (= C). When the programs were presented in terms of expected deaths, participants chose the gamble D (= B).[17]

[edit]Absolute

and relative influences

Framing effects arise because one can frequently frame a decision using multiple scenarios, wherein one may express benefits either as a relative risk reduction (RRR), or as absolute risk reduction (ARR). Extrinsic control over the cognitive distinctions (between risk tolerance and reward anticipation) adopted by decision makers can occur through altering the presentation of relative risks and absolutebenefits. People generally prefer the absolute certainty inherent in a positive framing-effect, which offers an assurance of gains. When decision-options appear framed as a likely gain, risk-averse choices predominate.

A shift toward risk-seeking behavior occurs when a decision-maker frames decisions in negative terms, or adopts a negative framing effect.

In medical decision making, framing bias is best avoided by using absolute measures of efficacy.[18]

[edit]Frame-manipulation

research

Researchers have found[19] that framing decision-problems in a positive light generally results in less-risky choices; with negative framing of problems, riskier choices tend to result. According to behavioral economists[citation needed]:

positive framing effects (associated with risk aversion) result from presentation of options as sure (or absolute) gains

negative framing effects (associated with a preference shift toward choosing riskier options) result from options presented as the relative likelihood of losses

Researchers have found[citation needed] that framing-manipulation invariably affects subjects, but to varying degrees. Individuals proved risk averse when presented with value-increasing options; but when faced with value decreasing contingencies, they tended towards increased risk-taking. Researchers[who?] found that variations in decision-framing achieved by manipulating the options to represent either a gain or as a loss altered the risk-aversion preferences of decision-makers. In one study, 57% of the subjects chose a medication when presented with benefits in relative terms, whereas only 14.7% chose a medication whose benefit appeared in absolute terms. Further questioning of the patients suggested that, because the subjects ignored the underlying risk of disease, they perceived benefits as greater when expressed in relative terms.[20]-

[edit]Theoretical

models

Researchers have proposed[citation needed] various models explaining the framing effect:

cognitive theories, such as the Fuzzy-trace theory, attempt to explain framing-effects by determining the amount of cognitive processing effort devoted to determining the value of potential gains and losses.

prospect theory explains the framing-effect in functional terms, determined by preferences for differing perceived values, based on the assumption that people give a greater weighting to losses than to equivalent gains.

motivational theories explain framing-effects in terms of hedonic forces affecting individuals, such as fears and wishesbased on the notion that negative emotions evoked by potential losses usually out-weigh the emotions evoked by hypothetical gains.

cognitive cost-benefit trade-off theory defines choice as a compromise between desires, either as a preference for a correct decision or a preference for minimized cognitive effort. This model, which dovetails elements of cognitive and motivational theories, postulates that calculating the value of a sure gain takes much less cognitive effort than that required to select a risky gain.

[edit]Neuroimaging
Cognitive neuroscientists have linked the framing-effect to neural activity in the amygdala, and have identified another brain-region, the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC), that appears to moderate the role of emotion on decisions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain-activity during a financial decision-making task, they observed greater activity in the OMPFC of those research subjects less susceptible to framing-effects.[21]

[edit]Framing

theory and frame analysis in sociology

Framing theory and frame analysis provide a broad theoretical approach that analysts have used incommunication studies, news (Johnson-Cartee, 1995), politics, and social movements (among other applications). According to some sociologists, the "social construction of collective action frames" involves "public discourse, that is, the interface of media discourse and interpersonal interaction; persuasive communication during mobilization campaigns by movement organizations, their opponents and countermovement organizations; and consciousness raising during episodes of collective action."[22]

[edit]History
Word-selection or diction has been a component of rhetoric since time immemorial. But most commentators attribute the concept of framing to the work of Erving Goffman and point especially to his 1974 book, Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Goffman used the idea of frames to label "schemata of interpretation" that allow individuals or groups "to locate, perceive, identify, and label" events and occurrences, thus rendering meaning, organizing experiences, and guiding actions.[23] Goffman's framing concept evolved out of his 1959 work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, a commentary on the management of impressions. These works arguably depend onKenneth Boulding's concept of image.[24]

[edit]Social

movements

Sociologists have utilized framing to explain the process of social movements.[25] Movements act as carriers of beliefs and ideologies (compare memes). In addition, they operate as part of the process of constructing meaning for participants and opposers (Snow & Benford, 1988). Sociologists deem mass-movements "successful" when the frames projected align with the frames of participants to produce resonance between the two parties. Researchers of framing speak of this process as frame re-alignment.

[edit]Frame-alignment
Snow and Benford (1988) regard frame-alignment as an important element in social mobilization or movement. They argue that when individual frames become linked in congruency and complementariness, "frame alignment" occurs,[26] producing "frame resonance", a catalyst in the process of a group making the transition from one frame to another (although not all framing efforts prove successful). The conditions that affect or constrain framing efforts include:

"The robustness, completeness, and thoroughness of the framing effort". Snow and Benford (1988) identify three core framing-tasks, and state that the degree to which framers attend to these tasks will determine participant mobilization. They characterize the three tasks as: 1. 2. 3. diagnostic framing for the identification of a problem and assignment of blame prognostic framing to suggest solutions, strategies, and tactics to a problem motivational framing that serves as a call to arms or rationale for action

The relationship between the proposed frame and the larger belief-system; centrality the frame cannot be of low hierarchical significance and salience within the larger belief system. Its range and interrelatedness if the framer links the frame to only one core belief or value that, in itself, has a limited range within the larger belief system, the frame has a high degree of being discounted.

Relevance of the frame to the realities of the participants; a frame must seem relevant to participants and must also inform them. Empirical credibility or testability can constrain relevancy: it relates to participant experience, and has narrative fidelity, meaning that it fits in with existing cultural myths and narrations.

Cycles of protest (Tarrow 1983a; 1983b); the point at which the frame emerges on the timeline of the current era and existing preoccupations with social change. Previous frames may affect efforts to impose a new frame.

Snow and Benford (1988) propose that once someone has constructed proper frames as described above, large-scale changes in society such as those necessary for social movement can be achieved through framealignment.

[edit]Types
Frame-alignment comes in four forms,: frame bridging, frame amplification, frame extension and frame transformation. 1. Frame bridging involves the "linkage of two or more ideologically congruent but structurally unconnected frames regarding a particular issue or problem" (Snow et al., 1986, p. 467). It involves the linkage of a movement to "unmobilized [sic] sentiment pools or public opinion preference clusters" (p. 467) of people who share similar views or grievances but who lack an organizational base.

2. Frame amplification refers to "the clarification and invigoration of an interpretive frame that bears on a particular issue, problem, or set of events" (Snow et al., 1986, p. 469). This interpretive frame usually involves the invigorating of values or beliefs. 3. Frame extensions represent a movement's effort to incorporate participants by extending the boundaries of the proposed frame to include or encompass the views, interests, or sentiments of targeted groups. 4. Frame transformation becomes necessary when the proposed frames "may not resonate with, and on occasion may even appear antithetical to, conventional lifestyles or rituals and extant interpretive frames" (Snow et al., 1986, p. 473). When this happens, the securing of participants and support requires new values, new meanings and understandings. Goffman (1974, p. 4344) calls this "keying", where "activities, events, and biographies that are already meaningful from the standpoint of some primary framework, in terms of another framework" (Snow et al., 1986, p. 474) such that they are seen differently. Two types of frame transformation exist: 1. Domain-specific transformations, such as the attempt to alter the status of groups of people, and 2. Global interpretive frame-transformation, where the scope of change seems quite radicalas in a change of world-views, total conversions of thought, or uprooting of everything familiar (for example: moving from communism to market capitalism; religious conversion, etc.).

[edit]Frame

analysis as rhetorical criticism

Although the idea of language-framing had been explored earlier by Kenneth Burke (i.e., terministic screens), political communication researcher Jim A. Kuypers first published work advancing "framing analysis" as a rhetorical perspective in 1997. His approach begins inductively by looking for themes that persist across time in a text (for Kuypers, primarily news narratives on an issue or event), and then determining how those themes are framed. Kuypers work begins with the assumption that frames are powerful rhetorical entities that induce us to filter our perceptions of the world in particular ways, essentially making some aspects of our multidimensional reality more noticeable than other aspects. They operate by making some information more salient than other information. . . . [27] In his 2009 work, Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action[28] Kuypers offers a detailed template for doing framing analysis from a rhetorical perspective. According Kuypers, "Framing is a process whereby communicators, consciously or unconsciously, act to construct a point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted by others in a particular manner. Frames operate in four key ways: they define problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. Frames are often found within a narrative account of an issue or event, and are generally the central organizing idea."
[29]

Kuypers work is

based on the premise that framing is a rhetorical process and as such it is best examined from a rhetorical point of view.

[edit]Episodic

Framing vs. Thematic Framing

In his 1991 research, Shanto Iyengar proposed there are two types of framing, episodic and thematic. In episodic framing, the coverage focuses on a single event or instance and does not provide much background information on the subject. This leads the receiver of the frame to assume the individual is responsible. For example, on a story about healthcare, episodic framing would cause a viewer to believe that a person who gets sick but does not have health insurance was being irresponsible, when in fact there may have been other factors at play that the individual cannot control. In thematic framing, the coverage puts the issue in a general or abstract context while providing a lot of background information. This leads to the frame receivers assuming society is at fault for all problems. Using the same healthcare example, thematic framing would cause television viewers to think that society is at fault for everyone who does not possess health insurance, when in fact in some cases people are irresponsible.[30]

[edit]Framing

vs. Other Media Effects

As researchers and theorists have built upon early definitions of framing toward operationalizing the concept, key differences in modern definitions have arisen, particularly in terms of placing framing in the context of other media effects, namely agenda setting. Proponents of accessibility vs. applicability models argue that the inclusion of framing under agenda-setting concepts leads to vague definitions that are difficult to study and characterize, while others argue that separating the concepts of agenda setting and framing creates definitions that are too specific.

[edit]Accessibility

vs. applicability effects

Distinctions between framing and the concepts of agenda setting and priming have centered on specific mechanisms of each media effect. In particular, agenda setting is typically defined in terms of salience transfer, whereby the prevalence of an issue in news media determines the perceived importance of that issue in the eyes of the public. In this way, the accessibility or salience of the issue at the individual level is determined by the number of times that individual has been exposed to the issue, regardless of the way that issue is presented.[31] The concept of priming extends from this definition, whereby the most salient/accessible issues in peoples minds are the most influential in their judgements of related topics.[32] In contrast to accessibility-based effects, framing effects are often distinguished as relying more on how information is presented, rather than being determined by message prevalence.[33] Moreover, the goal of

framing is to selectively activate, or apply, particular cognitive schema in the minds of the audience as a way of influencing how the presented information is understood and evaluated.[34]

[edit]Framing

as an extension of agenda setting

In contrast to the accessibility versus applicability distinctions between framing and agenda setting, other scholars seek to merge agenda setting, priming, and framing within a single conceptual framework of agenda setting and agenda-setting effects. Some arguments for a unified concept posit that agenda-setting effects are more complex; that prevalence may affect understanding and/or that frames may affect salience.[35][36] McCombs argues that The news not only tells us what to think about; it also tells us how to think about it.[37] Similarly, some research groups place framing under the definition of second level agenda setting. First level agenda setting determines issue importance, while second level agenda setting draws on repeated discussion of specific issue attributes. For these definitions, framing is equated to second level agenda setting. [38][39]

[edit]Politics
Framing a political issue, a political party or a political opponent is a strategic goal in politics, particularly in the United States of America. Both the Democratic and Republican political parties compete to successfully harness its power of persuasion. According to the New York Times: Even before the election, a new political word had begun to take hold of the party, beginning on the West Coast and spreading like a virus all the way to the inner offices of the Capitol. That word was 'framing.' Exactly what it means to 'frame' issues seems to depend on which Democrat you are talking to, but everyone agrees that it has to do with choosing the language to define a debate and, more important, with fitting individual issues into the contexts of broader story lines. [40] Because framing has the ability to alter the publics perception, politicians engage in battles to determine how issues are framed. Hence, the way the issues are framed in the media reflects who is winning the battle. For instance, according to Robert Entman, professor of Communication at George Washington University, in the build-up to the Gulf War the conservatives were successful in making the debate whether to attack sooner or later, with no mention of the possibility of not attacking. Since the media picked up on this and also framed the debate in this fashion, the conservatives won.[5] George Lakoff, a Berkeley professor of cognitive linguistics, has been a prominent[citation needed] voice in discussing the effects of framing on politics. One particular example of Lakoff's work that attained some degree of fame was his advice to rename[41] trial lawyers (unpopular in the United States) as "public protection attorneys". Though Americans have not generally

adopted this suggestion, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America did rename themselves the "American Association of Justice", in what the Chamber of Commerce called an effort to hide their identity.[42] The New York Times depicted similar intensity among Republicans: In one recent memo, titled 'The 14 Words Never to Use,' [Frank] Luntz urged conservatives to restrict themselves to phrases from what he calls ... the 'New American Lexicon.' Thus, a smart Republican, in Luntz's view, never advocates 'drilling for oil'; he prefers 'exploring for energy.' He should never criticize the 'government,' which cleans our streets and pays our firemen; he should attack 'Washington,' with its ceaseless thirst for taxes and regulations. 'We should never use the word outsourcing,' Luntz wrote, 'because we will then be asked to defend or end the practice of allowing companies to ship American jobs overseas.' [40] From a political perspective, framing has widespread consequences. For example, the concept of framing links with that of agenda-setting: by consistently invoking a particular frame, the framing party may effectively control discussion and perception of the issue. Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber inTrust Us, We're Experts illustrate how public-relations (PR) firms often use language to help frame a given issue, structuring the questions that then subsequently emerge. For example, one firm advises clients to use "bridging language" that uses a strategy of answering questions with specific terms or ideas in order to shift the discourse from an uncomfortable topic to a more comfortable one.[43]Practitioners of this strategy might attempt to draw attention away from one frame in order to focus on another. As Lakoff notes, "On the day that George W. Bush took office, the words "tax relief" started coming out of the White House."[44] By refocusing the structure away from one frame ("tax burden" or "tax responsibilities"), individuals can set the agenda of the questions asked in the future. Cognitive linguists point to an example of framing in the phrase "tax relief". In this frame, use of the concept "relief" entails a concept of (without mentioning the benefits resulting from) taxes putting strain on the citizen: The current tax code is full of inequities. Many single moms face higher marginal tax rates than the wealthy. Couples frequently face a higher tax burden after they marry. The majority of Americans cannot deduct their charitable donations. Family farms and businesses are sold to pay the death tax. And the owners of the most successful small businesses share nearly half of their income with the government. President Bush's tax cut will greatly reduce these inequities. It is a fair plan that is designed to provide tax relief to everyone who pays income taxes. [45] Alternative frames may emphasize the concept of taxes as a source of infrastructural support to businesses:

The truth is that the wealthy have received more from America than most Americansnot just wealth but the infrastructure that has allowed them to amass their wealth: banks, the Federal Reserve, the stock market, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the legal system, federally-sponsored research, patents, tax supports, the military protection of foreign investments, and much much more. American taxpayers support the infrastructure of wealth accumulation. It is only fair that those who benefit most should pay their fair share. [46] Frames can limit debate by setting the vocabulary and metaphors through which participants can comprehend and discuss an issue. They form a part not just of political discourse, but of cognition. In addition to generating new frames, politically-oriented framing research aims to increase public awareness of the connection between framing and reasoning.

[edit]Examples
The initial response of the Bush administration to the assault of September 11, 2001 was to frame the acts of terror as crime. This framing was replaced within hours by a war metaphor, yielding the "War on Terror". The difference between these two framings is in the implied response. Crime connotes bringing criminals to justice, putting them on trial and sentencing them, whereas as warimplies enemy territory, military action and war powers for government.[47][48]

Recent popularization of the term "escalation" to describe an increase in American troop-levels inIraq. This implies that the United States has deliberately increased the scope of conflict in a provocative manner. It also implies that U.S. strategy entails a long-term military presence in Iraq, whereas "surge" framing implies a powerful but brief, transitory increase in intensity.[49]

The "bad apple" frame, as in the proverb "one bad apple spoils the barrel". This frame implies that removing one underachieving or corrupt official from an institution will solve a given problem; an opposing frame presents the same problem as systematic or structural to the institution itselfa source of infectious and spreading rot.[50]

The "taxpayers money" frame, rather than public or government funds which implies that individual taxpayers have a claim or right to set government policy based upon their payment of tax rather than their status as citizens or voters and that taxpayers have a right to control public funds that are the shared property of all citizens and also privileges individual self interest above group interest. [citation needed]

The "collective property" frame, which implies that property owned by individuals is really owned by a collective in which those individuals are members. This collective can be a territorial one, such as a nation, or an abstract one that does not map to a specific territory.

Program-names that may only describe the intended effects of a program but can also imply their effectiveness. These include:

"Foreign aid"[51] (which implies that spending money will aid foreigners, rather than harm them) "Social security" (which implies that the program can be relied on to provide security for a society) "Stabilisation policy" (which implies that a policy will have a stabilizing effect).

Based on opinion polling and focus groups, ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing and messaging firm, has advanced the position that global warming is an ineffective framing due to its identification as a leftist advocacy issue. The organization has suggested to government officials and environmental groups that alternate formulations of the issues would be more effective.[52]

In her 2009 book Frames of War, Judith Butler argues that the justification within liberal-democracies for war, and atrocities committed in the course of war, (referring specifically to the current war in Iraq and to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay) entails a framing of the (especially Muslim) 'other' as premodern/primitive and ultimately not human in the same way as citizens within the liberal order.[53]

[edit]Applications [edit]Finance
Preference reversals and other associated phenomena are of wider relevance within behavioural economics, as they contradict the predictions of rational choice, the basis of traditional economics. Framing biases affecting investing, lending, borrowing decisions make one of the themes of behavioral finance.

[edit]Law
Edward Zelinsky has shown that framing effects can explain some observed behaviors of legislators. [54]

[edit]See

also
Fallacy of many questions Figure of speech Framing (economics) Framing effect (psychology) Language and thought Meme Newspeak Political Correctness Power word Rhetorical device Semantics Trope Unspeak(book) Virtue word Frame analysis Semantic domain Sophism Spin doctor Stovepiping Thought Reform (book)

Anecdotal Value Argumentation theory Bias Choice architecture Code word (figure of speech)

Communication theory

Freedom of speech Free press Fuzzy-trace theory Journalism

Connotation Decision making Demagoguery Domain of discourse

[edit]References

1. 2.

^ Frame analysis; Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An essay on the organization of experience, p. __. ^ This example borrowed from Clifford Geertz: Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology (1983), Basic Books 2000 paperback: ISBN 0-465-04162-0

3.

^ Goffman offers the example of the woman bidding on a mirror at an auction who first examines the frame and surface for imperfections, and then "checks" herself in the mirror and adjusts her hat. See Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1986. ISBN 093035091X, page 39. In each case the mirror represents more than simply a physical object.

4. 5.

^ Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill ^
a b

Entman,Robert "Tree Beard". Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of

Communication; Autumn 1993, 43, 4, p.51 6. ^ Scheufele, D. A. & Iyengar, S. (forthcoming). The state of framing research: A call for new directions. In K. kENSKI, & K. H. Jamieson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of political communication theories. New York: Oxford University Press. 7. ^ Tewksbury & Scheufele (2009).News framing theory and research, In J. Bryant, & M. B. Oliver (Eds.) Media effects: Advances in theory and research, New York: Routledge. 8. ^ Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An easy on the organization of experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 9. ^ Gamson, W. A. & Modigliani, A. (1987) The changing culture of affirmative action. Research in Political Sociology, 3, 137-177 10. ^ Snow, D. A., & Benford, R. D. (1988). Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization. In B. Klandermans, H. Kriesi, & S. Tarrow (Eds.), International social movement research. Vol 1, From structure on action: Comparing social movement research across cultures (pp. 197-217). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. 11. ^ Iyengar, S. (1991). Is anyone responsible? How television frames political issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 12. ^ Kosicki, G. M. (1993). Problems and opportunities in Agenda-setting research. Journal of Communication, 43(2), 100-127 13. ^ McCombs, M. F., & Shaw, D. L. (1993). The evoluation of agenda-setting research: Twenty-five years in the marketplace of ideas. Journal of Communication, 43, 58-67. 14. ^ Scheufele, D. A., & Tewksbury, D. (2007). Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 9-20 15. ^ Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, 1981. "The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice." Science 211: 453-458.

16. ^ Econport. "Decision-Making Under Uncertainty - Advanced Topics: An Introduction to Prospect Theory". (EconPort is an economics digital library specializing in content that emphasizes the use of experiments in teaching and research.) [1] 17. ^ Entman, R. M. (1993). Journal of Communication 43(4), Autumn. 0021-9916/93/$5.00 43 (4): pp. 5158, pages 53-54. 18. ^ Perneger TV, Agoritsas T (2011). "Doctors and Patients' Susceptibility to Framing Bias: A Randomized Trial.". J Gen Intern Med. doi:10.1007/s11606-011-1810-x. PMID 21792695. 19. ^ Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1981). The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice.Science. Vol 211(4481) pp.453-458 20. ^ The framing effect of relative and absolute risk. [J Gen Intern Med. 1993] - PubMed Result 21. ^ De Martino, B., Kumaran, D., Seymour, B., and Dolan, R. J. (2006). Frames, biases, and rational decision-making in the human brain. Science 313, 684-687. 22. ^ Bert Klandermans. 1997. The Social Psychology of Protest. Oxford: Blackwell, page 45 23. ^ Erving Goffman (1974). Frame Analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974, page 21. 24. ^ Kenneth Boulding: The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society, University of Michigan Press, 1956) 25. ^ Snow, D. A., and Benford, R. D. (1988). "Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization".International Social Movement Research, 1, 197217 26. ^ Snow, D. A., Rochford, E. B., Worden, S. K., & Benford, R. D. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 51, page 464 27. ^ Jim A. Kuypers, Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action , Lexington Press, 2009 28. ^ Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action 29. ^ Jim A. Kuypers, Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age , Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009. 30. ^ Stephen D. Reese, "Framing Public Life", Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2003. 31. ^ Scheufele, Dietram A.; Tewksbury, D. (2007). "Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models". Journal of Communication 57 (1): 920. 32. ^ Iyengar, S (1987). News that matters: Television and American opinion. University of Chicago. pp. 63. ISBN 9780226388571. 33. ^ Scheufele, Dietram A.; Tewksbury, D. (2007). "Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models". Journal of Communication 57 (1): 920. 34. ^ Scheufele, Dietram A.; Tewksbury, D. (2007). "Framing, agenda setting, and priming: The evolution of three media effects models". Journal of Communication 57 (1): 920.

