Ideology and Identity: Operating Together (Published)
Ideology and identity are inevitably ubiquitous in most discourse types. This mere pervasiveness, more precisely in political discourse, is presumably sufficient to generate much debate as to whether ideology and identity find their locus in context or in other constructs. In view of this, this paper’s main focus is manifold. It attempts to study Biden’s discourse (selected tweets) within a critical discourse analysis framework while deploying a qualitative method of analysis. Approaching this discourse genre from the latter perspective aims at identifying how both concepts interact to generate a better understanding of discourse. To dismantle the way meaning is construed, some discourse strategies (van Dijk, 2004) like the presentation of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ are to be studied within context. Results show that Biden’s discourse is ideological and thus mirrors common identity goals. Moreover, positive self-presentation has been dominant in a daunting situation where most messages were purposefully rallying for all Americans.
Citation: Abidi Hajer (2021) Ideology and Identity: Operating Together, European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Vol.9, No.7, pp.39-48
Keywords: Discourse, Identity, Ideology, Messages, self-presentation
Discursive Construction of the Ideological Self and Other in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s The Last of the Strong Ones (1996) (Published)
This paper investigates the linguistic resources deployed by Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo in The Last of the Strong Ones to construct group solidarity and social identity. Conducting critical discourse analysis, the paper explores the discourses of resistance of a typically black agrarian Umuga community to the domination of Kosiri’s or the white settlers. The analysis reveal the use of the discursive strategies of membership categorization, referential nomination and agency in the construction of the in-group and out-group dichotomies of Us and Them. The black population in Umuga, which makes up the majority in the community, displays group solidarity based on their shared social representations and ideologies against the more powerful white settlers, who, by contrast, make up the minority. The narrator also indexes the domination and exclusion of Umuga people using agentless passive constructions. The significance of this study lies in showing that the reader’s understanding of how textual resources index participants’ social identity, their ideological attitudes and the power relations that underlie discursive interactions enhances text processing and interpretation.
Keywords: Ideology, Nigerian Literature, critical discourse analysis, discursive strategy, self-presentation