CRITICS-L: Sleepy list...?

[Teun A. van Dijk]

Dear friends,

Many of you may have forgotten they are in fact subscribed to a
discussion list. And many may get so many e-messages that they are glad
they are not daily inundated by numerous CRITICS-L contributions.

Howewer, in order to avoid that the list may reach the Guiness Book of
records for the lowest number of contributions, may I wake you up of
your wintersleep, these first days of the (Northern) spring -- or those
just starting classes after the summer in the South, and invite some
interesting and/or useful contributions, such as:

- -- Information about new books or important papers you published
- -- Information about relevant meetings, symposia, conferences
- -- For new subscribers: Introduce yourself to the others
- -- Requests for cooperation in international research projects
- -- Requests for information, references, etc.
- -- Discussion of important issues in critical discourse analysis
etc.

For instance, there are many burning issues and notions most of us deal
with in our daily research and teaching and that would deserve some
debate.

One ongoing debate for instance is about the relation between critical
(social, political, etc.) analysis of text and talk, and various
'postmodern' approaches.

Similarly, there has been some jousting between discursive psychologists
on the one hand, and (other) social psychologists and discourse analysts
on the other, for instance on the relevance on the 'mind' and
'cognition' in describing and explaining discourse.

And finally, some of us (such as Ruth Wodak and myself) have been
disagreeing about the theoretical relevance of such widely used notions
such as Bourdieu's 'habitus' in social and critical research of
discourse. Ruth and I have been planning to open that debate in the
coming months, but others are kindly invited to start if they like.

In sum, even if you don't want to get too many CRITICS-L messages,
please do not let this crucial research resource unused. Make your
research known to others, do not hesitate to ask for information and
cooperation, and address issues that may be relevant to many CRITICS-L
subscribers.

And please do not forget to sign your contributions with your full name,
address etc., so that list members who don't know you can identify you.

Finally: Due to my sabbatical (until today) --mostly spent in Latin
America -- I was unable this year to invite you to contribute to the
yearly CRITICS-L publication list. This is just as well, because (too)
many subscribers did not send such information, or sent it in a form
that needed too much editing. I am thinking of a more efficient way to
collect and distribute lists of our recent publications. Suggestions (or
volunteers!) are welcome!!!

Best wishes

Teun

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Teun A. van Dijk
University of Amsterdam
Program of Discourse Studies
210, Spuistraat
1012 VT Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Phones:
+31-20-525.3834 (office, 10-12 hrs)
+31-20-525.3865 (dept. secretary)
+31-20-627.3747 (home, after 13 hrs)
Fax: +31-20-639.1727
E-mail:   teun at let.uva.nl
Homepage: http://www.let.uva.nl/~teun