35. ^ McCombs, M. (1992). "Explorers and Surveyors: Expanding strategies for agenda-setting research".Journalism Quarterly 69 (4): 813824. 36. ^ Entman, R. M. (1993). "Framing: Towards clarification of a fractured paradigm". Journal of Communication 43: 5158. 37. ^ McCombs, M (1992). "Explorers and Surveyors: Expanding strategies for agenda-setting research".Journalism Quarterly 69 (4): 813824. 38. ^ McCombs, M. E.; Shaw, D. L., Weaver, D. H. (1997). Communication and democracy: Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 39. ^ McCombs, M (2004). Setting the Agenda: The mass media and public opinion. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Inc. ISBN 9780745623139. 40. ^
a b

The Framing Wars. New York Times 17 July 2005

41. ^ Walter Olson, Overlawyered weblog, 2005-07-18 42. ^ Al Kamen, "Forget Cash -- Lobbyists Should Set Support for Lawmakers in Stone", Washington Post, 2007-01-17 43. ^ Rampton, Sheldon and Stauber, John. Trust Us, We're Experts! Putnam Publishing, New York, NY, 2002. Page 64. 44. ^ George Lakoff: Don't think of an elephant!: know your values and frame the debate. White River Junction (Vermont): Chelsea Green, 2004, ISBN 9781417665891. Page 3. 45. ^ The President's Agenda for Tax Relief retrieved 3 July 2007.}} 46. ^ Cognitive Policy Works/Rockridge Institute: Simple Framing 47. ^ Lakoff, George (2004). Don't think of an elephant!: know your values and frame the debate. Chelsea Green Publishing. pp. 56. ISBN 9781931498715. 48. ^ Zhang, Juyan (2007). "Beyond anti-terrorism: Metaphors as message strategy of post-September-11 U.S. public diplomacy". Public Relations Review 33 (1): 3139.doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2006.11.006. 49. ^ "It's Escalation, Stupid." Alternet retrieved 3 July 2007 50. ^ "The Rumsfeld Dilemma: Demand an Exit Strategy, Not a Facelift" by Bruce Budner, in The Huffington Post 15 September 2006 51. ^ "Is It All in a Word? The Effect of Issue Framing on Public Support for U.S. Spending on HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries." by Sara Bleich. Retrieved 2007-07-03 52. ^ "Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus" article by John M. Broder in The New York TimesMay 1, 2009 53. ^ Butler, J. (2009), Frames of War, London: Verso. 54. ^ Zelinsky, Edward A.. 2005. Do Tax Expenditures Create Framing Effects? Volunteer Firefighters, Property Tax Exemptions, and the Paradox of Tax Expenditure Analysis. Virginia Tax Review 24. [2]

[edit]Further

reading

Baars, B. A cognitive theory of consciousness, NY: Cambridge University Press 1988, ISBN 0-521-301335.

Boulding, Kenneth E. (1956). The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society. Michigan University Press. Carruthers, P. (2003), On Fodor's Problem, Mind and Language, vol. 18(5), pp. 502523. Clark, A. (1997), Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Cutting, Hunter and Makani Themba Nixon (2006). Talking the Walk: A Communications Guide for Racial Justice: AK Press

Dennett, D. (1978), Brainstorms, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Fairhurst, Gail T. and Sarr, Robert A. 1996. The Art of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership. USA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Feldman, Jeffrey. (2007), Framing the Debate: Famous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Control the Conversation (and Win Elections). Brooklyn, NY: Ig Publishing.

Fodor, J.A. (1983), The Modularity of Mind, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Fodor, J.A. (1987), "Modules, Frames, Fridgeons, Sleeping Dogs, and the Music of the Spheres", in Pylyshyn (1987).

Fodor, J.A. (2000), The Mind Doesn't Work That Way, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Ford, K.M. & Hayes, P.J. (eds.) (1991), Reasoning Agents in a Dynamic World: The Frame Problem, New York: JAI Press.

Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. London: Harper and Row.

Goffman, E. (1974). Frame Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Goffman, E. (1959). Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday. Goodman, N. (1954), Fact, Fiction, and Forecast, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Hanks, S. & McDermott, D. (1987), "Nonmonotonic Logic and Temporal Projection", Artificial Intelligence, vol. 33(3), pp. 379412.

Haselager, W.F.G. (1997). Cognitive science and folk psychology: the right frame of mind. London: Sage Haselager, W.F.G. & Van Rappard, J.F.H. (1998), "Connectionism, Systematicity, and the Frame Problem", Minds and Machines, vol. 8(2), pp. 161179.

Hayes, P.J. (1991), "Artificial Intelligence Meets David Hume: A Reply to Fetzer", in Ford & Hayes (1991). Heal, J. (1996), "Simulation, Theory, and Content", in Theories of Theories of Mind, eds. P. Carruthers & P. Smith, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 7589.

Johnson-Cartee, K. (2005). News narrative and news framing: Constructing political reality. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Kendall, Diana, Sociology In Our Times, Thomson Wadsworth, 2005, ISBN 0-534-64629-8 Google Print, p.531

Klandermans, Bert. 1997. The Social Psychology of Protest. Oxford: Blackwell. Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980), Metaphors We Live By, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Leites, N. & Wolf, C., Jr. (1970). Rebellion and authority. Chicago: Markham Publishing Company. De Martino et al., 2006. "Frames, Biases, and Rational Decision-Making in the Human Brain". Science 313: 684-687.

McAdam, D., McCarthy, J., & Zald, M. (1996). Introduction: Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Framing ProcessesToward a Synthetic, Comparative Perspective on Social Movements. In D. McAdam, J. McCarthy & M. Zald (Eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements; Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings (pp. 120). New York: Cambridge University Press.

McCarthy, J. (1986), "Applications of Circumscription to Formalizing Common Sense Knowledge",Artificial Intelligence, vol. 26(3), pp. 89116.

McCarthy, J. & Hayes, P.J. (1969), "Some Philosophical Problems from the Standpoint of Artificial Intelligence", in Machine Intelligence 4, ed. D.Michie and B.Meltzer, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 463502.

McDermott, D. (1987), "We've Been Framed: Or Why AI Is Innocent of the Frame Problem", in Pylyshyn (1987).

Mithen, S. (1987), The Prehistory of the Mind, London: Thames & Hudson. Nelson, T. E., Oxley, Z. M., & Clawson, R. A. (1997). Toward a psychology of framing effects. Political Behavior, 19(3), 221246.

Pan, Z. & Kosicki, G. M. (1993). Framing analysis: An approach to news discourse. Political Communication, 10(1), 55-75.

Pan. Z. & Kosicki, G. M. (2001). Framing as a strategic action in public deliberation. In S. D. Reese, O. H. Gandy, Jr., & A. E. Grant (Eds.), Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world, (pp. 3566). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Pylyshyn, Zenon W. (ed.) (1987), The Robot's Dilemma: The Frame Problem in Artificial Intelligence, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Stephen D. Reese, Oscar H. Gandy and August E. Grant. (2001). Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World. Maywah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 978-0805-83653-0

Russell, S. & Wefald, E. (1991), Do the Right Thing: Studies in Limited Rationality, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Scheufele, Dietram A. 1999. Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of Communication, 49(1), 103 122.

Shanahan, Murray P. (1997), Solving the Frame Problem: A Mathematical Investigation of the Common Sense Law of Inertia, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0262193841

Shanahan, Murray P. (2003), "The Frame Problem", in The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, ed. L.Nadel, Macmillan, pp. 144150.

Simon, Herbert (1957), Models of Man, Social and Rational: Mathematical Essays on Rational Human Behavior in a Social Setting, New York: John Wiley. OCLC 165735

Snow, D. A., & Benford, R. D. (1988). "Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization".International Social Movement Research, 1, 197217.

Snow, D. A., Rochford, E. B., Worden, S. K., & Benford, R. D. (1986). "Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation". American Sociological Review, 51, 464481.

Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1996), "Fodor's Frame Problem and Relevance Theory", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 19(3), pp. 530532.

Tarrow, S. (1983a). "Struggling to Reform: social Movements and policy change during cycles of protest". Western Societies Paper No. 15. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.

Tarrow, S. (1983b). "Resource mobilization and cycles of protest: Theoretical reflections and comparative illustrations". Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Detroit, August 31September 4.

Triandafyllidou, A. and Fotiou, A. (1998), "Sustainability and Modernity in the European Union: A Frame Theory Approach to Policy-Making", Sociological Research Online, vol. 3, no. 1.

Tilly, C., Tilly, L., & Tilly, R. (1975). The rebellious century, 18301930. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Turner, R. H., & Killian, L. M. (1972). Collective Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. "Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions", A.Tversky, D.Kahneman, Journal of Business, 1986, vol.59, no.4, pt.2.

Wilkerson, W.S. (2001), "Simulation, Theory, and the Frame Problem", Philosophical Psychology, vol. 14(2), pp. 141153.

Willard, Charles Arthur. Liberalism and the Social Grounds of Knowledge Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 199

Frame Analysis

Very roughly speaking, frame analysis aims to identify the major cognitive schemata, through which people interpret the world and communicate about it. A primer on frame analysis Debates in Frame Analysis

Goffman, Erving (1974): "Frame Analysis," New York, NY: Harper.

Even though Goffman's seminal work sparked the avalanche of frame analytic over the last three decades, one could reasonably argue that Goffman is today cited mainly for symbolic reasons, as current frame analytic work has little in common with Frame Analysis. One of the first reviews of Goffman's work already anticipated the reason for this development: Frame Analysis is simply too ill-defined to be taught to graduate students. Frame Analysis Goffman-style is a "sociological art form, [&hellip] only certain talented individuals will grasp the underlying principles intuitively and [are] able to perform" ( Gamson 1975: 605) it. Consequently, frame analysis has become far more systematized, so it is now easier to learn and apply. Goffman still should be read. But to learn the actual technique, other texts are more suitable, such as:

Snow, David A., E. Burke Rochford, Steven K. Worden, and Robert D. Benford (1986): "Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation," American Sociological Review 51: 464-481.
At least in social movement studies, this still remains the most quoted article on frame analysis. Its beauty lies in the systemization of frame analysis, which makes the technique more manageable.

Strategic

Frame

Analysis

A hands-on introduction into frame analysis by the Frame Works Institute, an NGO that tries to bridge scholarly work and civil society action.

Scheufele, Dietram A. (1999): "Framing as a Theory of Media Effects," Journal of Communication 49 (1): 103-122.
This article systematizes approaches to framing in political communication and attempts to integrate them into a comprehensive model.

Fisher, Kimberly (1997): "Locating Frames in the Universe," Sociological Research Online 2 <http://www.socresonline.org.uk/2/3/4.html>.

Discursive (3),

"Scholars from a range of disciplines use the term 'frame' to mean a variety of disjointed and incompatible concepts. This paper examines a range of framing literature, from the writings of authors including Erving Goffman, Teun van Dijk, Serge Moscovici, George Lakoff, Alan Johnson, William Gamson, David Snow, Robert Benford and Paolo Donati. Then it develops the theoretical case for defining frames as semi-structured elements of discourse which people use to make sense of information they encounter. Additionally, this paper demonstrates the need to include social system frames, which provide patterns for understanding social relations, among the presently acknowledged frame types. Frames develop in parallel with language, vary across cultures, and shape, but are distinct from other extra-linguistic discourse forms, including myths and ideologies."

Problems & Critiques

Benford, Robert D. (1997): "An Insider's Critique of the Social Movement Framing Perspective," Sociological Inquiry 67 (4): 409-30.

As it is not frequently the case, an insider has done a concise critique of the framing perspective.

Oliver, Pamela E. & Hank Johnston (2000): "What a Good Idea: Frames and Ideologies in Social Movements Research""Mobilization 5 (1): 37-54.
Debunks the overuse and concomitant ambiguity of the framing concept in social movement theory. There also is a response by Snow and Benford and a rejoinder.

Applications

Triandafyllidou, Anna and Fotiou, Anastasios (1998) "Sustainability and Modernity in the European Union: A Frame Theory Approach to Policy-Making," Sociological Research Online, vol. 3, no. 1, <http://www.socresonline.org.uk/3/1/2.html>.
"Frame analysis has been often used by scholars studying New Social Movements to analyze their discourses and their ability to mobilize people. This paper refers to the application of 'frame analysis' to a different context, namely to discourses of both social movements and institutional actors in the context of public policy-making. More particularly, the study is concerned with the discourses of social actors who participate in the making of EU environmental policy. The advantages and limitations of frame analysis as a method for analyzing discourse in an institutional context are discussed. Two case-studies are used to highlight the pros and cons of the method. First, the competing discourses of environmental organizations, business associations, and EU officials with regard to environmental sustainability and the Fifth Action Program are examined. The second case study addresses the issue of Trans- European Transport Networks (TEN-Ts) and examines different types of framing of sustainable mobility developed by policy actors. Conclusions are drawn with regard to the contribution of frame theory in the analysis of policy-making processes. "

Visual Rhetoric/Cultural Theories of Visual Rhetoric

< Visual Rhetoric This page may need to be reviewed for quality.

Cultural Theories of Visual Rhetoric

Contents

1 Introduction 2 Sociological-Cultural Theories

2.1 Cultural Frames

o o

2.2 Language is Arbitrary and Culture-Specific 2.3 Hegemony

3 Communication-Cultural Theories

o o o o

3.1 Facial and eye communication 3.2 Proxemics 3.3 Physical appearance and artifacts 3.4 Environment

4 Conclusion 5 Works Cited

[edit]Introduction Social structure often has a major influence on the ways of communication, the impact, and style of all rhetoric. Visual rhetoric is no different in its impact and being impacted by society and different cultural values, ideology, and styles. Symbols and other components of visual rhetoric vary in meaning from culture to culture, and even sometimes within subgroups of cultures. This is reflected in the study of semiotics. Semiotics and Visual Rhetoric are in summary, signs that can have different quantifiers such as color, perspective, line, etc. These are dictated to a culture through different vehicles, the medians of rhetoric. Cultural rhetoric is defined by the standards or values that culture attaches to things. This sort of value attachment can even vary within a culture and amongst different groups of people. We see in modern society in America that culture defines the roles of its entire membership and where an acceptable place in society is for these people. The struggle between sexes is one in particular that is perfect for this example. Culture has dictated in the past the placement of men above women, and therefore the power of mens rhetoric over that of a woman. Gender and Visual Rhetoric roles are an ideal example of cultural rhetoric viewing the two genders as sub groups of the American culture. Simply put, cultural rhetoric is a way of framing the words or ideology of a group through a lens that filters or can judge another groups rhetorical power and value. Cultural rhetoric theories state that a culture is able to dictate values and standards through cultural rhetoric practice. With an interdisciplinary approach to understanding cultural theories of visual rhetoric, below is a more in-depth explanation of culture as understood by sociologists and communications scholars. [edit]Sociological-Cultural

Theories

Culture affects how we see things. Different cultures perceive things differently. According to Laura Desfor Edles' Cultural Sociology in Practice, Culture can be defined in several capacities; (A) humanistic

and artistic activities, (B) the manner in which a particular group of people live, their way of life, (C) systems or patterns of shared symbols (1). It is this last method of defining culture with which we are most concerned. It is through these systems of shared patterns and symbols that individuals understand their environment, their reality, their life and everything related to their life. [edit]Cultural

Frames

Each individual has their own subjective frame through which they see reality. These frames are created through unique cultural experiences specific to the individual. Cultural frames reject an objective reality. Cultural frames shape how we see ourselves, others and our world. Cultural frames are cumulative they accumulate over time with experience and are constantly changing based on these experiences. The sum of our cultural frames is called our cultural prism. Because each individual experiences life through their own cultural frames, it can be said that there is no one universal objective reality. Each person has their own reality. How does this relate to visual rhetoric? Often, the focus in both learning as well as teaching visual rhetoric is the need to make certain universal claims regarding its power, uses and meanings. However, if we consider visual rhetoric from the cultural frames perspective, there is no universal application of visual rhetoric. Each individuals cultural frames dictate how they use as well understand visual rhetoric. For example, consider traffic signs. Traffic signs vary from country to country and even sometimes from region to region. Depending on an individual's cultural background, he or she will understand traffic signs differently. A Japanese "bumpy road" sign [1] looks strikingly similar to the European sign for "dip" in the road[2]. Two different concepts represented by the same image in different geographical locations. The interpretation of these signs therefore will vary based on the cultural prism from which an individual views them. [edit]Language

is Arbitrary and Culture-Specific

The language we use to describe our world is completely arbitrary. There is no reason that certain words represent certain things. There is no clear connection between the signifier (word/symbol) and the signified (object in world). But more importantly, the construction of language is extremely culturespecific. Not only do varying cultures use different words but also these cultures see words differently. For example, consider a tree, a tree can be seen many different ways from varied subject positions and cultural frames. For an environmentalist, a tree is something to be preserved, a relic. For a timber company, a tree is profit. For a politician, a tree can represent a political platform. How does this relate to visual rhetoric?

Visual rhetoric can be considered a language, a visual language and similar to verbal language it is often arbitrary and definitely culture-specific. Consider brand logos. A company's logo is often well-recognized as representing a particular brand but it's actual connection to the brand is somewhat arbitrary. For example, the Starbucks logo ; [3]a green and white Nordic goddess has no relation to coffee products, the brand logo is arbitrary. In addition to being arbitrary, often logos are culture-specific as well arbitrary. While Starbucks is probably a universally recognized logo, an image such as the Duke Dog, James Madison University's mascot is not. The Duke Dog [4]is a culturally-specific symbol, easily understood and recognized by the James Madison University (JMU) culture as their noble mascot and spirit guru, yet most likely considered just a dog to individuals outside the JMU culture. [edit]Hegemony The ideas of the ruling class are, in every epoch, the ruling ideas: i.e. the class, which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force (Edles 33). This description of Hegemony is quoted by Edles from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' German Ideology. Although the description sounds somewhat convoluted, Marx and Engel touch upon the important idea of the connections between the ruling class and the ruling intellectual force. Hegemony is a fairly simple concept with very complicated definitions. In essence, Hegemony is a theory regarding how dominant classes control the order of society by making their own views appear to be the accepted views. Subordinate classes accept certain ideas, actions or structures as natural when in reality they are actually social constructs created by the dominant classes. Hegemony is thus the sum of the cultural processes through which ruling groups universalize their own worldview in order to emerge as dominant (Rumbo). How does this relate to visual rhetoric? Deconstructing hegemonic constructs is extremely important when investigating any form of rhetoric. To understand certain forms of visual rhetoric, it is necessary to be aware of any potential hegemony. In addition, when participating in visual rhetoric one should be sure not to further any hegemonic constructs that may exist within the culture. Often, media perpetuates hegemonic structures by portraying individuals, the world and life as a particular way. While cultural groups such as African Americans, Hispanics and Asians continue to flourish within the United States, television, movies and advertising continue to portray America as a dominantly White society with little diversity. By constantly being exposed to often "colorblind" media, we accept it is as natural the Hegemony that The United States is a dominantly White country. In interpreting and creating visual rhetoric, it is important to keep in mind the potential Hegemonies. [edit]Communication-Cultural

Theories

Culture (from a communications standpoint) deals mostly with the rules that govern the understood, misunderstood, acceptable, unacceptable, expected and unexpected ways messages are relayed within

a certain community. This community can be as small as an intimate group of friends or as large as a continent. The community is the culture. The message and it's delivery methods is the rhetoric. While theories on cultural rhetoric are usually explained in regards to verbal communication, they adapt well into visual rhetoric. When verbal literacy is used, it follows guidelines set forth by the governing body and is designated as the national language. Visual literacy is also governed by culture specific values, but which are set for by national groups, they can vary. To be completely visually literate, one must understand all cultural aspects that may play a role in the interpretation of the image. This is where the knowledge and understanding of semiotics is important. The role of nonverbal communication in visual rhetoric connects closely to semiotics and the understanding of a visual argument. Nonverbal behavior is typically analyzed in-depth in regards to communication. Nonverbal communication itself is culture-based. The cultures one associates with will influence their interpretation and use of nonverbal codes. Nonverbal cues, as explained by Mark P. Orbe and Carol J. Bruess in Contemporary Issues in Interpersonal Communications, can be split up into seven categories, four of which translate well into visual rhetoric (138). [edit]Facial

and eye communication

Facial and eye communication through expressions can tell a lot about the message a person is conveying in a picture. The importance of the face can be traced back to the simple fact that when communicating verbally, a person typically looks at the communicators face for extra feedback. However, much of facial communication is culture bound (Orbe 142). The seven common facial expressions (sadness, anger, disgust, fear, interest, surprise, and happiness) are innate in people as children. Yet, as a person is socialized into their cultures as adults, these expressions are sometimes hidden or accentuated. For example, Asian cultures teach one to hide any highly emotional thoughts such as sheer excitement. In a painting, it is important to take note of the cultural setting of the characters because their facial expressions may be skewed to fit the culture. [edit]Proxemics Proxemics study the use of space in communications (Orbe 145). Proxemics are also highly culture bound. A photo of a mother and child in each others personal space, embraced in a hug automatically brings thoughts of intimacy to an American. This is because intimate distance (touching up to 18 inches apart) is considered primarily inappropriate in U.S. culture. A good example of the extent to this used in recent popular culture is the film, Borat, where a foreign man from Kazakhstan tries to introduce himself to Americans by invading their intimate space [5]. Borat is not welcomed by Americans who see this as an invasion of their personal space. Proxemics tie in closely with visual rhetoric because the distance

between the two objects in a narrative representation may give clues to the relationship and argument conveyed. [edit]Physical

appearance and artifacts

Physical appearance and artifacts affect communications on a cultural level similar to facial and eye communication. This includes the choice of dress, choice of objects, decoration and the like. Even certain colors are more important than others in a culture (Orbe 154). For example, red, white and blue will have a different emotional connection to an American, Britain or Frenchman than to an Iraqi or South African. To an American, a photograph of a woman in a revealing dress will stimulate a different reaction than the reaction to the same photograph by a group of men from India. Similarly, in this photo [6] of a Japanese wedding ceremony, the bride has her hair covered. Understanding that this has the same effect as wearing a wedding veil in western culture adds to the viewers understanding of the image. [edit]Environment The environment can be affected by culture in visual rhetoric. Architecture, room arrangements and colors fall into this category (Orbe 150). This relates closely to time and space in regards to visual rhetoric. Different cultures will react differently in certain environments. A person who grew up in the culture of the "city that never sleeps", New York, will react to a painting of the Swiss Alps differently than a person who travels the world hiking and mountain climbing. [edit]Conclusion Culture is both influential in how a reader interprets visual rhetoric as well as how a writer composes visual rhetoric. Understanding how cultural theories can influence visual rhetoric is essential. Although this discussion included only Sociological as well as Communication-based theories of culture and visual rhetoric, these theories can be considered the underlying base upon which other cultural theories are developed and understood. [edit]Works

Cited

Edles, Laura D. Cultural Sociology in Practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2002. Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. The German Ideology. New York: International Publishers., 1965. Orbe, Mark P. and Carol J. Bruess. Contemporary Issues in Interpersonal Communications. London: Oxford UP, 2004. Rumbo, Joseph D. [Lecture]. Vocabulary Weeks 1-8. Sociology/Anthropology 368-Contemporary American Culture, James Madison University, 2007.
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Differences in Cultural Frame of Reference

1. John U. Ogbu 1. Department of Anthropology and Survey Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Abstract
There are at least two prerequisites for understanding the academic performance of minorities in contemporary urban industrial societies. The first is to distinguish among different types of minority status; the second is to distinguish different types of cultural difference. The distinctions between voluntary and involuntary minorities and betweenprimary and secondary cultural differences are used as explanatory concepts. Voluntary minorities do not have persistent basic academic difficulties, no matter what their primary cultural differences from the dominant majority. The people who have the most difficulty with academic achievement are involuntary minorities. These difficulties stem from the responses that involuntary minorities have made to their forced incorporation and subsequent treatment, especially their formation of oppositional identity and oppositional cultural frame of reference. Such responses constitute secondary cultural differences. Unlike primary cultural differences, secondary cultural differences do not predate contact between the minority and the majority groups; rather, they are responses to the difficult nature of the contact.

