Zeitschrift für Diskursforschung/ Journal for Discourse Studies

Discourse and Violence

Zusammenfassung

The essay explores the question of whether and to what extent discourse research, in its various versions, inspired by theories and methodologies from the (global) west, has been conducted as »fair-weather research« (»Schön-Wetter-Forschung«). Relations of power and dominance, hegemony, or marginality have always been at the heart of discourse research. But it has paid little attention to current phenomena of »re-ordering discourses« through body-related and speaker-related violent interventions and threats of violent acts. Such acts might unfold top-down, via transformations in performing state power and control of public spheres, or bottom up, as aggressions of political-ideological or fundamentalist religious movements against (for whatever reason) unwanted articulations. How can discourse studies respond to such forms of violent (re)ordering of discourses?