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How to identify logics constitutive of self and society: an interpretive and functional approach for the empirical analysis of discourse on political engagement

par Zienkowski, Jan
Référence Thinking the political: the work of Ernesto Laclau (10/04/2013 au 12/04/2013: Brighton)
Publication Non publié, 2013

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

This paper presents a heuristic for analysing political subjectivities and engagements. It proposes a possible avenue for overcoming the post-structural methodological deficit that has been haunting discourse theory for decades (Torfing 2005: 25-28). In order to illustrate his approach, the author will address the question how activists and intellectuals involved in the Flemish minority debate give meaning to their political engagements. An analysis of interviews conducted with key figures in this debate yields insights in the way these people construct interpretive logics that provide their sense of self and others with a relatively high degree of coherence. Based on post-structural (Glynos and Howarth 2007: 133-64; Laclau and Mouffe 1985; Torfing 1999), pragmatist (Bernstein 2010; Mouffe 1996), and linguistic pragmatic (Verschueren 1999, 2011) insights, Zienkowski proposes a definition of logics as large-scale interpretive patterns informing a preferred or disavowed mode of subjectivity. Logics are particular interpretive configurations of functional relationships between subject positions, statements, practices (sub)topics, or any other aspects of discursive reality relevant to an understanding of self and other. In order to identify and name such logics one needs to go through the self- interpretations of subjects which are frequently marked metalinguistically or metapragmatically in discourse (Zienkowski 2011: 432; 2012: 524-28). People use metapragmatic markers in order to indicate an awareness of what they are doing when using and interpreting language. Patterns in this interpretive and functional language use yield insights into the way people reflexively construct a sense of self and politics. Potential indicators of this type of awareness include contextualisation cues, metalinguistic comments, forms of reported speech, hedges, boosters, metaphorical language use. The proposed framework will be illustrated with reference to two case-studies in which activists and intellectuals elaborate on their political engagement in the Flemish minority debates (Zienkowski 2011: 298-424).