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Interview with Imran Khan

Broadcast: 18/02/97 Interviewer: Evan Williams Pakistan's sporting icon dicusses his new political party and its performance in the recent Pakistani national elections. Transcript: Williams: Welcome. A political question first - what went so wrong for you and your party ? Kahn: Actually you know we were more thinking of this election as basically a victory because we were zero in September. No one knew us. There was no party. And in the end of January we fight a national election and become considered as a third force. So for us any gain we had in election, one vote that we got, was a win. Williams: People are thinking that we lost. In fact it was the peoples party that lost. There was this repulsion, there was this hatred against the People's party, and I mean that's the way to put it. Hatred, because 3 years of mismanagement and corruption. People didn't wasn't the People's party to come in to power again , so they saw NS a viable alternative not us, because everyone knew we were not ready. Williams: Why didn't you get at least some votes though ? Kahn: We have support in Pakistan. People wanted to vote for us but the mechanics of getting the voters to the polling stations we didn't have. We did not have the money most of all . What most people didn't realize in the Western countries is that here its not a question of having supporters, its a question of getting these votes to the polling stations. That means hiring buses, trucks, transporting the voters to the polling stations. We just didn't have the resources. Williams: Looking back now what mistakes did you make in the run up to the campaign itself - aligning

yourself on the one hand to some Islamic thoughts, Islamic groups? On the other hand you had some western educated liberal thinkers - people seemed to be confused. Kahn: Ideologically we were not confused at all. And neither did we confuse the people who wanted to vote for us, in Pakistan the issue is not whether you are an Islamic Fundamentalist. For people everyone here is a Muslim. Now this was not our issue. I did not lose this election , or had a bad result compared with what we might have got because of Islam. The main reason was the opposition very cleverly exploited my marriage and the Jewish conspiracy was really exploited I this country. So in fact is was the opposite. It was not being considered an Islamic force that went against me. Williams: What was the toughest thing for you and your wife during this campaign ? Kahn: Actually I expected most of the sleaze. I expected the Jewish conspiracy, because after all these were the two things they could attack me on. I expected the sleaze, you know it wasn't something I was demoralized or angry about. Actually it was a great experience for me. I think the toughest thing was basically not having time for each other you know. If one area I felt it was a tough election was I couldn't see my young son and I couldn't see my wife a lot, but apart from that for her also it was an experience. She went out and made a few speeches , you know, lobbied for me. So you know it was a good experience for both of us. Williams: If anyone was reading the Western press, they'd almost think you were about to become the next Prime Minister and that you were at least about to be a major force in this Parliament. It didn't happen this time. What do you think that says about the Western perception of Pakistan ? Kahn: There was no question of us winning the election ,you know, there was no question of having a sizable representation in Parliament. It is just not possible. In Pakistan politics is hereditary. I mean Benazir's father was a politician, her grandfather was a politician, so they already have a constituency, they're already known in their areas, so its all in the blood. And here are these unknown little professionals. Lawyers, you know, with not much money, fighting against the professionals. It's like me picking up an under 19 cricket team and putting it up result would have been what it was, and we new the ground reality. I tried to tell a few newspaper people that were interviewing me that we could actually score a big zero but because of the hype people actually felt that we could do a lot better Williams: As someone who can traverse both worlds, what does the west not understand then about Pakistan, apart from the realist of an election, it seems to say something wider than that as well ? Kahn: Two things that the West doesn't understand - One is actually the democracy here, you know, people are, people assume that this election means that there is democracy in Pakistan. There is no democracy. There can only be democracy when money is not allowed to be spent in Politics. The sort of money that is spent in politics, it is not possible for common citizens , normal people to fight elections. You know I consider myself well off in Pakistan terms . There is no way I can have the money to fight this election. You just cannot spare that sort of money, so that automatically eliminates the rest of the people. The second thing is, as for what the west doesn't understand is Islam, they have no idea what Islam is about you see, because they still consider Islam ,you know, Islamic law is still considered cutting off hands and Islamic law is considered where poor women are made into second class citizens. They do not understand Islam, and I think that is one area where perhaps I hope one day I will play a role in actually making people understand what we perceive Islam to be. What I perceive, is above all justice, where everyone has the same law. At the moment we have a ruling

class that has one law and the people the other. This discrepancy is anti Islamic and so that's why people turn to Islam because Islam means for them justice, equal opportunity, brotherhood, a form of justice which we don't have in Pakistan right now Williams: NS says he's going to eradicate corruption, going to revitalize business, is that going to happen? Kahn: Well he has more chance or revitalizing business than Benazir because he himself is a businessman. But the corruption element ,I mean I don't understand how he's going to do it. Because you see he has a vested interest in his party. I mean imagine a man who spends 10 million rupees to fight an election. Now he's not a Mother Theresa who's fighting this election to be a good Samaritan, and you know , help people. Its an investment. Now he's going to have to retrieve that money somehow and the only way he can do it is through corruption. This is the basic flaw in Pakistan politics Williams: What happens in Pakistan when the same cycle starts again? Kahn: Well I think this is where we have already achieved a lot because when we came into existence some 8 months back, you know ,when we an

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The General Wants Back into His Labyrinth

Pakistan's former military leader has announced he's returning from exile and wants his old job back. Here's what he would do differently -- and why he wouldn't want Hamid Karzai as his counterpart next door.
INTERVIEW BY LAURA WELLS | JANUARY 6, 2011

On any given day, Pakistan tops the list of states on crisis alert. But this week has been rocky in the south Asian country, even by that low standard. On Monday, the country's government looked like it might imminently fall; the prime minister's ruling coalition shattering as its second-largest party pulled out. Then on Tuesday, one of the country's most moderate politicians -- Punjab Governor Salman Taseer -- was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
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So it's perhaps not surprising why some in Pakistan are looking with a bit of nostalgia to the government of former president and military leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who ruled the country for nine years. Musharraf, who has been in a self-imposed exile in London since 2009, has leaped at

the chance to come back to politics, announcingon Jan. 3 that he'll be back in Pakistan with his newly formed political party in time for the next round of elections. Late last year, prior to his announcement, Foreign Policy spoke with the former president about what he would do, if given a second shot at ruling Pakistan. Excerpts: Foreign Policy: You once said that being in charge of Pakistan may well be "the hardest job in the world." But you have just announced that you are going back into politics. Why? Pervez Musharraf: [It's about offering] another alternative to the people of Pakistan. At this moment, they are stuck between two alternatives: the [ruling] People's Party and PML-N, the party of former prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. If you look at both of them, [they are] dysfunctional. I call Nawaz Sharif a closet Taliban. He's a man who is -- who has been -- in contact with Taliban. He is a man who, today, appeases the clerics and mawlawis [Sunni Islamic scholars] -- the extremists. Moreover, he has tried [his hand at leadership as prime minister] twice in the past -- and he has failed. Why are we giving him a third chance to destroy Pakistan? My new party is an alternative to the people of Pakistan with the hope of changing the conditions of the people of Pakistan and the state. At this moment, there is such hopelessness, and there is such a sense of despondency in the people of Pakistan. It's worrisome. People are quitting Pakistan. They want to leave the country. There's a leadership vacuum, and no political party has the wherewithal to meet this challenge. What I've done really is to present to the people of Pakistan with "here's another, an alternative." [And] I have been tested also for nine years. FP: Why should Pakistanis give you another chance if they weren't happy with you at the end of your presidency? PM: I came into office on a very high pedestal; people wanted a change. Until 2007, I was very popular. And now with the situation that Pakistan is facing, my [favorability] graph has again gone up. Because Pakistanis now see what is happening. The poor man is seeing what is happening. Essential items' prices have gone up about four to five times [since I left office]. Wheat flour, rice, and pulses [legumes] -- everything is now five times higher. People have realized what has hit them. And a lot of people are calling me back, [saying] they want me back to save Pakistan. If you see myFacebook [page], which I launched eight months back, I have a fan [base] of 350,000 now today.

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

JAFFER SHEYHOLISLAMI

JSHEYHOL@CONNECTMAIL.CARLETON.CA

ACCORDING

TO

VAN

DIJK

(1998A)

CRITICAL

DISCOURSE

ANALYSIS

(CDA)

IS A FIELD THAT IS

CONCERNED

WITH

STUDYING

AND

ANALYZING

WRITTEN

AND

SPOKEN

TEXTS TO REVEAL THE DISCURSIVE

SOURCES

OF

POWER,

DOMINANCE,

INEQUALITY

AND

BIAS.

IT

EXAMINES

HOW THESE DISCURSIVE

SOURCES

ARE

MAINTAINED

AND

REPRODUCED

WITHIN

SPECIFIC

SOCIAL,

POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL

CONTEXTS.

IN A SIMILAR VEIN, FAIRCLOUGH (1993) DEFINES CDA AS

DISCOURSE OPAQUE

ANALYSIS

WHICH

AIMS

TO

SYSTEMATICALLY

EXPLORE

OFTEN

RELATIONSHIPS

OF

CAUSALITY

AND

DETERMINATION

BETWEEN

(A)

DISCURSIVE PRACTICES,

EVENTS AND TEXTS, AND (B) WIDER SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STRUCTURES, RELATIONS AND

PROCESSES; TO INVESTIGATE HOW SUCH PRACTICES, EVENTS AND TEXTS ARISE OUT OF AND ARE

IDEOLOGICALLY SHAPED BY RELATIONS OF POWER AND STRUGGLES OVER POWER; AND TO

EXPLORE

HOW

THE

OPACITY

OF

THESE

RELATIONSHIPS

BETWEEN

DISCOURSE AND SOCIETY IS

ITSELF A FACTOR SECURING POWER AND HEGEMONY. (P. 135)

TO

PUT

IT

SIMPLY,

CDA

AIMS

AT

MAKING

TRANSPARENT

THE

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DISCOURSE

PRACTICES, SOCIAL PRACTICES, AND SOCIAL STRUCTURES, CONNECTIONS THAT MIGHT BE OPAQUE TO THE

LAYPERSON.

EVOLUTION OF CDA

IN THE LATE 1970S, CRITICAL LINGUISTICS WAS DEVELOPED BY A GROUP OF LINGUISTS AND LITERARY

THEORISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA (FOWLER ET. AL., 1979; KRESS & HODGE, 1979).

THEIR

APPROACH

WAS CL

BASED

ON

HALLIDAY'S

SYSTEMIC

FUNCTIONAL

LINGUISTICS (SFL).

PRACTITIONERS

SUCH

AS

TREW

(1979A,

P.

155)

AIMED

AT

"ISOLATING

IDEOLOGY IN DISCOURSE" AND

SHOWING "HOW IDEOLOGY AND IDEOLOGICAL PROCESSES ARE MANIFESTED AS SYSTEMS OF LINGUISTIC

CHARACTERISTICS

AND

PROCESSES."

THIS

AIM

WAS

PURSUED

BY

DEVELOPING CL'S ANALYTICAL TOOLS

(FOWLER ET AL., 1979; FOWLER, 1991) BASED ON SFL.

FOLLOWING HALLIDAY, THESE CL PRACTITIONERS VIEW LANGUAGE IN USE AS SIMULTANEOUSLY

PERFORMING

THREE

FUNCTIONS:

IDEATIONAL,

INTERPERSONAL,

AND

TEXTUAL FUNCTIONS.

ACCORDING TO

FOWLER (1991, P. 71), AND FAIRCLOUGH (1995B, P. 25), WHEREAS THE IDEATIONAL FUNCTION

REFERS

TO

THE

EXPERIENCE

OF

THE

SPEAKERS

OF

THE

WORLD

AND

ITS

PHENOMENA, THE INTERPERSONAL

FUNCTION EMBODIES THE INSERTION OF SPEAKERS' OWN ATTITUDES AND EVALUATIONS ABOUT THE

PHENOMENA IN QUESTION, AND ESTABLISHING A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS.

INSTRUMENTAL

TO

THESE

TWO

FUNCTIONS

IS

THE

TEXTUAL

FUNCTION.

IT IS THROUGH THE TEXTUAL

FUNCTION

OF

LANGUAGE

THAT

SPEAKERS

ARE

ABLE

TO

PRODUCE

TEXTS

THAT ARE UNDERSTOOD BY

LISTENERS.

IT

IS

AN

ENABLING

FUNCTION

CONNECTING

DISCOURSE

TO

THE CO-TEXT AND CON-TEXT IN

WHICH IT OCCURS.

HALLIDAY'S VIEW OF LANGUAGE AS A "SOCIAL ACT" IS CENTRAL TO MANY OF CDA'S PRACTITIONERS

(CHOULIARAKI

&

FAIRCLOUGH,

1999;

FAIRCLOUGH,

1989,

1992,

1993,

1995B, 1995A; FOWLER ET

AL.,

1979;

FOWLER,

1991;

HODGE

&

KRESS,

1979).

ACCORDING

TO

FOWLER ET AL. (1979), CL,

LIKE

SOCIOLINGUISTICS, CONNECTIONS

ASSERTS BETWEEN

THAT,

"THERE

ARE

STRONG -

AND 2 -

PERVASIVE

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

LINGUISTIC

STRUCTURE

AND

SOCIAL

STRUCTURE"

(P.

185).

HOWEVER,

WHEREAS IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS

"THE CONCEPTS 'LANGUAGE' AND 'SOCIETY' ARE DIVIDEDSO THAT ONE IS FORCED TO TALK OF 'LINKS

BETWEEN

THE

TWO'",

FOR

CL

"LANGUAGE

IS

AN

INTEGRAL

PART

OF

SOCIAL PROCESS" (FOWLER ET AL.,

1979, P. 189).

ANOTHER CENTRAL ASSUMPTION OF CDA AND SFL IS THAT SPEAKERS MAKE CHOICES REGARDING

VOCABULARY

AND

GRAMMAR,

AND

THAT

THESE

CHOICES

ARE

CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY

"PRINCIPLED

AND

SYSTEMATIC"(FOWLER

ET

AL.,

1979,

P.

188).

THUS

CHOICES ARE IDEOLOGICALLY

BASED.

ACCORDING TO FOWLER ET AL. (1979), THE "RELATION BETWEEN

FORM AND CONTENT IS NOT

ARBITRARY OR CONVENTIONAL, BUT 188). IN SUM, LANGUAGE IS A

. . . FORM SIGNIFIES CONTENT" (P.

SOCIAL ACT AND IT IS IDEOLOGICALLY DRIVEN.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CDA

OVER

THE

YEARS

CL

AND

WHAT

RECENTLY

IS

MORE

FREQUENTLY

REFERRED TO AS CDA (CHOULIARAKI

& FAIRCLOUGH, 1999; VAN DIJK, 1998A) HAS BEEN FURTHER DEVELOPED AND BROADENED. RECENT

WORK

HAS

RAISED

SOME

CONCERNS

WITH

THE

EARLIER

WORK

IN

CL.

AMONG THE CONCERNS WAS,

FIRST, TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE ROLE OF AUDIENCES AND THEIR INTERPRETATIONS OF DISCOURSE

POSSIBLY

DIFFERENT

FROM

THAT

OF

THE

DISCOURSE

ANALYST.

THE

SECOND CONCERN HAS CALLED FOR

BROADENING THE SCOPE OF ANALYSIS BEYOND THE TEXTUAL, EXTENDING IT TO THE INTERTEXTUAL

ANALYSIS.

FAIRCLOUGH

(1995B)

HAS

RAISED

BOTH

ISSUES.

HE

CLAIMS

THAT

THE

EARLIEST WORK IN CL DID NOT

ADEQUATELY

FOCUS

ON

THE

"INTERPRETIVE

PRACTICES

OF

AUDIENCES."

IN OTHER WORDS, HE CLAIMS

THAT

CL

HAS,

FOR

THE

MOST

PART,

ASSUMED

THAT

THE

AUDIENCES

INTERPRET TEXTS THE SAME WAY

THE ANALYSTS DO.

IN A SIMILAR VEIN, COMMENTING ON FOWLER (1991),

BOYD-BARRETT (1994)

ASSERTS

THAT

THERE

IS

"A

TENDENCY

TOWARDS

THE

CLASSIC

FALLACY

OF ATTRIBUTING PARTICULAR

'READINGS' TO READERS, OR MEDIA 'EFFECTS,' SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF TEXTUAL ANALYSIS" (P. 31).

THE OTHER ISSUE PUT FORWARD BY FAIRCLOUGH (1995B) IS THAT WHILE EARLIER CONTRIBUTIONS IN

CL WERE VERY THOROUGH IN THEIR GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL ANALYSIS THEY WERE LESS ATTENTIVE

TO THE INTERTEXTUAL

ANALYSIS OF TEXTS: "THE LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS IS VERY MUCH FOCUSED UPON

CLAUSES,

WITH

LITTLE

ATTENTION

TO

HIGHER-LEVEL

ORGANIZATION

PROPERTIES OF WHOLE TEXTS" (P.

28).

DESPITE RAISING THESE ISSUES WITH REGARDS TO EARLIER WORKS

IN CL, FAIRCLOUGH (1995B)

INSERTS

THAT

"MENTION

OF

THESE

LIMITATIONS

IS

NOT

MEANT

TO

MINIMIZE THE ACHIEVEMENT OF

CRITICAL

LINGUISTICS--THEY

LARGELY

REFLECT

SHIFTS

OF

FOCUS

AND

DEVELOPMENTS OF THEORY IN THE

PAST

TWENTY

YEARS

OR

SO"

(P.

28).

THE

"SHIFTS

OF

FOCUS

AND

DEVELOPMENTS OF THEORY" WHICH

FAIRCLOUGH

(1995B)

TALKS

ABOUT,

HOWEVER,

HAVE

NOT

RESULTED

IN

THE CREATION OF A SINGLE

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK. TO BELL & GARRET (1998),

WHAT IS KNOWN TODAY AS CDA, ACCORDING

"IS BEST VIEWED AS A SHARED PERSPECTIVE ENCOMPASSING A RANGE OF APPROACHES RATHER THAN

AS JUST ONE SCHOOL" (P. 7). CDA "IS NOT A SPECIFIC

ALSO, VAN DIJK (1998A) TELLS US THAT

DIRECTION

OF

RESEARCH"

HENCE

"IT

DOES

NOT

HAVE

UNITARY

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK."

BUT, VAN

DIJK

(1998A)

ASSERTS,

"GIVEN

THE

COMMON

PERSPECTIVE

AND

THE

GENERAL AIMS OF CDA, WE

MAY

ALSO

FIND

OVERALL

CONCEPTUAL

AND

THEORETICAL

FRAMEWORKS

THAT ARE CLOSELY RELATED."

