CRITICS: new list member

[Solin Anna M A]

Anna Solin
Department of English
University of Helsinki, Finland

Research: I am currently preparing a PhD thesis on risk discourse in
the media. I'm interested in the way risks are constructed as a
pervasive part of our everyday lives, as potential dangers that manage
to affect our doings even though they are surrounded by more
uncertainties than facts and even though they are mostly invisible. My
thesis analyses particularly environmental risks, as they are
constructed in British and Finnish newspaper discourse. So far it
doesn't seem that there is a lot of critical discourse analytic work
on environmental discourse or on risk discourse, so I would
appreciate any help list members can give in locating relevant
studies.

I'm also interested in analysing the theoretical model of CDA,
particularly the use of the concepts of ideology and power, and the
debate on whether it is 'analysis' we are doing or 'just another
interpretation'. I believe that even though it is of primary
importance to engage in doing socially useful analyses, it is also
necessary to think about theoretical issues, especially since CDA
draws on so many varied theories and disciplines and deals with such
complex issues. Of course, there is also the problem of retreating to
excessive theoretical purism or relativism. Any comments on this
issue would be very welcome.

Anna Solin
Department of English
P.O.Box 4
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland
tel: +358-0-1912 2118, fax: +358-0-1912 3072
E-mail: anna.solin at helsinki.fi