Publications
Publication details [#7167]
Lassen, Inger. 2008. The red gold: Analysing a nexus of practices. Critical Discourse Studies 5 (1) : 1–19. 19 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Angola | assumption | attribution | critical discourse analysis | Danish | denial | discourse study | documentary | genetically modified plant | hedging | ideology | intertextuality | intertextuality marker | land mine | metaphor | nexus analysis approach | report | television | temporal dimension | text genre
Abstract
The case study discussed in this article focuses on two communicative events unfolding in connection with trials in Angola of a genetically modified plant designed to detect landmines. The case is based on an independent observer's report and a documentary, The Red Gold, which was broadcast on Danish TV during 2004. I use a nexus analysis approach combined with critical discourse analysis to suggest that intertextuality and discourse interaction across genres influence ideological representations. This point is brought to the fore through analysis of the commonly accepted intertextuality markers of attribution, assumption, denial, hedging, and metaphor. However, the main contribution of this article is to demonstrate a point that has so far been largely ignored in critical discourse analysis - that intertextuality has a temporal dimension which may be subtly loaded with ideology through the intertextuality markers of time and tense. The primary purpose of this study is to throw light on the representation of ideological stances in a debate characterized by polarization and contestation, which I try to achieve by exposing a nexus of practices to critical discourse analysis. This may have wider implications for the formation of attitudes in general and the 'disciplinary becoming' of biotechnology, students in particular. (Adapted from the source document)
(LLBA, Accession Number 200811538, (c) CSA [2008]. All rights reserved.)