DIRECTIONS IN CDA

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

AMONG

THE

SCHOLARS

WHOSE

WORKS

HAVE

PROFOUNDLY

CONTRIBUTED

TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF

CDA

ARE

VAN

DIJK

(1988,

1991,

1993,

1995,

1998B,

1998A),

WODAK

(1995, 1996, 1999),

AND FAIRCLOUGH (1989, 1992, 1993, 1995A, 1995B, 1999).

VAN DIJK (SOCIO-COGNITIVE MODEL)

AMONG

CDA

PRACTITIONERS,

VAN

DIJK

IS

ONE

OF

THE

MOST

OFTEN

REFERENCED AND QUOTED IN

CRITICAL STUDIES OF MEDIA DISCOURSE, EVEN IN STUDIES THAT DO NOT NECESSARILY FIT WITHIN THE

CDA PERSPECTIVE (E.G. KARIM, 2000; EZEWUDO, 1998). HE STARTED TO APPLY

IN THE 1980S,

HIS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS THEORY TO MEDIA TEXTS MAINLY FOCUSING ON THE REPRESENTATION OF

ETHNIC

GROUPS

AND

MINORITIES

IN

EUROPE.

IN

HIS

NEWS

ANALYSIS

(1988), HE INTEGRATES HIS

GENERAL

THEORY

OF

DISCOURSE

TO

THE

DISCOURSE

OF

NEWS

IN

THE

PRESS, AND APPLIES HIS THEORY TO

AUTHENTIC

CASES

OF

NEWS WHAT

REPORTS

AT

BOTH

THE

NATIONAL

AND

INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.

DISTINGUISHES

VAN

DIJK'S

(1988)

FRAMEWORK

FOR

THE

ANALYSES

OF

NEWS DISCOURSE IS HIS CALL

FOR A THOROUGH ANALYSIS NOT ONLY OF THE TEXTUAL AND STRUCTURAL LEVEL OF MEDIA DISCOURSE BUT

ALSO

FOR

ANALYSIS

AND

EXPLANATIONS

AT

THE

PRODUCTION

AND

"RECEPTION" OR COMPREHENSION

LEVEL (BOYD-BARRETT, 1994).

BY STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS, VAN DIJK POSITED ANALYSIS OF "STRUCTURES AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF

DESCRIPTION"

WHICH

MEANT

NOT

ONLY

THE

GRAMMATICAL,

PHONOLOGICAL, MORPHOLOGICAL AND

SEMANTIC

LEVEL

BUT

ALSO

"HIGHER

LEVEL

PROPERTIES"

SUCH

AS

COHERENCE, OVERALL THEMES AND

TOPICS

OF

NEWS

STORIES

AND

THE

WHOLE

SCHEMATIC

FORMS

AND

RHETORICAL DIMENSIONS OF TEXTS.

THIS STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS, HOWEVER, HE CLAIMED, WILL NOT SUFFICE, FOR

DISCOURSE STRUCTURE.

IS

NOT

SIMPLY

AN

ISOLATED

TEXTUAL

OR

DIALOGIC

RATHER IT IS A

COMPLEX

COMMUNICATIVE

EVENT

THAT

ALSO

EMBODIES

SOCIAL

CONTEXT, FEATURING

PARTICIPANTS

(AND

THEIR

PROPERTIES)

AS

WELL

AS

PRODUCTION

AND

RECEPTION PROCESSES.

(VAN DIJK, 1988, P. 2)

BY

"PRODUCTION

PROCESSES"

VAN

DIJK

MEANS

JOURNALISTIC

AND

INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES OF

NEWS-MAKING

AND

THE

ECONOMIC

AND

SOCIAL

PRACTICES

WHICH

NOT

ONLY PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES

IN THE CREATION OF MEDIA

DISCOURSE BUT WHICH

CAN

BE EXPLICITLY

RELATED TO THE STRUCTURES OF

MEDIA DISCOURSE.

VAN

DIJK'S

OTHER

DIMENSION

OF

ANALYSIS,

"RECEPTION

PROCESSES",

INVOLVES TAKING INTO

CONSIDERATION

THE

COMPREHENSION,

"MEMORIZATION

AND

REPRODUCTION" OF NEWS INFORMATION.

WHAT VAN DIJK'S ANALYSIS OF MEDIA (1988, 1991, 1993) ATTEMPTS TO DEMONSTRATE IS THE

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE THREE LEVELS OF NEWS TEXT PRODUCTION (STRUCTURE, PRODUCTION AND

COMPREHENSION PROCESSES) AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WIDER SOCIAL CONTEXT THEY ARE

EMBEDDED

WITHIN.

IN

ORDER

TO

IDENTIFY

SUCH

RELATIONSHIPS,

VAN

DIJK'S ANALYSIS TAKES PLACE

AT TWO LEVELS: MICROSTRUCTURE AND MACROSTRUCTURE.

AT

THE

MICROSTRUCTURE

LEVEL,

ANALYSIS

IS

FOCUSED

ON

THE

SEMANTIC RELATIONS BETWEEN

PROPOSITIONS, SYNTACTIC, LEXICAL THAT PROVIDE COHERENCE IN THE

AND OTHER RHETORICAL ELEMENTS

TEXT, AND OTHER RHETORICAL ELEMENTS SUCH QUOTATIONS, DIRECT OR INDIRECT REPORTING THAT GIVE

FACTUALITY TO THE NEWS REPORTS.

CENTRAL TO VAN DIJK'S ANALYSIS OF NEWS REPORTS, HOWEVER, IS THE ANALYSIS OF MACROSTRUCTURE

SINCE

IT

PERTAINS

TO

THE

THEMATIC/TOPIC

STRUCTURE

OF

THE

NEWS

STORIES AND THEIR OVERALL

SCHEMATA.

THEMES AND TOPICS ARE REALIZED IN THE HEADLINES AND

LEAD PARAGRAPHS.

ACCORDING TO VAN DIJK (1988), THE HEADLINES "DEFINE THE OVERALL COHERENCE OR SEMANTIC JAFFER SHEYHOLISLAMI 4 HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

UNITY OF DISCOURSE, AND ALSO WHAT INFORMATION READERS MEMORIZE BEST FROM A NEWS REPORT"

(P. 248).

HE CLAIMS THAT THE HEADLINE AND THE LEAD PARAGRAPH

EXPRESS THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION OF THE COGNITIVE MODEL OF JOURNALISTS, THAT

IS, HOW THEY SEE AND DEFINE THE NEWS EVENT. DIFFERENT

UNLESS READERS HAVE

KNOWLEDGE

AND

BELIEFS,

THEY

WILL

GENERALLY

ADOPT

THESE

SUBJECTIVE MEDIA

DEFINITIONS

OF

WHAT

IS

IMPORTANT

INFORMATION

ABOUT

AN

EVENT.

(VAN DIJK, 1988, P.

248)

FOR

VAN

DIJK

(1988,

PP.

14-16),

THE

NEWS

SCHEMATA

("SUPERSTRUCTURE SCHEMA") ARE

STRUCTURED

ACCORDING

TO

SPECIFIC

NARRATIVE

PATTERN

THAT

CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING:

SUMMARY

(HEADLINE

AND

THE

LEAD

PARAGRAPH),

STORY

(SITUATION

CONSISTING OF EPISODE AND

BACKGROUNDS), CONCLUSIONS).

AND

CONSEQUENCES

(FINAL

COMMENTS

AND

THESE SECTIONS OF A

NEWS

STORY

ARE

SEQUENCED

IN

TERMS

OF

"RELEVANCE,"

SO

THE

GENERAL INFORMATION IN CONTAINED

IN THE SUMMARY, THE HEADLINE AND THE LEAD PARAGRAPH. ACCORDING TO VAN DIJK, THIS IS WHAT

THE READERS CAN BEST MEMORIZE AND RECALL.

VAN

DIJK

(1995)

ESSENTIALLY

PERCEIVES

DISCOURSE

ANALYSIS

AS

IDEOLOGY ANALYSIS, BECAUSE

ACCORDING

TO

HIM,

"IDEOLOGIES

ARE

TYPICALLY,

THOUGH

NOT

EXCLUSIVELY, EXPRESSED AND

REPRODUCED

IN

DISCOURSE

AND

COMMUNICATION,

INCLUDING

NON-

VERBAL SEMIOTIC MESSAGES,

SUCH AS PICTURES, PHOTOGRAPHS AND MOVIES" (P. 17). FOR ANALYZING IDEOLOGIES

HIS APPROACH

HAS

THREE

PARTS:

SOCIAL

ANALYSIS,

COGNITIVE

ANALYSIS,

AND

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (1995, P. 30).

WHEREAS THE SOCIAL ANALYSIS PERTAINS TO SOCIETAL STRUCTURES," (THE

EXAMINING THE "OVERALL

CONTEXT), THE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IS PRIMARILY TEXT BASED (SYNTAX, LEXICON, LOCAL SEMANTICS,

TOPICS,

SCHEMATIC

STRUCTURES,

ETC.).

IN

THIS

SENSE,

VAN

DIJK'S

APPROACH INCORPORATES THE TWO

TRADITIONAL

APPROACHES

IN

MEDIA

EDUCATION

DISCUSSED

EARLIER:

INTERPRETIVE (TEXT BASED) AND

SOCIAL TRADITION (CONTEXT BASED), INTO ONE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING MEDIA

DISCOURSE.

HOWEVER,

WHAT

NOTICEABLY

DISTINGUISHES

VAN

DIJK'S

APPROACH FROM OTHER

APPROACHES IN CDA IS ANOTHER FEATURE OF HIS APPROACH: COGNITIVE ANALYSIS.

FOR

VAN

DIJK

IT

IS

THE

SOCIOCOGNITION--SOCIAL

COGNITION

AND

PERSONAL COGNITION-- THAT

MEDIATES

BETWEEN

SOCIETY

AND

DISCOURSE.

HE

DEFINES

SOCIAL

COGNITION AS "THE SYSTEM OF

MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS AND PROCESSES OF GROUP MEMBERS" (P. 18). IN THIS SENSE, FOR VAN

DIJK,

"IDEOLOGIES

ARE

THE

OVERALL,

ABSTRACT

MENTAL

SYSTEMS

THAT ORGANIZE SOCIALLY

SHARED

ATTITUDES"

(P.

18).

IDEOLOGIES,

THUS,

"INDIRECTLY

INFLUENCE THE PERSONAL COGNITION OF

GROUP

MEMBERS"

IN

THEIR

ACT

OF

COMPREHENSION

OF

DISCOURSE

AMONG OTHER ACTIONS AND

INTERACTIONS

(P.

19).

HE

CALLS

THE

MENTAL

REPRESENTATIONS

OF

INDIVIDUALS DURING SUCH SOCIAL

ACTIONS

AND

INTERACTIONS

"MODELS".

FOR

HIM,

"MODELS

CONTROL

HOW PEOPLE ACT, SPEAK OR

WRITE, OR HOW THEY UNDERSTAND THE SOCIAL PRACTICES OF OTHERS" (P. 2). OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE

HERE IS THAT, ACCORDING TO VAN DIJK, MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS "ARE OFTEN ARTICULATED ALONG US

VERSUS

THEM

DIMENSIONS,

IN

WHICH

SPEAKERS

OF

ONE

GROUP

WILL

GENERALLY TEND TO PRESENT

THEMSELVES

OR

THEIR

OWN

GROUP

IN

POSITIVE

TERMS,

AND

OTHER

GROUPS IN NEGATIVE TERMS" (P.

22).

ANALYSING AND MAKING EXPLICIT THIS CONTRASTIVE DIMENSION OF

US VERSUS THEM HAS

BEEN CENTRAL TO MOST OF VAN DIJK'S RESEARCH AND WRITINGS (1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996,

1998A,

1998B).

HE

BELIEVES

THAT

ONE

WHO

DESIRES

TO

MAKE

TRANSPARENT SUCH AN IDEOLOGICAL

DICHOTOMY

IN

DISCOURSE

NEEDS

TO

ANALYZE

DISCOURSE

IN

THE

FOLLOWING WAY (1998B, PP. 61-

63):

A. EXAMINING THE CONTEXT OF THE DISCOURSE: HISTORICAL, POLITICAL OR SOCIAL BACKGROUND

OF A CONFLICT AND ITS MAIN PARTICIPANTS

B.

ANALYZING

GROUPS,

POWER

RELATIONS

AND -

CONFLICTS 5

INVOLVED -

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

C.

IDENTIFYING

POSITIVE

AND

NEGATIVE

OPINIONS

ABOUT

US

VERSUS

THEM

D. MAKING EXPLICIT THE PRESUPPOSED AND THE IMPLIED

E. EXAMINING ALL FORMAL STRUCTURE: LEXICAL CHOICE AND SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE, IN A WAY

THAT HELPS TO (DE)EMPHASIZE POLARIZED GROUP OPINIONS

WODAK (DISCOURSE SOCIOLINGUISTICS)

DISCOURSE

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

IS

ONE

OF

THE

DIRECTIONS

IN

CDA

ASSOCIATED WITH WODAK AND

HER

COLLEAGUES

IN

VIENNA

(THE

VIENNA

SCHOOL

OF

DISCOURSE

ANALYSIS).

WODAK BASES HER

MODEL "ON SOCIOLINGUISTICS IN THE BERNSTEINIAN TRADITION, AND ON THE IDEAS OF THE FRANKFURT

SCHOOL, 209).

ESPECIALLY

THOSE

OF

JRGEN

HABERMAS"

(WODAK,

1995,

P.

ACCORDING TO

WODAK (1996, P. 3):

DISCOURSE SOCIOLINGUISTICSIS A SOCIOLINGUISTICS WHICH NOT ONLY IS EXPLICITLY

DEDICATED TO THE STUDY OF THE TEXT IN CONTEXT, BUT ALSO ACCORDS BOTH FACTORS EQUAL

IMPORTANCE. DESCRIBING THE

IT

IS

AN

APPROACH

CAPABLE

OF

IDENTIFYING

AND

UNDERLYING

MECHANISMS

THAT

CONTRIBUTE

TO

THOSE

DISORDERS

IN

DISCOURSE WHICH ARE

EMBEDDED

IN

PARTICULAR

CONTEXT--WHETHER

THEY

BE

IN

THE

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF

THE

MEDIA,

OR

IN

INSTITUTIONS

SUCH

AS

HOSPITAL

OR

SCHOOL--

AND INEVITABLY AFFECT

COMMUNICATION.

WODAK

HAS

CARRIED

OUT

RESEARCH

IN

VARIOUS

INSTITUTIONAL

SETTINGS SUCH AS COURTS, SCHOOLS,

AND HOSPITALS, AND ON A VARIETY OF SOCIAL ISSUES SUCH AS SEXISM, RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM.

WODAK'S

WORK

ON

THE

DISCOURSE

OF

ANTI-SEMITISM

IN

1990

LED

TO

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN

APPROACH SHE TERMED THE DISCOURSE HISTORICAL METHOD. HISTORICAL OCCUPIES A

THE TERM

UNIQUE

PLACE

IN

THIS

APPROACH.

IT

DENOTES

AN

ATTEMPT

ON

THE

PART OF THIS APPROACH "TO

INTEGRATE

SYSTEMATICALLY

ALL

AVAILABLE

BACKGROUND

INFORMATION

IN THE ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION OF THE MANY LAYERS OF A WRITTEN OR SPOKEN TEXT" (1995, P. 209). THE RESULTS

OF WODAK AND HER COLLEAGUES' STUDY (WODAK ET. AL., 1990) SHOWED THAT THE CONTEXT OF THE

DISCOURSE HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, AND CONTEXT OF THE ANTISEMITIC UTTERANCES" (P. 209). FOCUSING ON THE HISTORICAL CONTEXTS OF DISCOURSE IN THE

PROCESS

OF

EXPLANATION

AND

INTERPRETATION

IS

FEATURE

THAT

DISTINGUISHES THIS APPROACH FROM

OTHER APPROACHES OF CDA ESPECIALLY THAT OF VAN DIJK.

IN

THE

DISCOURSE

HISTORICAL

METHOD

APPROACH

(SIMILAR

TO

FAIRCLOUGH'S) IT IS BELIEVED THAT

LANGUAGE

"MANIFESTS

SOCIAL

PROCESSES

AND

INTERACTION"

AND

"CONSTITUTES" THOSE PROCESSES AS

WELL

(WODAK

&

LUDWIG,

1999,

P.

12).

ACCORDING

TO

WODAK

&

LUDWIG (1999), VIEWING

LANGUAGE

THIS

WAY

ENTAILS

THREE

THINGS

AT

LEAST.

FIRST,

DISCOURSE "ALWAYS INVOLVES POWER

AND IDEOLOGIES.

NO INTERACTION EXISTS WHERE POWER RELATIONS DO

NOT PREVAIL AND WHERE

VALUES AND NORMS DO NOT HAVE A RELEVANT ROLE" (P. 12). "DISCOURSE IS ALWAYS

SECOND,

HISTORICAL,

THAT

IS,

IT

IS

CONNECTED

SYNCHRONICALLY

AND

DIACHRONICALLY WITH OTHER

COMMUNICATIVE

EVENTS

WHICH

ARE

HAPPENING

AT

THE

SAME

TIME

OR

WHICH HAVE HAPPENED

BEFORE"

(P.

12).

THIS

IS

SIMILAR

TO

FAIRCLOUGH'S

NOTION

OF

INTERTEXTUALITY, AS WE WILL SEE.

THE

THIRD

FEATURE

OF

WODAK'S

APPROACH

IS

THAT

OF

INTERPRETATION.

ACCORDING TO WODAK &

LUDWIG

(1999),

READERS

AND

LISTENERS,

DEPENDING

ON

THEIR

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE AND

INFORMATION

AND

THEIR

POSITION,

MIGHT

HAVE

DIFFERENT

INTERPRETATIONS OF THE SAME

COMMUNICATIVE EVENT ASSERT THAT "THE

(P. 13).

THEREFORE,

WODAK & LUDWIG (1999)

RIGHT INTERPRETATION NECESSARY.

DOES NOT EXIST; A HERMENEUTIC APPROACH IS

INTERPRETATIONS CAN BE MORE OR LESS PLAUSIBLE OR ADEQUATE, BUT THEY CANNOT BE TRUE" JAFFER SHEYHOLISLAMI 6 HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

(EMPHASIS

IN

ORIGINAL)

(P.

13).

THIS

POINT

HAS

BEEN

RAISED

BY

FAIRCLOUGH (1995B, PP. 15-

16), AS WELL.

FAIRCLOUGH

THE

THIRD

MAIN

APPROACH

IN

CDA

IS

THAT

OF

FAIRCLOUGH

WHOSE

THEORY HAS BEEN CENTRAL TO

CDA

OVER

MORE

THAN

THE

PAST

TEN

YEARS.

FAIRCLOUGH,

IN

HIS

EARLIER WORK, CALLED HIS

APPROACH

TO

LANGUAGE

AND

DISCOURSE

CRITICAL

LANGUAGE

STUDY

(1989, P. 5).

HE DESCRIBED

THE

OBJECTIVE

OF

THIS

APPROACH

AS

"A

CONTRIBUTION

TO

THE

GENERAL RAISING OF CONSCIOUSNESS OF

EXPLOITATIVE SOCIAL RELATIONS, THROUGH FOCUSING UPON LANGUAGE" (1989, P. 4). THIS AIM IN

PARTICULAR REMAINS IN HIS LATER WORK THAT FURTHER DEVELOPS HIS APPROACH SO THAT IT IS NOW

ONE OF THE MOST 1992, 1993, 1995A,

COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORKS

OF CDA

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995B; CHULIARAKI AND FAIRCLOUGH, 1999). PRESENT A GENERAL

IN THIS SECTION, I WILL

OVERVIEW

OF

FAIRCLOUGH'S

WORK

IN

CDA,

AND

MORE

DETAILED

ACCOUNT OF HIS FRAMEWORK FOR

ANALYZING

MEDIA

DISCOURSE,

BECAUSE

THIS

WILL

PROVIDE

THE

BASIS

FOR THE FRAMEWORK THAT I

USE IN THIS STUDY.

FOR CHULIARAKI AND FAIRCLOUGH (1999), CDA "BRINGS SOCIAL SCIENCE AND LINGUISTICS

TOGETHER WITHIN A SINGLE THEORETICAL AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK, SETTING UP A DIALOGUE

BETWEEN THEM"(P. 6). SYSTEMATIC FUNCTIONAL

THE LINGUISTIC THEORY REFERRED TO HERE IS

LINGUISTICS

(SFL),

WHICH

HAS

BEEN

THE

FOUNDATION

FOR

FAIRCLOUGH'S ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

AS

IT

HAS

BEEN

FOR

OTHER

PRACTITIONERS

IN

CDA

(FOWLER

ET.

AL.,

1979; FOWLER, 1991; HODGE

& KRESS, 1979).

FAIRCLOUGH'S APPROACH ALSO DRAWS UPON A NUMBER

OF CRITICAL SOCIAL

THEORISTS,

SUCH

AS

FOUCAULT

(I.E.

CONCEPT

OF

ORDERS

OF

DISCOURSE), GRAMSCI (CONCEPT OF

HEGEMONY),

HABERMAS

(I.E.

CONCEPT

OF

COLONIZATION

OF

DISCOURSES), AMONG OTHERS

(FAIRCLOUGH, 1989, 1992, 1995A, 1995B).

CHULIARAKI AND FAIRCLOUGH (1999) POSIT THAT CDA HAS A PARTICULAR CONTRIBUTION TO MAKE.

