Cover not available
Part of
Singing, Speaking and Writing Politics: South African political discourses
Edited by Mirjana N. Dedaić
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 65] 2015
► pp. 169–199

‘Mother of the nation’

Representations of womanhood in the South African media

This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to analyse how South African media, including online comment sections, represent womanhood and motherhood, with reference to two prominent South African public figures, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and the late Albertina Sisulu, both often referred to as “the mother of the nation”. In addition, I show how readers participate in public debate, in this case reiterating dominant views of women and positioning traditional nurturing and self-sacrificing attributes as desirable.
Keywords: corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, gender, media, South Africa, women
Published online: 30 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.65.08hun
References (33)
References
Anthony, Laurence. 2011. AntConc (Version 3.2.1) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from [URL].Google Scholar
Baker, Paul. 2008. Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality. London, Oakville: Equinox.Google Scholar
Baker, Paul, Costas Gabrielatos, Majid Khosravinik, Michal Krzyzanowski, Tony McEnery, and Ruth Wodak. 2008. “A Useful Methodological Synergy? Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to Examine Discourses of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK Press.” Discourse and Society 19 (3): 273-306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. 2001. Language and Power (2nd edition). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Hunt, Sally. 2011. The Discoursal Construction of Female Physical Identity in Selected Works in Children’s Literature. Unpublished PhD thesis: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.Google Scholar
IPU. Women’s Suffrage. [URL] 14 June 2013
Jaworska, Sylvia, and Ramesh Krishnamurthy. 2012. “On the F-word: A Corpus-Based Analysis of the Media Representation of Feminism in British and German Press Discourse, 1990–2009.” Discourse & Society 23 (4): 401- 431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Langley, Nick. 2004. “Web 2.0 What Does it Constitute?” [URL]. 10 August 2013.
Lister, Martin, Jon Dovey, Seth Giddings, Iain Grant, and Kieren Kelly. 2009. New Media: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mautner, Gerlinde. 2009. “Checks and Balances: How Corpus Linguistics Can Contribute to CDA.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (2nd edition), ed. by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, 122-143. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Mbhele, Wally and David Beresford. 1997. “More Corpses in Winnie’s cupboard”. [URL]. 10 August 2013.
SA’s mobile market embraces web. [URL]. 18 May 2012.
Sinclair, John. 2006. “Aboutness 2.” (Manuscript), Italy: Tuscan Word Centre.
Stubbs, Michael. 1995. “Collocations and Semantic Profiles: On the Cause of the Trouble with Quantitative Studies.” Functions of Language 2 (1): 23-55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1997. “Whorf’s children: Critical comments on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).” In Evolving Models of Language, Ann Ryan and Alison Wray, (eds), 100-116. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Thompson, John. 1990. Ideology and Modern Culture: Critical Social Theory in the Era of Mass Communication. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
UN Women: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. 2011. “Progress of the World’s Women 2011/2012: In pursuit of Justice: Executive Summary.” Downloaded from [URL] 4 April 2012
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2010. The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics. [URL] 4 April 2012
Van Niekerk, Phillip. 1991. “Winnie Falls from Grace - into a State of Isolation.” [URL] 10 August 2013.
Widdowson, H.G. 1998. “The Theory and Practice of Critical Discourse Analysis.” Applied Linguistics 19 (1): 136-151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer. 2009. “Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory and Methodology.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (2nd ed.), ed. by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, 1-33. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Appendix A
Primary Sources:
Business Day [URL]
Channel 24 [URL]
Eye Witness News [URL]
Vukúzenzele [URL]
IOL [URL]
Inner City Gazette [URL]
Mail and Guardian [URL]
Newspoint [URL]
SABC [URL]
Sowetan Live [URL]
Times Live [URL]
Township Times [URL]
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Hussen, Tigist Shewarega
2020. Gendered inequalities and media representation: Social media contestations on Ethiopia’s ‘gender-balanced’ political leadership. Agenda 34:1 ► pp. 55 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.