Diskurs og makt

A practical and theoretical course in analyzing text and talk

This course is both practical and theoretical and has a broad conceptualization of discourse and power. Students will be offered analytical tools to carry out analyses of diverse types of multimodal texts, including documents as well as transcriptions of observations, interveiwes and interactions on topics of theri own resarch. Both micro- and macro-discourse analytical perspectives will be theamatized. The course will also focus on strategies for discussing interpretations and implications of findings. The content of the course is based on a combination of insights into discourses and power from social sciences and humanities.

On completion of the course, the student will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student

• has in-depth knowledge of the main research traditions for analyzing text and talk and their applications
• has in-depth knowledge of theories about and conceptualizations of the relationship between discourses and power

Skills

The student

• has gained advanced methodological competence to apply discourse analysis on empirical data with relevance for a future publication

General competence

The student

• can identify and establish analytical connections between theories, empirical data, and methods based on developed methodological competence

The course consists of two parts with mandatory participation. Students are expected to participate actively in both parts.

The first part consists of a two-days workshop. In lectures and discussions, students will be introduced to relevant theories and methods.

The second part is a one-day workshop that takes place a few weeks later.

Between the two parts, students will write an individual paper that outlines how they propose to conduct a discourse analysis of their own empirical material based on knowledge and skills gained in the course. In part two, the submitted papers will be discussed with fellow students and teachers. Feedbback and advice on how to improve the submitted draft will also be provided.

Preparations for the course

Students are expected to read the syllabus before the first part of the course to be able to participate actively in discussions.

Work requirements

Mandatory participation in bothe parts of the course.

Submission of an outline of a preliminary plan that forms the basis for the final assessment. The outline should be 500 words (+/-10 %).

Attendance

Minimum attendance is 80 % of the time of the course. If a student has attended at least 60 % of the course but less than 80 %, they must submit an extra paper on a given topic of at least 3000 words (+/- 10 %). A reference list comes in addition and is not included in the word count.

The student writes an individual paper (as described in the section "Teaching and working methods") of between 3000 - 5000 words plus a reference list. The paper must be written in English, Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish.

New and postponed examination

If a paper is not graded with "pass", the student must submit a revised version within a given deadline.

The grades are "pass" or "fail". The requirement for "pass" is that the paper builds on insights from the first part of the course and outlines how an analysis can be conducted and how a subsequent publication can be planned further. The paper must be graded «pass» in order for the student to pass the course.

The paper will be assessed by the course coordinator and a member of the academic staff involved in the PhD program.