THEY ARGUE THAT, "THE PAST TWO DECADES OR SO HAVE BEEN A PERIOD OF PROFOUND ECONOMIC

SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION ON A GLOBAL SCALE" (P. 30). THAT ALTHOUGH THESE CHANGES

THEY BELIEVE

ARE DUE TO PARTICULAR ACTIONS BY PEOPLE THE CHANGES HAVE BEEN PERCEIVED AS "PART OF

NATURE" (P. 4), THAT

IS, CHANGES AND TRANSFORMATIONS HAVE BEEN

PERCEIVED AS NATURAL AND NOT

DUE TO PEOPLE'S CAUSAL ACTIONS. CHANGES, ACCORDING TO

THE RECENT ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL

CHULIARAKI AND FAIRCLOUGH (1999), "ARE TO A SIGNIFICANT DEGREE . . . TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE

LANGUAGE,

AND

DISCOURSE"

(P.

4),

THUS,

CDA

CAN

HELP

BY

THEORIZING TRANSFORMATIONS AND

CREATING AN AWARENESS "OF WHAT IS, HOW IT HAS COME TO BE, AND WHAT IT MIGHT BECOME, ON

THE BASIS OF WHICH PEOPLE MAY BE ABLE TO MAKE AND REMAKE THEIR LIVES" (P. 4). WITH SUCH

AN

OBJECTIVE

IN

MIND,

CHULIARAKI

AND

FAIRCLOUGH

(1999)

CLAIM

THAT

CDA

OF

COMMUNICATIVE

INTERACTION

SETS

OUT

TO

SHOW

THAT

THE

SEMIOTIC AND

LINGUISTIC

FEATURES

OF

THE

INTERACTION

ARE

SYSTEMATICALLY

CONNECTED WITH WHAT IS

GOING ON SOCIALLY, AND WHAT IS GOING ON SOCIALLY IS INDEED GOING ON PARTLY OR

WHOLLY

SEMIOTICALLY

OR

LINGUISTICALLY.

PUT

DIFFERENTLY,

CDA

SYSTEMATICALLY CHARTS

RELATIONS

OF

TRANSFORMATION

BETWEEN

THE

SYMBOLIC

AND

NON-

SYMBOLIC, BETWEEN

DISCOURSE AND THE NON-DISCURSIVE. (P. 113)

IN THIS APPROACH OF ANALYSING ANY

CDA, THERE ARE THREE ANALYTICAL FOCUSES IN

COMMUNICATIVE

EVENT

(INTERACTION).

THEY

ARE

TEXT

(E.G.

NEWS

REPORT), DISCOURSE PRACTICE

(E.G.

THE

PROCESS

OF

PRODUCTION

AND

CONSUMPTION),

AND

SOCIOCULTURAL PRACTICE (E.G. SOCIAL

AND

CULTURAL

STRUCTURES

WHICH

GIVE

RISE

TO

THE

COMMUNICATIVE 7 -

EVENT)

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995B,

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

P.

57;

CHULIARAKI

&

FAIRCLOUGH,

1999,

P.

113).

THESE

CLOSELY

RESEMBLE VAN DIJK'S THREE

DIMENSIONS OF IDEOLOGY ANALYSIS: DISCOURSE, SOCIOCOGNITION, AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS [ANALYSIS

OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES] RESPECTIVELY. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE MAIN

FAIRCLOUGH'S

AND

VAN

DIJK'S

APPROACH

IS

THE

SECOND

DIMENSION,

WHICH MEDIATES BETWEEN

THE OTHER TWO. MENTAL MODELS AS

WHEREAS VAN DIJK PERCEIVES SOCIAL COGNITION AND

MEDIATING BETWEEN DISCOURSE AND THE SOCIAL, FAIRCLOUGH BELIEVES THAT THIS TASK IS ASSUMED

BY

DISCOURSE

PRACTICES--TEXT

PRODUCTION

AND

CONSUMPTION--

(FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B, P. 59). IN

THIS

CASE,

THESE

TWO

APPROACHES

OF

CDA,

ARE

"SIMILAR

IN

CONCEPTION" (FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B,

P. 59).

FAIRCLOUGH'S FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING A COMMUNICATIVE EVENT

A) TEXT:

THE

FIRST

ANALYTICAL

FOCUS

OF

FAIRCLOUGH'S

THREE-PART

MODEL

IS

TEXT.

ANALYSIS OF TEXT

INVOLVES

LINGUISTIC

ANALYSIS

IN

TERMS

OF

VOCABULARY,

GRAMMAR,

SEMANTICS, THE SOUND

SYSTEM,

AND

COHESION-ORGANIZATION

ABOVE

THE

SENTENCE

LEVEL

(FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B, P. 57).

LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS IS APPLIED TO TEXT'S LEXICAL-GRAMMATICAL AND SEMANTIC PROPERTIES, TWO

ASPECTS

THAT

HAVE

MUTUAL

IMPACT

ON

EACH

OTHER

(PP.

57-58).

FOLLOWING SFL, FAIRCLOUGH

ALSO VIEWS TEXT FROM A MULTIFUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE. TO FAIRCLOUGH, ANY

ACCORDING

SENTENCE IN A TEXT IS ANALYZABLE IN TERMS OF THE ARTICULATION OF THESE FUNCTIONS, WHICH HE

HAS RELABELED REPRESENTATIONS, RELATIONS, AND IDENTITIES:

PARTICULAR

REPRESENTATIONS

AND

RECONTEXTUALIZATIONS

OF

SOCIAL PRACTICE

(IDEATIONAL FUNCTION) -- PERHAPS CARRYING PARTICULAR IDEOLOGIES.

PARTICULAR CONSTRUCTIONS OF WRITER AND READER IDENTITIES (FOR

EXAMPLE, IN TERMS

OF

WHAT

IS

HIGHLIGHTED

--

WHETHER

STATUS

AND

ROLE

ASPECTS

OF

IDENTITY, OR

INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONALITY ASPECTS OF IDENTITY)

A PARTICULAR CONSTRUCTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WRITER

AND READER (AS, FOR

INSTANCE,

FORMAL

OR

INFORMAL,

CLOSE

OR

DISTANT).

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995B, P. 58)

ACCORDING TO FAIRCLOUGH (1995), LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS IS CONCERNED WITH PRESENCES AS WELL AS

ABSENCES

IN

TEXTS

THAT

COULD

INCLUDE

"REPRESENTATIONS,

CATEGORIES OF PARTICIPANT,

CONSTRUCTIONS OF PARTICIPANT IDENTITY OR PARTICIPANT RELATIONS" (P. 58).

B) DISCOURSE PRACTICE:

ACCORDING TO FAIRCLOUGH (1995, P. 58-59), THIS DIMENSION HAS TWO FACETS: INSTITUTIONAL

PROCESS

(E.G.

EDITORIAL

PROCEDURES),

AND

DISCOURSE

PROCESSES

(CHANGES THE TEXT GO THROUGH

IN

PRODUCTION

AND

CONSUMPTION).

FOR

FAIRCLOUGH,

"DISCOURSE

PRACTICE STRADDLES THE

DIVISION

BETWEEN

SOCIETY

AND

CULTURE

ON

THE

ONE

HAND,

AND

DISCOURSE, LANGUAGE AND TEXT ON

THE OTHER" (P. 60), AS SHOWN IN THE FOLLOWING FIGURE.

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

A FRAMEWORK FOR CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF A COMMUNICATIVE EVENT (FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B, P. 59)

INSTITUTIONAL

PROCESS,

IN

TERMS

OF

MEDIA

DISCOURSE,

WILL

BE

OUTLINED FURTHER BELOW WHEN I

DISCUSS

FAIRCLOUGH'S

FRAMEWORK

FOR

ANALYZING

MEDIA

DISCOURSE.

DISCOURSE PROCESSES,

HOWEVER,

CAN

BE

BEST

EXPLAINED

THROUGH

DISCUSSING

CORE

CONCEPT IN HIS APPROACH:

INTERTEXTUALITY.

INTERTEXTUALITY AND INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

IN THIS ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK, WHILE THERE IS LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS AT THE TEXT LEVEL,

THERE IS ALSO LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS AT THE DISCOURSE PRACTICE LEVEL THAT FAIRCLOUGH CALLS

"INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS" (1995B, P. 61). (1995B),

ACCORDING TO FAIRCLOUGH

INTERTEXTUAL

ANALYSIS

FOCUSES

ON

THE

BORDERLINE

BETWEEN

TEXT

AND DISCOURSE PRACTICE

IN THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK. AT TEXT FROM THE

INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS IS LOOKING

PERSPECTIVE OF DISCOURSE PRACTICE, LOOKING AT THE TRACES OF THE DISCOURSE PRACTICE IN

THE TEXT. (P. 16)

ACCORDING

TO

FAIRCLOUGH,

"LINGUISTIC

ANALYSIS

IS

DESCRIPTIVE

IN

NATURE, WHEREAS

INTERTEXTUAL

ANALYSIS

IS

MORE

INTERPRETATIVE"

(P.

16).

FAIRCLOUGH (1992, P. 84)

DEFINES

INTERTEXTUALITY

AS,

"BASICALLY

THE

PROPERTY

TEXTS

HAVE

OF BEING FULL OF

SNATCHES OF OTHER TEXTS, WHICH MAY BE EXPLICITLY DEMARCATED OR MERGED IN, AND

WHICH THE TEXT MAY ASSIMILATE, CONTRADICT, IRONICALLY ECHO, AND SO FORTH."

FAIRCLOUGH (1992, P. 85) IDENTIFIES TWO TYPES OF INTERTEXTUALITY: "MANIFEST INTERTEXTUALITY,"

AND

"CONSTITUTIVE

INTERTEXTUALITY."

THE

FORMER

REFERS

TO

THE

HETEROGENEOUS CONSTITUTION OF

TEXTS

BY

WHICH

SPECIFIC

OTHER

TEXTS

ARE

OVERTLY

DRAWN

UPON

WITHIN A TEXT.

THIS KIND OF

INTERTEXTUALITY

IS

MARKED

BY

EXPLICIT

SIGNS

SUCH

AS

QUOTATION

MARKS, INDICATING THE

PRESENCE OF OTHER TEXTS. OTHER HAND, REFERS TO THE

CONSTITUTIVE INTERTEXTUALITY, ON THE

"HETEROGENEOUS CONSTITUTION OF TEXTS OUT OF ELEMENTS (TYPES OF CONVENTION) OF ORDERS OF

DISCOURSE

(INTERDISCURSIVITY)

(P.

104).

THIS

KIND

OF

INTERTEXTUALITY REFERS TO THE STRUCTURE

OF

DISCOURSE

CONVENTIONS

THAT

GO

INTO

THE

NEW

TEXTS

PRODUCTION.

FAIRCLOUGH

(1992)

PROVIDES HE

SEVERAL

EXAMPLES

OF

THESE

PROCESSES

OF INTERTEXTUALITY.

ANALYSES

AN

ARTICLE

PUBLISHED

IN

BRITISH

NATIONAL

PAPER,

THE

SUN, WHICH IS A REPORT ABOUT

AN

OFFICIAL

DOCUMENT

ABOUT

DRUG

TRAFFICKING

PRODUCED

BY

COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH HOUSE

OF COMMONS.

WHAT HE

FINDS ARE

TWO MAIN

POINTS: (1) THERE ARE

LINGUISTIC FORMS THAT DO

NOT

EXPLICITLY

REPRESENT

THE

OFFICIAL

DOCUMENT.

THEY

ARE

SUB-

REPORTS SUPPOSEDLY ABOUT THE

ISSUE THAT ARE NOT PRESENT IN THE OFFICIAL DOCUMENT AT ALL; (P. 2) THERE ARE LINGUISTIC AND

SOCIOCULTURAL PRACTICES

TEXT PRODUCTION

TEXT

TEXT

CONSUMPTION

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

SEMANTIC

SIGNS

WHICH

INDICATE

THE

MERGING

OF

THE

VOICE

OF

THE

SUN WITH THE VOICE OF THE

OFFICIAL

DOCUMENT.

THIS

IS

EVIDENT

IN

THE

FACT

THAT

THE

SUN

SUPPORTS THE RECOMMENDATIONS

THAT THE OFFICIAL DOCUMENT MAKES TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AS IF THEY ARE THE SUNS

RECOMMENDATIONS. REPEAT THE OFFICIAL

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THE SUN DOES NOT MERELY

DOCUMENT BUT RATHER REPHRASES THINGS AND EXPRESSES THEM IN ITS OWN WORDS AND LANGUAGE.

THE PAPER MANAGES TO DO THIS IN TWO WAYS: (I) BY SHIFTING AWAY FROM THE FORMAL LANGUAGE

AND

LEGAL

JARGON

TOWARDS

CONVERSATIONAL

VOCABULARY

AND

SPOKEN LANGUAGE (E.G.

"TRAFFICKERS" BECOMES "PEDDLERS"), (II) BY CONVERTING THE WRITTEN MONOLOGUE OF THE

OFFICIAL

DOCUMENT

TO

CONVERSATIONAL

DIALOGUE.

THAT

IS,

THE

NEWSPAPER TURNS AN OFFICIAL

DOCUMENT

INTO

POPULAR

SPEECH

THAT

IS

APPEALING

TO

ITS

PARTICULAR AND LOYAL AUDIENCES.

THIS

EXAMPLE

OF

INTERTEXTUALITY

SHOWS

THAT

WHILE

THE

SUN

REPORT IS BASED ON A PREVIOUS

TEXT, IT RESPONDS TO THE FUTURE UTTERANCES, EXPECTATIONS OF ITS READERS, BY CONFIGURING THE

ORIGINAL TEXT INTO ITS OWN DISCOURSE TYPE.

FAIRCLOUGH (1995, P. 189) CLAIMS THAT INTERTEXTUAL PROPERTIES OF A TEXT ARE REALIZED IN ITS

LINGUISTIC

FEATURES

SINCE

IT

IS

ASSUMED

THAT

TEXTS

MAY

BE

LINGUISTICALLY HETEROGENEOUS.

NEVERTHELESS, FAIRCLOUGH (1995B) ASSERTS THAT,

LINGUISTIC

ANALYSIS

IS

DESCRIPTIVE

IN

NATURE,

WHEREAS

INTERPRETATIVE ANALYSIS IS MORE

INTERPRETATIVE.

LINGUISTIC

FEATURES

OF

TEXTS

PROVIDE

EVIDENCE

WHICH CAN BE USED IN

INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS, AND INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS IS A PARTICULAR SORT OF INTERPRETATION

OF THAT EVIDENCE . . . (P. 61)

C) SOCIOCULTURAL PRACTICE:

FOR FAIRCLOUGH (1995B, P. 62), ANALYSIS IN THIS DIMENSION PERTAINS TO THREE ASPECTS OF THE

SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT OF A COMMUNICATIVE EVENT: ECONOMY OF THE MEDIA),

ECONOMIC (I.E.

POLITICAL

(I.E.

POWER

AND

IDEOLOGY

OF

THE

MEDIA),

AND

CULTURAL

(I.E. ISSUES OF VALUES).

ACCORDING

TO

FAIRCLOUGH,

ONE

DOES

NOT

HAVE

TO

CARRY

OUT

ANALYSIS AT ALL LEVELS BUT ANY

LEVEL THAT MIGHT "BE EVENT" (P. 62).

RELEVANT TO UNDERSTANDING THE PARTICULAR

THESE KEY

CONCEPTS OF THE SOCIOCULTURAL PRACTICE WILL BE DISCUSSED IN THE FOLLOWING SECTION AS A PART

OF OUTLINING A FRAMEWORK FOR MEDIA ANALYSIS.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR ANALYZING MEDIA DISCOURSE

FAIRCLOUGH (1995B) POSITS THAT "AN ACCOUNT OF COMMUNICATION IN THE MASS MEDIA MUST

CONSIDER

THE

ECONOMICS

AND

POLITICS

OF

THE

MASS

MEDIA:

THE

NATURE OF THE MARKET WHICH THE

MASS MEDIA ARE OPERATING WITHIN, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE STATE, AND SO FORTH" (P. 36).

AMONG

THE

ASPECTS

AND

PROPERTIES

OF

MASS

MEDIA

THAT

HAVE

ATTRACTED ATTENTION ARE ACCESS

TO THE MEDIA, ECONOMICS OF THE MEDIA, POLITICS OF THE MEDIA, AND PRACTICES OF MEDIA TEXT

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION.

A) ACCESS TO THE MEDIA:

ONE OF THE ISSUES OF CONSIDERABLE IMPORTANCE IS ACCESS TO MEDIA: WHO HAS ACCESS TO MASS

MEDIA

AND

WHAT

IMPLICATIONS

THE

ANSWER

TO

THIS

QUESTION

HAS

REGARDING THE PLACE OF THE

MEDIA IN SOCIETY.

AS FAIRCLOUGH (1995B) ARGUES, THERE ARE MANY

INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIAL

GROUPS

WHO

DO

NOT

HAVE

AN

EQUAL

ACCESS

TO

THE

MASS

MEDIA

IN

TERMS OF WRITING, SPEAKING

OR BROADCASTING.

FAIRCLOUGH ARGUES THAT THIS IS BECAUSE "MEDIA

OUTPUT IS VERY MUCH UNDER

PROFESSIONAL

AND

INSTITUTIONAL

CONTROL,

AND

IN

GENERAL

IT

IS

THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE OTHER

FORMS BEST

OF

ECONOMIC, TO

POLITICAL MEDIA"

OR (P.

CULTURAL JAFFER

POWER

THAT

HAVE -

THE 10 -

ACCESS

THE

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

40).

ACCORDING TO VAN DIJK (199?)

, ACCESS TO DISCOURSE, FOR EXAMPLE, TO THAT OF THE

MEDIA, IS IMPORTANT, BECAUSE

ACCESS

TO

DISCOURSE

IS

MAJOR

(SCARCE)

SOCIAL

RESOURCE

FOR

PEOPLE, AND THAT IN

GENERAL

THE

ELITES

MAY

ALSO

BE

DEFINED

IN

TERMS

OF

THEIR

PREFERENTIAL ACCESS TO, IF

NOT CONTROL OVER PUBLIC DISCOURSE. THE FEATURES OF THE

SUCH CONTROL MAY EXTEND TO

CONTEXT

(TIME,

PLACE,

PARTICIPANTS),

AS

WELL

AS

TO

THE

VARIOUS

FEATURES OF THE TEXT

(TOPICS, STYLE, AND SO ON). (P. 10)

B) ECONOMY OF THE MEDIA:

ANOTHER

IMPORTANT

PROPERTY

OF

MEDIA

TO

DISCUSS

IS

ITS

ECONOMICS, BECAUSE ACCORDING TO

FAIRCLOUGH

(1995B),

"THE

ECONOMICS

OF

AN

INSTITUTION

IS

AN

IMPORTANT DETERMINANT OF ITS

PRACTICES EXCEPTION.

AND

ITS

TEXTS"

(P.

40).

THE

MASS

MEDIA

ARE

NO

LIKE OTHER PROFIT

MAKING

INSTITUTIONS,

THE

MEDIA

HAVE

PRODUCT

TO

SELL.

THEIR

PRODUCT IS THE AUDIENCE OF

INTEREST TO ADVERTISERS (CHOMSKY, 1989; FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B). RESULT, ACCORDING TO

AS A

FAIRCLOUGH, THE MASS

MEDIA

"ARE VERY MUCH

OPEN

TO THE EFFECTS

OF COMMERCIAL PRESSURES"

(P.

42).

FOR

THE

PRESS,

FOR

EXAMPLE,

THESE

EFFECTS

COULD

BE

IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING WHAT

IS

SELECTED

AS

NEWS

AND THIS

IN

WHAT

WAYS

SUCH

NEWS

IS

PUBLISHED

(FOWLER, 1991, P. 20).

ISSUE

OF

THE

EFFECTS

OF

THE

ECONOMIC

ASPECTS

OF

MEDIA,

PARTICULARLY ITS ADVERTISING

PRACTICES,

HAS

BEEN

THE

CENTER

OF

MUCH

DISCUSSION

IN

CRITICAL

MEDIA STUDIES (ACHBAR, 1994;

CHOMSKY, 1989; HACKETT, 1991; WINTER & HASSANPOUR, 1994).

CLOSELY

RELATED

TO

THE

ISSUE

OF

ADVERTISING,

IS

THE

ISSUE

OF

OWNERSHIP AND MORE SPECIFICALLY

CONCENTRATED OWNERSHIP OF THE MASS MEDIA, WHICH ACCORDING TO MANY ANALYSTS HAS

ESSENTIAL INFLUENCE ON MEDIA DISCOURSE (FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B, P. 43; CHOMSKY, 1989;

HACKETT, 1991, P. 65; WINTER & HASSANPOUR, 1994). FAIRCLOUGH, A FEW LARGE

ACCORDING TO

CORPORATIONS

OWN

MOST

OF

THE

COMMERCIAL

MEDIA

IN

THE

WEST.

FOR EXAMPLE, ACCORDING TO

WINTER & HASSANPOUR (1994),

TWO CORPORATIONS, [SOUTHAM CHAIN AND THOMSON CORPORATION-THE OWNER OF THE

GLOBE & MAIL], CONTROL 59 PER CENT OF CANADIAN DAILY NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION, AND

THEY

ARE

CORPORATIONS

WITH

EXTENSIVE

INTEREST

OUTSIDE

THE

NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY, RUN

BY THE CORPORATE ELITE. (P. 15)

THE

IMPACT

OF

CONCENTRATION

OF

OWNERSHIP

"MANIFESTS

ITSELF

IN

VARIOUS WAYS, INCLUDING THE

MANNER

IN

WHICH

MEDIA

ORGANIZATIONS

ARE

STRUCTURED

TO

ENSURE

THAT THE DOMINANT VOICES

ARE THOSE OF THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ESTABLISHMENT, AND IN THE CONSTRAINTS ON ACCESS TO THE

MEDIA " (FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B, P. 43).

C) THE POLITICS OF MEDIA:

THE

POLITICS

OF

MEDIA,

ACCORDING

TO

FAIRCLOUGH

(199B,

P.

36),

SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN

MEDIA

ANALYSIS

AS

WELL.

MANY

CRITICS,

(CHOMSKY,

1989;

FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B; FISHMAN,

1980;

FOWLER,

1991;

HACKETT,

1991;

VAN

DIJK,

1991,

1993),

ARGUE

THAT THE COMMERCIAL

MAINSTREAM

MEDIA

WORKS

IDEOLOGICALLY

AND

IS

IN

THE

SERVICE

OF

THE POWERFUL, THE ELITE, AND

THE

STATE.

FAIRCLOUGH

(1995B)

ARGUES

THAT

MEDIA

DISCOURSES

"CONTRIBUTE TO REPRODUCING

SOCIAL RELATIONS OF DOMINATION AND EXPLOITATION" (P. 44). SAME TIME, HE OBSERVES

AT THE

THIS DATE.

IS

FROM

VAN

DIJK'S THOUGH

WEBSITE, WITHOUT A

HTTP://WWW.HUM.UVA.NL:80/~TEUN/BELIAR.ENG,

HOWEVER, A LINK HAS BEEN MADE TO THIS ARTICLE IN 1998 FROM

HTTP://WWW.ABER.AC.UK/MEDIA/SECTIONS/TEXTAN02.HTML, INDICATES THAT THE ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN LATE

WHICH

1980S. JAFFER

NONETHELESS,

DOWNLOADED

THE -

ARTICLE

IN 11

8/14/2000 -

SHEYHOLISLAMI

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

THAT SOMETIMES THE INTERESTS OF THE MEDIA ARE IN CONFLICT WITH THE STATE, FOR EXAMPLE IN THE

CASE

OF

THE

VIETNAM

WAR

WHEN

AMERICAN

TELEVISION,

BY

SHOWING

IMAGES OF THE WAR TURNED

THE

PUBLIC

OPINION

AGAINST

THE

WAR

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995B,

P.

45).

GOWING (1991) AND SCHORR

(1991)

ALSO

SPEAK

OF

THE

IMPACT

OF

TELEVISION,

IN

1991,

IN

CONVINCING THE BUSH

ADMINISTRATION

TO

INTERVENE

IN

NORTHERN

IRAQ

TO

HELP

THE

KURDISH REFUGEES.

CHOMSKY,

HOWEVER,

BELIEVES

THAT

PERIODICAL

CRITICISMS

OF

THE

STATE OR MAJOR CORPORATIONS

BY

THE

MEDIA

ARE

PART

OF

THE

DOCTRINE

OF

DOMINANT

ELITE

GROUPS TO "AGGRESSIVELY PORTRAY

THEMSELVES

AS

SPOKESMEN

FOR

FREE

SPEECH

AND

THE

GENERAL

COMMUNITY INTEREST" (AS CITED IN

ACHBAR,

1994,

P.

53).

THE

SAME

CRITICS

OF

THE

MEDIA,

HOWEVER,

ADMIT THAT THE STATE IN THE

WEST

DOES

NOT

OVERTLY

DICTATE

TO

THE

MASS

MEDIA.

HOW

IS

THE

MEDIA AN INSTRUMENT OF THE

POWERFUL THEN?

TO EXPLAIN THIS, FAIRCLOUGH AND OTHER ANALYSTS SUCH AS HACKETT (1991), FOLLOWING GRAMSCI,

USE THE CONCEPT OF HEGEMONY. DIJK (1998A) POINT TO

SIMILARLY, CHOMSKY (1989) AND VAN

THE

MEDIA'S

POWER

OF

MANUFACTURING

CONSENT.

ACCORDING

TO

FAIRCLOUGH & CHULIARAKI

(1999),

HEGEMONY IS RELATIONS OF DOMINATION BASED UPON CONSENT RATHER THAN COERCION,

INVOLVING

THE

NATURALIZATION

OF

PRACTICES

AND

THEIR

SOCIAL

RELATIONS AS WELL AS

RELATIONS BETWEEN PRACTICES, AS MATTERS OF COMMON SENSE-HENCE THE CONCEPT OF

HEGEMONY

EMPHASIZES

THE

IMPORTANCE

OF

IDEOLOGY

IN

ACHIEVING

AND MAINTAINING

RELATIONS OF DOMINATION. (P. 24)

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA, ACCORDING TO HACKETT (1991), ARE "AGENTS OF HEGEMONY" (P. 56).

ACCORDING

TO

HACKETT, AS HE

NO

POWER

COULD

LAST

FOREVER

THROUGH

IMPOSING FORCE.

OBSERVES,

THIS

IS

PARTICULARLY

TRUE

OF

DEMOCRATIC

COUNTRIES

SUCH AS THE U.S. AND CANADA

WHERE

THE

PUBLIC

IS

MOSTLY

LITERATE,

HAS

HISTORY

OF

EXPERIENCING THE FREEDOM OF

EXPRESSION,

AND

HAS

RIGHT

TO

VOTE

(PP.

56-57).

IN

THESE

COUNTRIES, THE RULING CLASS NEEDS

TO ACHIEVE THE PUBLIC'S CONSENT THROUGH PERSUASION IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN ITS DOMINATION,

AND

THE

MASS

MEDIA

IS

ONE

OF

THE

ESSENTIAL

ELEMENTS

IN

MANUFACTURING THIS CONSENT

(CHOMSKY, 1989; VAN DIJK, 1998A; HACKETT, 1991; FOWLER, 1991).

D) PRACTICES OF MEDIA TEXT PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION:

PRODUCTION

AND

CONSUMPTION

OF

MEDIA

TEXTS

ARE

TWO

OTHER

IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS OF MEDIA

AND THEIR INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES. INSTITUTIONAL ROUTINES, SUCH

PRODUCTION INVOLVES A SET OF

AS

NEWS

GATHERING,

NEWS

SELECTION,

WRITING,

AND

EDITING

(FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B; FOWLER, 1991;

VAN DIJK, 1993).

CONSUMPTION MAINLY REFERS TO THE WAYS IN WHICH

READERS, IN CASE OF THE

WRITTEN TEXT (I.E. THE PRESS), READ AND COMPREHEND TEXT.

SELECTING

NEWS

REPORTS

IS

ONE

OF

THE

IMPORTANT

PRACTICES

OF

TEXT PRODUCTION.

MASS MEDIA

ALWAYS

HAVE

FAR

MORE

MATERIAL

THAN

SPACE,

THEREFORE,

NOT

ALL

NEWS MAKES IT TO THE NEWSCAST

(FOWLER,

1991,

P.

11).

THIS

MEANS

THAT

THERE

IS

PROCESS

OF

SELECTING NEWS, WHAT TO WEED

OUT

AND

WHAT

TO

PUBLISH.

IN

TERMS

OF

CRITERIA

FOR

SUCH

SELECTIONS, ACCORDING TO CARRUTHERS

(2000,

P.

16)

AND

EAMAN

(1987,

P.

51),

NEWSWORTHINESS

IS

NOT

AN

INHERENT CHARACTERISTIC OF

EVENTS

AND

NEWS

ITEMS.

IT

IS

RATHER

DETERMINED

BY

THE

NEWS

PRODUCTION AND INSTITUTIONAL

PRACTICES.

SO,

"EVENTS

BECOME

NEWS

WHEN

TRANSFORMED

BY

THE

NEWS PERSPECTIVE, AND NOT

BECAUSE

OF

THEIR

OBJECTIVE

CHARACTERISTICS

NEWS

IS

CONSCIOUSLY CREATED TO SERVE THE

INTEREST OF THE RULING CLASS" (EAMAN, 1987, P. 51). "THE WORLD OF THE PRESS IS

AS A RESULT

NOT THE REAL WORLD", RATHER A PARTIAL ONE, WHICH IS "SKEWED AND JUDGED" (FOWLER, 1991, P.

11).

JAFFER

SHEYHOLISLAMI

12

HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

SELECTION

BY

JOURNALISTS

AND

THE

MEDIA

IS

ALSO

INVOLVED

IN

CHOOSING THE SOURCES OF

INFORMATION, FOR EXAMPLE, WHO GETS INTERVIEWED OR WHO GETS TO BE QUOTED OR HEARD IN

NEWS.

ACCORDING TO FAIRCLOUGH (1995B),

ONE

STRIKING

FEATURE

OF

NEWS

PRODUCTION

IS

THE

OVERWHELMING

RELIANCE OF

JOURNALISTS ON A TIGHTLY LIMITED SET OF OFFICIALS AND OTHERWISE LEGITIMIZED SOURCES

WHICH

ARE

SYSTEMATICALLY

DRAWN

UPON,

THROUGH

NETWORK

OF

CONTACTS AND

PROCEDURES,

AND

SOURCES

OF

'FACTS'

AND

TO

SUBSTANTIATE

OTHER

'FACTS.' (P. 49)

IN

CONTRAST

TO

OFFICIALS,

ORDINARY

PEOPLE,

WHENEVER

THEY

ARE

USED AS SOURCES, ARE MOSTLY

ALLOWED

TO

SPEAK

ABOUT

THEIR

PERSONAL

EXPERIENCE

RATHER

THAN

EXPRESSING OPINIONS ON AN

ISSUE

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995B,

P.

49).

ACCORDING

TO

FAIRCLOUGH

(1995B) AND FOWLER (1991, P.

22-23),

THIS

HEAVY

RELIANCE

ON

OFFICIALS

AS

SOURCES

OF

INFORMATION IS TIED TO THE MEDIA'S

DEPENDENCE

ON

THE

STATUS

QUO

TO

KEEP

THEIR

OWNERSHIP,

AND

CONTINUE THEIR PROFITABILITY.

THE

CONSEQUENCE

OF

THIS,

ACCORDING

TO

FAIRCLOUGH,

IS

"A

PREDOMINANTLY ESTABLISHED VIEW

OF

THE

WORLD,

MANIFESTED

TEXTUALLY

IN,

FOR

INSTANCE,

WAYS

IN

WHICH THE REPORTING OF SPEECH

IS TREATED" (1995B, P. 49).

ONCE

NEWS

ITEM

GOES

THROUGH

THE

PRODUCTION

PROCESS

IT

BECOMES READY TO BE READ AND

UNDERSTOOD; THAT IS, IT BECOMES READY FOR CONSUMPTION, BUT HOW IT WILL BE CONSUMED HAS

BEEN

THE

CENTER IN

FOR

MUCH

DEBATE

IN

THE 1994;

ANALYSIS

OF

MEDIA 1995B;

DISCOURSE

PARTICULAR

(BOYDBARRETT,

FAIRCLOUGH,

FOWLER, 1991; WIDDOWSON, 1998).

DISCOURSE ANALYSTS

NATURALLY

MAKE

ASSUMPTIONS THEY EVEN

ABOUT

HOW

AUDIENCES

READ

AND

COMPREHEND TEXTS.

APPEAR TO INTERPRET TEXTS ON BEHALF OF THE AUDIENCES. AT STAKE HERE IS HOW A

THE ISSUE

DISCOURSE ANALYST KNOWS HOW AUDIENCES CONSUME MEDIA DISCOURSE, HOW AND WHAT THEY

COMPREHEND

OR

WHAT

SORTS

OF

IMPACTS

THESE

REPORTS

HAVE.

THINK IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT ALL

ANALYSTS,

INCLUDING

CDA

PRACTITIONERS,

AGREE

THAT

DIFFERENT

AUDIENCES MAY INTERPRET TEXTS

DIFFERENTLY.

THIS, HOWEVER, IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST ARGUMENTS

THAT CRITICS OF CDA HAVE

BROUGHT

FORWARD

AGAINST

DISCOURSE

ANALYSTS

WHO

BASE

THEIR

CONCLUSIONS ON THEIR OWN

INTERPRETATIONS,

REGARDING

THE

IMPACT

OF

MEDIA

DISCOURSE

ON

AUDIENCES (FAIRCLOUGH, 1996;

WIDDOWSON,

1995).

CDA

PRACTITIONERS

ARE

THE

FIRST

TO

ACKNOWLEDGE THAT DIFFERENT READERS

MIGHT 16).

READ

SIMILAR

TEXTS

DIFFERENTLY

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995B,

P.

15-

IN A SIMILAR VEIN, VAN

DIJK (1993) STATES THAT "MEDIA RECIPIENTS [ARE] ACTIVE, AND UP TO A POINT INDEPENDENT,

INFORMATION

USERS"

AND

THEY

MAY

FORM

INTERPRETATIONS

AND

OPINIONS OF NEWS REPORTS

DIFFERENT

FROM

THOSE

THE

NEWSPAPER

PROJECTED

OR

IMPLIED

(VAN

DIJK, 1993, P. 242).

THIS

SEEMS TO INDICATE THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAY HOW PEOPLE READ AND INTERPRET A NEWS REPORT

FOR INSTANCE.

HOWEVER,

CDA

PRACTITIONERS

HAVE

REASONS

TO

BELIEVE

OTHERWISE.

THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO

REASONS.

FIRST, READERS USUALLY ARE NOT TRAINED TO BE CRITICAL

READERS OF TEXTS (FOWLER, 1991,

P.

11;

VAN

DIJK,

1991).

SECOND,

AUDIENCES

INTERPRET

TEXTS

AGAINST THEIR BACKGROUND

KNOWLEDGE

AND

THE

INFORMATION

THEY

ALREADY

HAVE

ABOUT

THE

SUBJECT IN QUESTION (VAN DIJK,

1993,

P.

242).

IRONICALLY,

ACCORDING

TO

VAN

DIJK,

"FOR

SPECIFIC

TYPES OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL

EVENTS . . . THE NEWS MEDIA ARE THE MAIN SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND BELIEFS USED TO FORM THE

INTERPRETATION FRAMEWORK FOR SUCH EVENTS . . . " (VAN DIJK, 1993, P. 242-243). IT FOLLOWS

THAT DESCRIBING AND ANALYZING THE MEDIA DISCOURSE COULD HELP US IN MAKING ASSUMPTIONS

ABOUT THE IMPACT OF THE MEDIA ON AUDIENCES. THE IDEA THAT TEXTS HAVE

FAIRCLOUGH DEFUSES

NO

MEANINGS

ON

THEIR

OWN,

WITHOUT

THE

INTERPRETATIONS

OF

READERS (1995B).

HE STATES,

IT STRIKES ME AS SELF-EVIDENT THAT ALTHOUGH ANY READING IS A

READINGS MAY VARY,

PRODUCT OF AN INTERFACE BETWEEN THE PROPERTIES OF THE TEXT AND THE INTERPRETATIVE JAFFER SHEYHOLISLAMI 13 HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

RESOURCES

AND

PRACTICES THE

WHICH

THE

INTERPRETER

BRINGS

TO

BEAR

UPON THE TEXT.

RANGE

OF

POTENTIAL

INTERPRETATIONS

WILL

BE

CONSTRAINED

AND

DELIMITED ACCORDING TO

THE NATURE OF THE TEXT. (P. 16)

FAIRCLOUGH,

HOWEVER,

BELIEVES

THAT

RECEPTION

STUDIES

(FOR

EXAMPLE, ASKING THE AUDIENCES

ABOUT

THEIR

ACTUAL

INTERPRETATIONS

OF

TEXTS)

COULD

HELP

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN IDENTIFYING

MEANINGS

AND

EFFECTS

OF

TEXTS.

NONETHELESS,

HE

BELIEVES

THAT

TEXT ANALYSIS SHOULD BE THE

CENTRAL

ELEMENT

IN

MEDIA

ANALYSIS

PROVIDED

THAT

IT

IS

ACCOMPANIED BY ANALYSIS OF TEXT

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION (FAIRCLOUGH, 1995B, P. 16).

PRINCIPLES OF CDA

BY WAY OF CONCLUDING BY CDA PRACTITIONERS

THIS SECTION, PRINCIPLES OF CDA, OUTLINED

(FAIRCLOUGH,

1995A;

KRESS,

1991;

HODGE

&

KRESS,

1993;

VAN

DIJK,

1998A; WODAK, 1996)

CAN BE SUMMARISED AS FOLLOWS:

1.

LANGUAGE

IS

SOCIAL

PRACTICE

THROUGH

WHICH

THE

WORLD

IS

REPRESENTED.

2. DISCOURSE/LANGUAGE USE AS A FORM OF SOCIAL PRACTICE IN ITSELF NOT ONLY REPRESENTS

AND

SIGNIFIES

OTHER

SOCIAL

PRACTICES

BUT

IT

ALSO

CONSTITUTES

OTHER SOCIAL PRACTICES

SUCH AS THE EXERCISE OF POWER, DOMINATION, PREJUDICE, RESISTANCE AND SO FORTH.

3. TEXTS ACQUIRE THEIR MEANINGS BY THE DIALECTICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEXTS AND THE

SOCIAL

SUBJECTS:

WRITERS

AND

THE

READERS,

WHO

ALWAYS

OPERATE

WITH VARIOUS DEGREES

OF CHOICE AND ACCESS TO TEXTS AND MEANS OF INTERPRETATION.

4. LINGUISTIC

FEATURES AND

STRUCTURES ARE

NOT ARBITRARY.

THEY

ARE PURPOSEFUL WHETHER

OR NOT THE CHOICES ARE CONSCIOUS OR UNCONSCIOUS.

5.

POWER

RELATIONS

ARE

PRODUCED,

EXERCISED,

AND

REPRODUCED

THROUGH DISCOURSE.

6.

ALL

SPEAKERS

AND

WRITERS

OPERATE

FROM

SPECIFIC

DISCURSIVE

PRACTICES ORIGINATING IN

SPECIAL

INTERESTS

AND

AIMS

WHICH

INVOLVE

INCLUSIONS

AND

EXCLUSIONS.

7. DISCOURSE IS HISTORICAL IN THE SENSE THAT TEXTS ACQUIRE THEIR MEANINGS BY BEING

SITUATED IN SPECIFIC AND TIME AND SPACE.

SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND

IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS,

8. CDA DOES NOT SOLELY INTERPRET TEXTS, BUT ALSO EXPLAINS THEM. JAFFER SHEYHOLISLAMI 14 HTTP://WWW.CARLETON.CA/~JSHEYHOL/CDA.HTM

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OF THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAQI KURDS IN THE GLOBE AND MAIL AND THE NEW YORK TIMESSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011

Ambassador from the Taliban

Review of "My life with the Taliban" by Abdul Salam (Mullah) Zaeef

Ever wonder what it's like on the other side of the news? What it's like tobe a mullah? What it's like to help found the Taliban? What it's like to wina civil war? What it's like to be an ambassador? What it's like to be invaded by the US? What it's like to be taken prisoner by the US and rot in Guantanamo? If so, this is your book.

Deciding on today's title was quite difficult. Zaeef's book is so full of rich and ironic themes that many titles suggested themselves. I will pepper in some of the alternates as I go along.

Abdul Salam Zaeef grew up in rural areas in southern Afghanistan around Kandahar, attending madrassas, (thus becomming a talib, then a mullah), joining the Mujahideen against the Soviets, briefly running a mosque (thus becomming an Imam), helping to found the Taliban movement that took over most of Afghanistan, and rising to become its ambassador to Pakistan. After the US invasion, he was imprisoned and eventually shipped to Guantanamo for years of imprisonment, finally ending up as a private citizen in Kabul (under close supervision) in his early forties, writing his memoirs.

His story is well and briskly- occasionally movingly- told. Orphaned at a young age by his parent's deaths from illness, (his father was a minor Imam), then at age seven ripped from his younger sister by her arranged marriage, inspired at age fifteen to join the mujahideen and partipate in Afghanistan's brutal wars, and later shockingly abused by the US, he has plenty to be bitter about. The hold of a victimization narrative couldn't be stronger. The US is always killing women and children, while the Taliban is always seeking peace and friendly accord. [Studies in narcissism, Taliban division].

In Jungian terms, he seems quite unfamiliar with his own shadow side, which embodies the inevitable opposite of our positive qualities. Each of us has an individual shadow side, which we tend to project onto others rather than own up to ourselves. Cultures, too, take on communal shadow sides. The work of psychotherapy, in this school, is partly to bring the shadow to consciousness so that the individual can withdraw the shadow projections and start dealing with reality in more constructive ways, than simply to hate and trample on some object of projection- the scapegoat. So I would suggest that Afghanistan undertake a few decades of mass Jungian analysis(!). [Shadow over Afghanistan].

In fairness, principal policy makers in the US were hardly more reflective, as exemplified by the recent memoirs of Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush, both out to generally dreadful reviews. I would bet that, for an adventurous book club, the Rumsfeld memoir would make an intriguing pairing with Zaeef's!

But there is also love- specifically Zaeef's love of study, love of Islam, and love of his comrades in the great war against the Soviets. [We happy few, we Taliban] "May God be praised! What a brotherhood we had among the mujahedeen! We weren't concerned with the world or with our lives; our intentions were pure and every one of us was ready to die as a martyr. When I look back on the love and respect that we had for each other, it sometimes seems like a dream." Indeed, he recalls some earlier childhood preparation: "We led our armies into fierce battles, slaying our enemies to defend our kingdoms. We ruled our land just like ministers and kings, at times demanding tax for the right of passage, or negotiating deals and truces. I think this is what all children do around the world." I don't recall doing this, personally. At any rate, he also proclaims love of the Afghan people, and even includes a sugary plea to the US for better understanding in his preface and again at the end, accompanied by some other good advice. "The world should realize how bad the situation for Afghans is, and how oppressed they are. People should be kind and compassionate to them." His love of Afghanistan manifests in the crucial pivot of the book, in 1994, when the demobilized taliban faction of mujahideen around Kandahar, (one of many factions), with Zaeef in the lead, decide to take matters in their own hands against the local warlordism and banditry. They elect Mullah Omar as their leader, and set up a political network of mullahs that ousts each minor bandit in turn, gathering popular support and eventually taking complete charge of the area, including Kandahar. If the story ended here, (summary), it wouldn't have been such a bad turn of events. Zaeef doesn't say much about it, but the Taliban went on to fight a brutal war for the rest of the country, ousting the nascent regime of Massoud and Rabbani in Kabul (with the help of 20,000 Pakistani soldiers and floods of Saudi money).

The unasked question is- why? Why fight for the whole of Afghanistan, taking so much foreign support, committing massacres, and terrorizing the population? What was the big difference with the Northern alliance, headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Massoud? Why did the Taliban suddenly become so bloodthirsty? Both sides were Muslim. Both were Afghan. Both had had plenty of war and suffering. The answer is they had fundamentally different views of Afghanistan's future- theocratic or democratic:

To take a quote from Shah Massoud:

"The Taliban say: 'Come and accept the post of prime minister and be with us', and they would keep the highest office in the country, the presidentship. But for what price?! The difference between us concerns mainly our way of thinking about the very principles of the society and the state. We can not accept their conditions of compromise, or else we would have to give up the principles of modern democracy. We are fundamentally against the system called 'the Emirate of Afghanistan.'" ... "There should be an Afghanistan where every Afghan finds himself or herself happy. And I think that can only be assured by democracy based on consensus." Massoud was a committed democrat, and had progressive ideas about running Afghanistan, which were just coming to fruition after the civil war he fought from his position as defense minister in Kabul, against a variety of Islamists and other former mujahideen. Note also how Massoud mentions women as part of the democratic polity, something Zaeef never does. Zaeef hated him, as he describes upon hearing the announcement of a post-commnist government: "Why did he appoint Massoud? Why would he take a decision like that? I knew [president] Mr Mujaddidi was a jihadi leader, who himself had fought against the Russians and the Communists. He had suffered and sacrificed in the name of God. Why would he now do something that would cause even more suffering? What was in his heart? In a split-second my happiness left me, my eyes turned red form the tears that came pouring down my cheeks and my cry turned into a scream." Why indeed? I can only speculate, since Zaeef doesn't reveal his motivations (and may not know them, really). Massoud had certainly suffered and fought no less than the other mujahideen. Indeed, his northern region of operations was on the Soviet border. Perhaps it was simple tribalism, with Zaeef as a Pashtun shocked to hear of Tajiks (Massoud and Rabbani) running things. [Blood is thicker than religion]

But I think religion was actually more important. Zaeef seems to have had his heart set on the new government being a theocracy rather than a pluralist/democratic government that seemed to be excluding Islamist elements. His mujahideen faction in the war was the taliban- students from madrassas, mullahs, and others who chose an Islamist organization over the many other tribal and party-based mujahideen groups. A big part of their anti-communist motivation reacted to the Communist's aggressive modernization, in terms of women's rights, expropriation of large landholders, de-emphasis of religion, and the like. Clearly Zaeef was not alone, since the country promptly fell back into civil war, mostly due to the exclusion of, and brutality by, another Islamist group, the Hezbi Islami, or HIG.

Perhaps even more significant, Massoud and Burhanuddin Rabbani were Sufis, and there are few internecine hatreds so bitter as that between fundamentalist Sunnis and Sufis, who turn many of the violent and retrograde facets of Islam on their head. Sufis are accommodators, modernizers, and mystics. They are the anti-fundamentalists.

It is a sad story. We all operate from a position of great compassion for the people of Aghanistan and recognition of their right of self-determination. We can accept that Afghan revolutionaries and freedom fighters deserve high respect. They are Afghan. They sacrificed everything to free their country from the Soviets. They come from the people whom they seek to govern. Who are we from the West in comparison, when it comes to running Afghanistan?

But then one views the fruits of their efforts in self-government. The warlord period after victory over the Soviets was a Darwinian bloodbath. The Taliban's own rule, however effective in imposing brutal control, was a nightmare of a different sort. And finally, the Taliban's current efforts are once again singularly brutal and horrifying as they use mafia tactics to re-impose their rule over the poor people of Afghanistan. Has the cultural implant from the West over the last decade been enough to guide Afghanistan to a better future once we leave in a few years? It is very difficult to say.

But let us return to Zaeef's story. Mullah Omar gave him several ministerial posts in the new Taliban government (styled an emirate, under Omar as the Emir, I believe), culminating with the post of ambassador to Pakistan, easily Afghanistan's most important foreign mission, and eventually its only contact with the outside world. [Diplomat, mullah, patriot]. Zaeef characterizes Pakistan well, as the twofaced nation: "Pakistan, which plays a key role in Asia, is so famous for treachery that it is said they can get milk from a bull. They have two tongues in one mouth, and two faces on one head so they can speak everybody's language; they use everybody, deceive everybody. They deceive the Arabs under the guise of Islamic nuclear power, saying that they are defending Islam and Islamic countries. They milk America and Europe in the alliance against terrorism, and they have been deceiving Pakistani and other Muslims around the world in the name of the Kashmiri jihad. But behind the curtain, they have been betraying everyone." "The wolf and the sheep may drink water from the same stream, but since the start of the jihad, the ISI extended its roots deep into Afghanistan, like a cancer puts down roots in the human body; every ruler of Afghanistan complained about it, but none could get rid of it." It is fascinating to hear about Zaeef's time as Ambassador, trying to ride the raging bull of the Taliban's international relations. He was a perfect person for the role, completely committed, yet soft-spoken and highly insightful when convenient. One of the greatest difficulties arrives in the form of a fatwa that damns and encourages the assassination of any Muslim who fights against the Taliban (as Musharraf and Pakistan were doing at the behest of the US). [Fatwa of the damned]. In the end, after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ushered off the stage, Zaeef was, for good measure, personally betrayed by the Pakistanis, who imprisoned and handed him over to the US. [US respects diplomatic immunity. Not!].

This part of his story is deeply troubling, indeed mortifying, to read as a US citizen. We've all heard about the horrors of the US's foreign prisons as well as Guantanamo. The stupidity of treating people in bestial fashion, of expecting them to break under torture, of driving them insane, not to mention the moral depravity ... there is no sufficient way to characterize it, other than to recount it in detail, as Zaeef does for us here. [US respects human rights. Not!]. "Each brother who spent time in Camp Five [Guantanamo] looked like a skeleton when he was released; it was painful to look at their thin bodies. When Abu Haris returned from the camp, I did not recognize him; there was no resemblance between the man who had been taken away and the body that was returned. I was so scared by his appearance that sometimes I would even dream of him and wake up screaming. May almighty Allah release all Muslim brothers in good health and save them from the hands of the pagans and cruel people." Not only have we made countless enemies in the Islamic world through this despicable behavior, we have hardly gained any information that we couldn't have through perfectly cordial conversations (this book, indeed, is a testament to Zaeef's willingness to talk!). And we have subverted our own legal system and standing in the international system, rendering Guantanamo's imates more hardened, more difficult to repatriate, and impossible to prosecute in any rational way.

Now Zaeef is back in Kabul, essentially under government watch and quietly twiddling his thumbs. But he has also apparently resumed his role as interlocutor for the Taliban, being whisked to Britain recently to confer with their foreign office.

For regular Afghans, the Taliban are unwelcome, as is the current fully corrupt Karzai government, as is the contest between the US and both of the above. What should we do? Zaeef's prescription is to go with the Taliban, which represents traditional and Islamic values from his vantage as a Kandahari and fundamentalist Mullah: "Americans should know that they are no longer thought of as a people of freedom and democracy. They have sown the seeds of hatred throughout the world. Under their new banner they have declared a war on terrorism and terrorists, but the very term 'terrorist' is of their own making. The jihad against them will never stop as long as America doesn't take steps to correct its mistakes" "Secondly, eliminating the word 'jihad' from the curriculum of the schools and some other subjects is extremely worrying. Jihad is a central concept within Islam, and understanding it is an obligation of every single Muslim." "It is astonishing that after eight years, with tens of thousands of troops, warplanes and equipment, and a vast national army, facing down some estimated ten thousand insurgents, leaving some two-thirds of the country unstable, that foreign governments still believe that brute force is a solution to the crisis.

And still they send more troops. The current conflict is a political conflict and as such cannot be solved by the gun." "How much longer will foreigners who fail to understand Afghanistan and its culture make decisions for the Afghan nation? How much longer will the Afghan people wait and endure? Only God knows. One again, I pray for peace. Once again I pray for Afghanistan, my home." One can easily draw out the many contradictions at work here. Zaeef prays for peace, but believes in jihad (real jihad, not some namby pamby Sufi spiritual jihad). He believes arms can not solve the political problems of Afghanistan, but apparently hasn't communicated this insight to his brethren in Pakistan.

This kind of self-blindness makes our common goal of preventing civil war and anarchy in Afghanistan extremely difficult. Perhaps mass psychotherapy won't be possible. Perhaps the Pashtun code and Islamic religion are both fundamentally violent. Perhaps the Afghan government is impossibly corrupt. Perhaps Pakistan is a relentlessly meddlesome and deceitful neighbor. Perhaps democracy doesn't map effectively onto the tribal and hierarchical social structure of traditional Afghanistan, which restricts the effective franchise only to the upper (male) tier of landholders/power brokers. (A bit like colonial America, come to think of it). It isn't going to be easy or pretty getting out of Afghanistan, but the surge of democratic sentiment sweeping the Muslim world has to make one hopeful. An interview with Abdul Zaeef. Sample of news conference in Pakistan, as ambassador and in denial. Some recent Talib propaganda. Someone else's review of this same book- taking a rather dim view, really. Complete rot at the top in Afghanistan. So Karzai hates us, naturally, and bumbles along. Hitchens flays the "human rights community". We are talking to the Taliban. Appreciating the dark side of our archetypal narratives. Historians sort of agree with Mullah Zaeef. A little history of Libya. USA is number... er ... 31. Non-islamic terrorism ... yawn ... Lincoln puts his foot down. Screw the workers!

"Recall that in recent years, we've witnessed two separate debates over two types of taxpayersubsidized laborers. First, we saw a brief argument over how much taxpayer money should pay government-sponsored bankers on Wall Street. Now, we're having a more prolonged discussion about how much taxpayer money should pay public employees in our schools, police departments, fire departments and infrastructure agencies." Bill Mitchell quote of the week:

"The IMF helped cause the crisis. It has no credibility in lecturing us on what we should do to resolve it. Its notions of fiscal sustainability are based on meaningless financial ratios. It talks about being worried about jobs and poverty but then forces agreements on nations which unambiguously cause a loss of jobs and increasing poverty."

THE LAST WORD

The Beauty of Democracy

An interview with Maulana Fazlur Rehman. From the June 24 2011 issue

Farooq Naeem / AFP

Maulana Fazlur Rehman is considered one of Pakistans most flexible politicians. Until a few months ago, his eponymous faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam was part of the federal coalition government. His party has recently won the opposition leader post in the Senate. NEWSWEEK Pakistans Nazar Ul Islam spoke with the JUIF chief in Islamabad on democracy, terrorism, Kashmir, and the Army. Excerpts: You support more trade with India. Is that possible until the Kashmir issue is resolved? For the past 60 years, the Kashmir issue has kept us walled off economically from India, and other South Asian countries. Our relations are no better with Afghanistan, which prefers India and is the key to accessing Central Asia. We abandoned the Iran pipeline because of America. Were begging for access to European markets for our goods, but what about the thriving markets in our backyard? For trading partners, we should prefer our neighbors first, then the Islamic world, and then anybody else.

Is the Army an obstacle to peace with India? When this government took over, the Army proposed operations inside our own country. They started in the tribal areas and then Swat and in the process they took over the war-on-terror policy which shapes our foreign policy. The Army played its cards beautifully. Despite having a democratically-elected government, it is the Army thats engaged with foreign powers. Maybe this also suits the interests of the president and prime minister. When the Army faces difficulties, like they did after Abbottabad, they come to Parliament for cover. But their grip on politics is still so tight that I cant say democracy here is strong or free from fear. I say the Army should not be afraid of giving up control, their opinions and suggestions will still be heard. Are you hopeful on Kashmir? Indias Congress government says they are ready to talk on Kashmir with Pakistan. Obviously, we are in favor of a political solution. The establishments of both countries cant stretch this out any longer because an unbearable situation could arise that neither country will like. Things have changed so much. Now the concept of winning Kashmir has taken a backseat to the urgency of saving Pakistan. My own experience suggests that neither country is serious about Kashmir. Your party ran the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government during the Musharraf years. How are your successors different? It is the beauty of democracy that the people can choose their government every five years. Sometimes people are happy, sometimes they are annoyed, but they are the best judge. During our time, there were no damning articles, no scandals, and no fingers were raised about relief funds [following the 2005 earthquake] being misappropriated. A global organization had declared our government the least corrupt provincial government in Pakistan. People say the Awami National Party government didnt even spare flood relief funds. Your partys government was accused of turning a blind eye to militants, if not providing outright support to them. Things were alright in our time, there was peace and calm everywhere. And if there were certain people, they were under our watch, fully controlled. Actually, nobody listens to us because they have their own agendas. We can handle all these issues even now, and there is no need for the Army to get involved. We didnt have our government in the Punjab, why did the Punjabi Taliban grow there? Deobandi scholars have declared armed struggle as unIslamic, why is this not highlighted by the media? P.M. Gilani told Parliament that Osama bin Laden was a threat to Pakistan, yet your party arranged a prayer for him. Why him, and why not for Salmaan Taseer or Shahbaz Bhatti? Osama was a man of war, so his death was certain. Declaring him a terrorist or not is not the issue. How come our sovereignty was violated under Gilanis leadership? How did bin Laden get to live here for five years some hundred yards from our Army? These are the real issues. Nobody is sharing any information with us. There are so many speculations. Was he really killed? Was he killed two years ago? We are in the dark. Someone killed at war isnt dear to me, but the sovereignty of Pakistan is. But offering prayers for someone who targeted Pakistan? As a Muslim, we can offer prayers for anybody. We dont have any affiliation with Al Qaeda at all. Pakistan is our country and we are against any type of insurgency inside Pakistan. But if bin Laden lived in Pakistan, it means he wasnt interested in a war with Pakistan because he wanted to live in peace in this land. America armed and funded the militants during the Afghan jihad, garlanded these factions, and now tells us that we should eliminate them. Allah shouldnt give a death like Salmaan Taseers to anybody. He was so isolated even in death that the imam of his own Governor House declined to lead his funeral prayers. They didnt even show the man who did lead the service, so we dont know where those prayer sounds even came from. This doesnt mean we are in favor of what happened to him, but a person who is governor, enjoying a Constitutional post, cannot declare any law to be black. And I was the very first person who condemned Bhattis killing, which was not linked to the blasphemy issue.

Do you support improving the blasphemy laws to prevent their misuse as Taseer and Bhatti had? Everything should be discussed at the right forum. It is strange when the Pope tells us to remove this law. Who is he to intervene in our matters? If any changes have to be made to these laws, religious scholars and institutions should not be bypassed. Who do you think was responsible for the two recent attempts on your life? In this market of war you will find items of every nature. Nobody is safe. There are some people who didnt get their place in our party and are unhappy. There is also a possibility that the suicide bombers may have been hired by some agency because certain forces want our party to not reach the common people. I havent investigated the matter. During the in-camera joint session of Parliament, the director-general of the ISI reportedly responded to your brothers rhetoric by suggesting that your party secretly receives dollars from Libya and Saudi Arabia. Can you tell us more about this? I will not comment as [Gen. Shuja Pasha] said this while angry. He should have stuck to the topic for which he was there. A person who is unable to see U.S. helicopters violating our sovereignty, how come he is capable of seeing dollars in our pockets? A man who cant see a big tree in front of him can see straws in our eyes? He said what he said when he was angry and he has apologized. Youve said that our nuclear installations are under threat from the U.S. What information do you base this on? Pakistan is of all of us. The Army, we, and the common people are on the same platform. We may have a lot of reservations about each other, but when it comes to the security of Pakistan then we all should think about its defense. The isolation of the Army from the people only works to the advantage of foreign forces especially since our nuclear assets are in their hands for safeguarding. So we should not corner the Army. America and its allies are not afraid of Israel or Indias atomic bomb but they are of ours. Its wrong to claim that our nuclear weapons are unsafe because of terrorists. They are for sure unsafe from the hands of America. Do you believe the PNS Mehran attack was an inside job? If, lets suppose, the mindset of the military rank and file is different from that of the commanders, then its their responsibility to keep this in view when formulating policies. When will our madrassahs be reformed? They are already reformed. A U.S. State Department cable alleges that your partys votes were for sale if the U.S. were to support your bid for prime minister. This is a joke. And if the American envoy wrote such sort of crazy reports then the U.S. should think about the type of bureaucrats and diplomats they send here who dont even understand what we are saying.

Towards a Curriculum for the Teaching of Jihadist Ideology

Publication: Volume: 0 Issue: 0
October 27, 2010 10:00 AM Age: 1 yrs

By: Stephen Ulph

Towards a Curriculum for the Teaching of Jihadist Ideology aims to provide an introduction to the intellectual infrastructure of the jihadist phenomenon and the process of

radicalization, and to furnish materials for a textbook primer to what is still largely an ideologicalterra incognita for the western reader. It is designed for the use of academics, security professionals, policy-makers and the general reader alike. The work sets out in its introductory chapters to highlight common errors in the perception of jihadism and of its causes by looking at the problem from the point of view of the jihadist sympathizer. It details the ideological infrastructure of the movement through an examination of the texts many of which have yet to be made available in English. The study argues that the meticulously composed doctrinal and cultural works form the lifeblood and intellectual infrastructure of the Jihad and in quantity and range amount to an entire educational program, one that is constructed to reconfigure a Muslims self-image and identity. It sets out to demonstrate how jihadism is in essence a religiously construed movement in something more than its externalities, and illustrates the emphasis the jihadist thinkers place on the importance of doctrinal propriety, an emphasis that outweighs by far the attention given to matters of strategy and tactics. The study argues that it is the strength of the intellectual underpinning (something which is too often underestimated) that affords the jihadist movement its resilience by providing it with what amounts to a doctrinal safe haven that frames and justifies the conflict. Importantly, the work highlights that the resilience of jihadism stems from its claim to doctrinal authenticity and pedigree within the Islamic tradition. The analysis demonstrates how this authenticity derives from the jihads incunabulum within the absolutist, reductionist methodology of the Salafist tendency, and traces how the development to activism and Jihadi-Salafism occurred progressively, in step with constant insistence on its authenticity to the tradition. It also underlines the basic doctrinal features of jihadism, and illustrates the interpretation given by the mujhidn and their sympathisers to current reality, to the course of history and the salvific nature of the struggle, which they consider themselves to be waging. It is by understanding jihadists points of departure on their own terms like this that light can be shed on why they behave the way they do, both in the Muslim heartlands and beyond. The Curriculum section discusses the teaching of jihadism to date in academic institutions and outlines the problems that ensue from current reticence to give the subject the depth of treatment that it merits. As a template for the Curriculum it takes the examples of curricula and recommendations circulated by Jihadis themselves on the Internet, and thus reflects the jihadists own prioritization of materials and authors. In so doing, the study demonstrates the true cyberweapon role of the web, which is as apublisher and distributor of texts. The examination of the jihadi curricula also confirms the strong doctrinal bias, indicating where for the mujhidn the centre of gravity of the jihad actually lies. The sample texts of the Curriculum are collected and categorized according to subject and purpose and commented upon in detail, in order to explain the world view of the jihadists and illustrate how they explain and justify their acts in religious terms using an exclusively logocentric reasoning. Lastly, the works conclusions emphasize the need to avoid making assumptions based on old analytical habits, to study the wealth of open source information available on the ideology which should be taken seriously and at face value and to understand that the Jihad is primarily a re-education endeavour and therefore very much a war of ideas. It calls for the improvement of both the quality and spectrum of research and analysis, preferably through a multi-disciplinary approach that can accommodate the return of the religious dimension to international affairs.

The Father of the Taliban: An Interview with Maulana Sami ul-Haq

Publication: Spotlight on Terror Volume: 4 Issue: 2
May 23, 2007 01:23 PM Age: 5 yrs

By: Imtiaz Ali Maulana Sami ul-Haq

Maulana Sami ul-Haq is the director and chancellor of Pakistan's famous madrassa, Darul uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak. He has served in this post since the death of his father, Maulana Abdul ul-Haq, the founder of the madrassa, in 1988. Darul uloom Haqqania is where many of the top Taliban leaders, including its fugitive chief, Mullah Omar, attended. It is widely believed that the madrassa was the launching pad for the Taliban movement in the early 1990s, which is why Sami ul-Haq is also called the "Father of the Taliban." Besides running his madrassa, Maulana Sami has a long political history as a religious politician. He was among the founders of Pakistan's Muttahida Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) coalition of six Islamic religious parties. He recently spoke with Jamestown analyst Imtiaz Ali.

Imtiaz Ali: During the Russian invasion, the students from your madrassa were traveling to Afghanistan to fight, after which most of them were eventually inducted as governors and administrators in the Taliban government. Is the same thing continuing today? Are you still sending people to Afghanistan for jihad?

Maulana Sami ul-Haq: No, there were not only Taliban who took part in jihad. This is an incorrect assumption, which needs correction. After the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, people from all walks of life went to Afghanistan for jihad. Students from colleges and universities went more than madrassa students.

IA: But it is an undeniable fact that students who graduated from your madrassa played a significant role in the establishment of the Taliban regime.

SH: Well, the Taliban were busy in their studies when the factional wars in Afghanistan reached their climax. Naturally, when the leaders could not make it, the students had to come to the rescue of the war-torn country. Thus, the Taliban rushed back to rescue their country from the factional fighting. Similarly, when America attacked Afghanistan in late 2001, the same event happenedit is understandable that when infidels attack a Muslim country, then it is the duty of every Muslim to defend it. Maulana Sufi Muhammad of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat- e-Mohammadi (TNSM) also took thousands of people for jihad, which was a commendable action. The U.S. attack on Afghanistan was a clear act of aggression and terrorism. But when someone rises up against U.S. aggression, then he is called a terrorist. It is a strange and illogical philosophy.

IA: There were reports that the Taliban leadership had called for fresh reinforcements in connection with its spring offensive in Afghanistan. Is this true?

SH: These are just baseless reports. Had they called upon the madrassa students, they would have called us for the reinforcements or at least we would know. The Taliban are not that organized. They are living in caves. They lack proper communication and logistics systems, and that is why they do not want new recruits. The Afghans themselves have risen up and they are fighting against American and NATO forces.

IA: If they would ask you for help, what would be your reaction?

SH: They would never ask us. We ourselves have not sent students before nor will we send them now. It is not our madrassa policy to do so.

IA: What would you call the situation in Afghanistan? Is that jihad?

SH: When the red forces of the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, it was a war of independence and we all agreed that it was jihad. Even the United States had said that the Russians must be ousted from Afghanistan. When Russia left, the United States committed the same aggression. So, the situation is the same. One infidel force replaced another. No difference at all. Whether it is Russia or America, it is a jihad.

IA: Some analysts call it a Pashtun uprising. What do you think?

SH: It is neither a Pashtun uprising or a Persian one, or a Sunni uprising or a Shiite. In fact, the Afghan nation has risen up against the invadersthe United States and its allies. It is a war of independence. After the fall of the Taliban regime, the Afghan people remained quiescent for two years to see if any positive change would come into their lives. But they did not see anything that was promised to them at the time of the collapsing Taliban regime and that is why they started this revolt against the occupied forces. It is now a war of independence for all Afghans. They want to get rid of the U.S.-led occupation forces. Terming it only a Pashtun uprising is a completely incorrect assumption.

IA: Do you not consider the Karzai-led government in Afghanistan a Muslim government?

SH: We have nothing to do with the Islam of Karzai. It is not our business to issue a decree about him being Muslim or non-Muslim. We just want an end to the suffering of the Afghan people. We ask the current Afghan rulers to start negotiations with the Taliban and other jihadi forces to pave the way for a durable peace in the war-torn country.

IA: It does not matter to you, then, if there is a Karzai-led government or the Taliban, just as long as it is an Afghan government?

SH: We say that there should be no foreign interference in Afghanistan, and the Afghans themselves should come up with a solution. All the factionsthe leaders, the Taliban, the jihadi forcesshould come forward and work together for peace. They should decide their fate in the absence of foreign interference. But I firmly believe that there is no chance for peace and stability in Afghanistan until the presence of foreign troops is removed.

IA: What are your thoughts on the flow of fighters between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the Durand Line?

SH: Like I said earlier, it is an Afghan uprising against foreign invaders and it has nothing to do with cross-border terrorism and the flow of fighters from Pakistan.

IA: Why, then, has the government decided to fence and plant mines on the Pakistani side of the border? Do you approve of that?

SH: I oppose this plan because the Pashtun nation on both sides of the border shares cultural, racial and religious values. Their lives are intertwined. They are all Muslims. They are one nation. Fencing the border will not solve the problem. The main reason behind the tension on the Pakistan-Afghan border is the presence of U.S.-led foreign troops in Afghanistan. The day they leave Afghanistan, there will be no tension at all.

IA: With the ban on foreign students' admission in the religious seminaries in 2003 by the government, has enrollment of the students changed in your madrassa?

SH: That ban is a total violation of our fundamental rights. People from here go to the United States and the United Kingdom for studies. Similarly, students from other countries come to Pakistan for education. That was a kind of service we were providing to the Muslim students from other countries. But this ban is an unconstitutional, inhumane and unlawful act. The government has taken this step only to appease the United States and its other

Western masters. It is a shame for us because India is a secular country, but has been issuing visas to students from all Muslim countries who want to come to India for education.

IA: But there have been accusations that terrorists are being trained here in the madrassas.

SH: This is nothing more than an example of the perpetual propaganda against the madrassa system. This is what we have been hearing, but so far no one has produced any solid evidence.

IA: The mystery has always been shrouded by the lack of an audit of the money being received by madrassas, correct?

SH: We are not bound by the government to audit our funding system because they do not give us any money. First, let them give us funds for running our madrassas and then we will let them have their audit. Why are they taking pains when they are not giving us a penny? Only those who give us financial support have the right to audit our funds. We have our system of donations and we do not accept any donations from the government. I also want to make it clear that we keep a record of all our donations and funding. The funding is being registered and we prepare annual reports and then those reports are printed along with the names of the donors.

IA: Who gives you the donations for running this big madrassa?

SH: Common Muslims. And the majority of the funding comes from the poorer classes of society. They know that madrassas are the forts of Islam and the students in madrassas are the real guardians of Islam. God's religion is flourishing in the madrassas. These people cut their meager domestic budget and give us donations. This is how they express their love of Allah almighty and save the integrity of these madrassas.

IA: Is Musharraf validated in meddling with religious issues considering he is supposed to be the leader of a secular government?

SH: He has been doing all this just to appease the United States and his other Western masters.

IA: To what extent could a nuclear Iran pose a potential threat to the strength of Pakistan?

SH: Iran is not a threat to Pakistan at all. Iran is giving the United States a tough time in the region and seems quite determined to acquire nuclear power status. Muslims all over the world are happy about this move because there should be someone who has the courage to demonstrate the religious strength to look into the eyes of the United States. We support Iran. Besides, we would not allow the Pakistani leadership to toe the U.S. line in dealing with Iran, as they have done in the case of Afghanistan.

IA: There has been speculation that Iran has ambitions for a "Shiite Crescent" in the Middle East. What is your opinion of this?

SH: This is U.S. propaganda aimed at dividing the strength of Muslims. The Shiite-Sunni issue has been created by the United States just to hide its failure in Iraq and to achieve its goals in the Middle East. Besides, the United States is also creating poisonous propaganda against Iran for intervening in Iraq's affairs just to malign its position in the world community. It is baseless. I was in Iran two months ago where I held meetings with the top Iranian leadership. I urged them to counter U.S. propaganda and try to satisfy Kurds, Arabs and Sunnis. I clearly told them that if you [Iran] need the support of the whole Muslim ummah, then you have to garner support against the United States, not only from Shiites but also from Sunnis.

IA: What do you think of Lashkar-e-Jangvi, TNSM and other jihadi outfits in Pakistan?

SH: Lashkar-e-Jangvi and similar organizations are the continuity of the Kashmir problem. These jihadi forces were patronized by the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, with full state support for their activities in Kashmir. But when Pakistan came under immense pressure, then this whole drama was wrapped up and that is why a ban was put on these jihadi organizations. It is all a dictated policy from the West.

IA: What do you think about the latest spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan?

SH: This is not a surprise. This new suicide phenomenon in Pakistan is the direct outcome of the government's policies, particularly the unjust military operations in the tribal belt along the Afghan border. Today, Pakistani forces are at the highest level of danger and risk due to the flawed policies of General Musharraf in the name of fighting the so-called war on terror. This is what I had forewarned about in the past, that if the government did not stop these unjust military operations, then attacks on military posts and violence would not be confined to the tribal areas, but will spread to the rest of the country. Today, you see that this is happening.

IA: Do you think that suicide attacks are fair?

SH: The bombers would not ask us to confirm whether it is fair or unfair. It is better you ask this question to the suicide bombers, whose family members have been killed and houses have been bombed. They themselves decided what they had to do. They would not ask any mullah. But they do think that they will go straight to paradise.

IA: Who do you think these bombers are?

SH: They are young and emotional Muslims. When they see that their leaders have surrendered to the United States and its allies, then they do not see any other way out except for the option of suicide bombing. Among them are students of modern universities who see how the Western powers are destroying Muslims around the world. Suicide bombing is an international phenomenon now. These young people do not receive any suicide training or motivation in a madrassa or a mosque. They watch it on their TVsthe dead bodies of Muslim brothers. They see that Muslims are being killed in various part of the world. When they see these atrocities, they go their own way. If the international community wants to put an end to this kind of activity, it is high time for them to ponder solutions to issues like Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir.

IA: Besides your madrassa role, how do you see your role as a politician in the political field?

SH: My role is very clear as a madrassa teacher as it is as a politician. I want a true Islamic system in Pakistan. That is my simple goal. The current Pakistani system of governance was introduced by the British Raj, which means we are still enslaved by that colonial legacy. Our economy, education and judicial system stem from the same exploitative British rule. I want to introduce real Sharia, which was implemented by the four caliphs of Islam.

IA: Will you support Musharraf in the upcoming presidential elections?

SH: We have not yet decided about the upcoming elections. But I think they will be a fraud and a futile exercise in the name of democracy. Elections are part of democracy, but here they have become a fraud. In my 37-year career as a politician, I have seen a particular group of politicians from a particular group of families ruling this country. They have made their own dynasties. Since the creation of Pakistan, they have just been replacing one another, with no big change in policies. I am in favor of a bloodless revolution, which would completely overhaul the existing system. I just wonder, how can a democracy flourish in the shadow of a military uniform? The present one is a shame of a democracy.

IA: Do you think that with his support for the war on terror, Musharraf's popularity has increased or decreased at home?

SH: Absolutely decreased. First, look at the declining popularity of President Bush in his own country. So, how can Musharraf be popular for his role in the so-called war on terror? The reports about his increasing popularity are just rubbish.

IA: Will Musharraf be able to maintain control over Pakistan?

SH: Well, people are not happy with what he is doing here in Pakistan. The overwhelming majority of the masses are opposing his policies, particularly the much talked about "enlightened moderation." After bringing changes to the Hudood laws, now his government might soon amend the blasphemy laws. But he does not understand that the Pakistani people will sacrifice their lives on the issue of blasphemy. All these actions demonstrate his unpopularity among the masses.

IA: Is an Islamic revolution a possibility in Pakistan's future?

SH: Anything is possible. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that the motive behind the creation of Pakistan was the establishment of an Islamic state for the Muslims of India. Establishment of Sharia is the logical conclusion of Pakistan's creation.

IA: How do see yourself and your role in the next 10 years, and how can you contribute to the peaceful revolution you mentioned earlier?

SH: I'll see how events unfold in the future. However, I'm optimistic that after 10 years, the whole Muslim ummah will have awakened from its deep slumber; Pakistan is no exception. I think that the vast majority of Pakistanis will not tolerate what is going on here as silent spectators. Here is also a lesson for the United States: to learn from what happened to the former superpower the USSR. It should address the problems of the world in a positive way and address the sense of deprivation being created in the people of this region and especially in the Muslim ummah. Things have drastically changed. With the way they [the United States and its Western allies] inflict cruelties and damages on the Muslim ummah, there will be a strong response. Now, the Muslims have awakened. It is time for the United States to act responsibly. Otherwise, there will be tit-for-tat attacks.

IA: Do you think that the suicide bombing phenomenon is a kind of awakening?

SH: Look, if you kick a sleeping man, he will not only wake but will also resist. So, yes, suicide bombing is an awakening. Tell me, where did the concept of suicide bombing in Pakistan come? We had not heard about any suicide bombings in the more than two decades of the Afghan conflict. But this is a new and unbeatable discovery which some Muslim youth have found as an answer to the cruelties and damages being inflicted on the Muslim ummah.

IA: Can Western governments have a healthy relationship with Pakistan through foreign aid or development work?

SH: The first step is sovereignty and respect, and only then can foreign aid work. Until the United States and the West respect the sovereignty of Muslim countries and stop their aggression and atrocities, nothing will work.

Faculty of Advanced Integrated Studies And Research Language, Gender & Politics
A Cultural Approach in Male and Female Miscommunication

Assigned by: Assigned to:

Dr. Shamim Ali Arshad Mahmood

PhD Second Semester

System ID: MP-ELING-JAN10-29 Submission Date: 21/11/ 2011

National University of Modern Languages Islamabad

Introduction The attempt has been made to find out the cultural approach which designates 6the differences resulting in miscommunication that takes place between the male and females as a part of their being in different cultures. Although both live in the same community, but they feel difficulty in understanding each other. The focus is also to find out whether it happens so or just it is assumed that it happens. How can it be proposed that male and female belong to different cultures when they are living in their respective communities? But it is also the fact that both face a lot of restrictions which put them in the different cultures. Females spend most of the time indoor

while male spend outdoor. Males get more exposure than females by getting more opportunity of interaction with outer world. The level of difference in cultures of the both sexes varies from country to country, area to area and even community to community. This difference of their interaction with each other entails different experiences which shape different understanding of their world view, as well as, choice of vocabulary and grammatical rule formation that are the contributing factors at the time of communication. Moreover, the attempt also focuses to look at their social roles which are assigned to them by the society. Likewise, this endeavor concentrates the relevant concern of their social role, as well as, the way they use the language which is responsible for the creation of miscommunication between them.

A Cultural Approach in Male and Female Miscommunication

Cultural approach initiates the researcher to analyze the responsible indicators for the miscommunication between males and females that arise due to the social role given by society to both of the sexes. First, Lakoffs views concerning males and female have been mentioned, then, its relations with the far past has also been brought under consideration. The subsequent paragraphs focus on the causes of differences in the life styles of the both sexes which shape their views in such a way that they develop their particular speech patterns in their speech which are different from each other and result in the miscommunication. The other paragraphs

explicates the views of Maltiz and Borker, Gray and Deborah Cameron who very beautifully expressed their studies which indicate that miscommunication takes place in the speeches of he both sexes due to number of factors that constrain them to be limited to their like sex. Finally, the views of Simma Lieberman and Susan Grineth have been analyzed for the concerning point along with their expression of significant features of the language of each sex group that leads their encounters to miscommunication. The stereotypical conception of the subordinate role of women that shapes their linguistic repertoire in a certain way is not new, although it has been proposed by Lakoff as a result of his studies. This deficit approach of Lakoff has its roots in 1922s Jespersons idea that the female speech is deficient relative to male norm which remained unchallenged, but when Lakoff presented this idea, then criticism started which opened up new horizons in the cultural approach in male and female miscommunication, then appeared dominance approach, difference approach and dynamic approach. Deborah Tannan is of the opinion that men and women grow up as different social groups and thus she categorizes them into different sub cultures. Most of the researchers argue that the idea of male and female sub cultures is very old one as mentioned above as well, and it is conceived that both the sexes spend their lives in a different way. Likewise, some other studies also suggest that even from the childhood, the boys and girls prefer to play with their own respective groups, with some minor exceptions where it is said that they spend their early life time in mix sex groups. Anyhow whatever the matters are, it is fact that the males have more chances of interaction with world than the females. Males take part in the outdoor activities and get more exposure than the women. On the other hand, the females take part in indoor activities, like cooking, child care and in other household chores thats why they get less exposure of the world. Alongside, it there is another misconception that the cable and internet have brought the world at the doorstep, and have provided them with exposure like males,it is true, but it just gives the knowledge which is quite different from the directly interactional experience which cannot come by just watching the cable or operating the internet. Males have more chances of jobs then females, they have more opportunities of travel within the country and outside the country. This enables men to interact more with men than women. So, the daily used vocabulary which is developed by their interaction with each other is at some extent different from the females, while

the females interact more with the other females due to which their vocabulary, grammatical rules or even conversational style are developed differently from those of the males. So, although they live in the same community and speak the same language but face difficulty in understanding the intentions of the other sex while both the sexes feel comfortable in understanding their respective groups. The research made by Susan Harding proves this fact that speech is not something used in asocial or apsychological situation, it is used in the social and psychological situations, so when the both sexes have different experiences and are operated in different social contexts, they start developing different genres of speech, as well as, they tend to develop different skills to deal with words. Ultimately, they encounter with the miscommunication which is due to their bringing up differently in different situations, and due to developing different speech genres and different conversational skills. Likwise, Ruth Borkler explicates that both grow up in same sex groups which develop their understanding the world forms due to their specific experiences and shape their form of communication which is although not totally different from the other sex but it is: at a larger extent. Further, he says that they develop different language norms for the purpose of interaction. He says that it leads them to miscommunication. Malitz and Borker propose that their research findings indicate that the females question more than males, and the same idea has been placed by Simma Liebernan, who considers that women ask questions more because they have been trained in such the discourses that they can build rappert if they ask the questions while the males do so to get information rather than building rapport by asking questions. Another researcher, Gray gives the findings that indirect requests by women create miscommunication, they should avoid the indirect requests, it is further said that the use of the model auxiliary verb could should also be avoided by women because this verb is used to ask about ones ability to do something, and if a woman intends to get some job done by a man by using it, it will create miscommunication that the man will understand it in the meaning of ability, while the womans intention here was to make a request by using another model auxiliary verb, would you please instead of asking for the ability of doing the job by man. At the same stage, Deborah Cameron also gives her opinion about indirectness attitude of the females that it leads to the miscommunication. Females use minimal responses more than the males; most of the time they behave in silent protest, as well as, more pronoun usage has been

found in their speech than males. They make it clear that the men show other behaviors in their speech. For example, they interrupt during the conversations, while the women do not interrupt or if they do so they do it rare. Men challenge because of their own specific discourses of ensuring their dominance in the conversations, while females are not found in doing so. Men ignore the comments of the others for the same purpose, while women never do so. They also indicate another difference that during the interactions, men shift he topic by making more declarations of the opinions or facts while female tend to converse in the single topic in detail, so these difference they say create misunderstanding between them. Other than the differences, if they understand these facts, and tolerate them, because these differences are never intentional and they do not stop their communication with each other. Lack of assertiveness, confidence and self esteem on the part of the women lead the conversation to the miscommunication. Women look for commonalities and so engage in conversation with the women, while men prefer to relate to the others on a one up, one down basis and try to maintain their dominance in their conversations with others. Thats why, consensus based interactional strategy is considered as female oriented while the males interactional strategy is considered as hierarchical. Simma Lieberman is of the opinion, that miscommunication often results between the two sexes, especially on the meaning both give to the nodding of the head. She says that the male nod their head to show that they agree with whatever is said while the same action is made by the woman to show that they are listening. If both are not aware of the specificity related with themeaning of the nodding of head given by the other sex, so miscommunication take place. Another difference she claims is that of the behavior of the both sexes at the time of the problem. Females turn to others for sharing their problems while men do not like to share their problems with others and keep those problems to themselves. But Simma suggests that both should not allege each other for miscommunication, rather, they can benefit each other by these differences, turning them into opportunity. Susan Githens introduces global versus singular approach which exists in the speech of the both sexes. Men have linear approach which means that they have singular focus (focus on one topic) while women have global approach which means that they think in larger chunks and then can cover several topics. Difference in this way can lead them to the miscommunication. According

to Susan, another significant difference between the two sexes is that women tend to group their memories together and are skilled in recalling the emotional events to stimulate the similar feelings, however, men remember the events by talks and activities. So this difference in their memory functioning can lead them to miscommunication. Finally, as a result, it can be said that males and females are constrained to be developed differently that indicates a very strong role of the society which shapes their view as it is shaped by the individuals of the two different cultures whose language is same but act of interpretation is different. It does not mean that the same differences and miscommunication takes place everywhere. It varies from culture to culture and society to society. Spreading awareness and the demand of the females as professionals in different walks of life, have transformed their social role that was forbidden for them in the stereotypical societies that constrained them in a different culture than males and was the cause of the miscommunication. So, this change optimizes the researcher for the reduction of the understanding between the two sexes.

References
Grice, H. P(195) Logic and Conversation. P. Cole and J.L. Morgan(eds.),Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, pp.41-58. Keenan, E. O. (196) The Universality of Conversational Postulates, Language in Society, 5.1: 680.Quinn, Naomi (197) Anthropological Studies of Womens Status. Annual Review of Anthropology, 6, 181-225. Lakoff, Robin (195) Language and Womens Place. New York: Harper & Row.

Lakoff, R. T. (1979) Stylistic Strategies and a Grammar of Style. In J. Orasanu et al. (eds.), Language, Sex and Gender: New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 32, pp. 53-78. Maltz, D; & Borker, R (1982). A Cultural Approach to male and female miscommunication. In J. Gumpertz (Ed.), Language and Social Identity( pp. 196-216). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Tannen, Deborah (1990) Sex, Lies and Conversation; Why it is so Hard for Men and Women to talk to each other? The Washington Post, June, 1990.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERNS This is to certify that Mr Arshad Mahmood s/o Akhtar Hussain Qureshi has been the lecturer for last five years (2006 up till now). During this period he proved himself as a dedicated, devotional and competent teacher. His behavior with other staff and administration always remained co operative and resilient. His working as visiting lecturer of English for such a long period itself is a proof that he really deserves to be a teacher of this calibre. He is experienced in teaching BBA, BSCS, BSIT, M COM, MPA and MBA classes and we will be happy if wishes to apply anywhere else. I wish him success in every endeavor.

University Of Azad Jammu & Kashmir

Faculty of Administrative Sciences Kotli
Department of Business Administration
Class: BBA Semester: 2nd Exam: Terminal Marks: 50 Time: 2:30 hrs Date: 18/11/2011 Q1- Your Company executives are planning to open a new branch at Khuirutta due to their newly launched policy. For this purpose, you have been authorized to prepare a Short Business Report, so that they may arrive at the final decision which is dependent on the conclusion and recommendations of your report. 10 Q2- Develop an application for the Chairman of your department requesting him strongly to participate in the presentation ceremony of your class about which, informally, he is already aware of. Tell him that his presence will be conducive to your professional carrier. 10 Q3- Explain the following Market Terms in your own words: a- Bull Campaign b- Arrivals c- Bear d- Bearish e- Arbitrage f- Bull 08 10 12

Q4- Write down a short note on the topic, Population Explosion. Q5- Punctuate the following extract:

if in an economy price level raises due to increase in costs of production it is given the name of cost push inflation the important feature of this type of inflation is this that on one side the price level rises while on the other side the level of output and employment decreases in other words the inflation and unemployment go side by side in such type of inflation