Research on 9/11.

[Teun A. van Dijk]

Dear friends,

Despite the monumental discursive aftermath of September 11, culminating
in the memorials of this week, it is surprising that even after one year
there have been virtually no discourse studies on these events. Neither
DISCOURSE & SOCIETY nor DISCOURSE STUDIES has received a *single* paper
related to this issue!!!

I had proposed to edit a book with a group of my "virtual" PhD students,
but only one or two reacted and actually wrote papers -- which will be
published in DISCOURSE & SOCIETY.

I know that we all are busy teaching, writing articles and books or
theses on other important and urgent topics. I also know that when
thousands of journalists, politicians and other opinion makers have
written on virtually all aspects of "September 11", there may be little
more to say that is not trivial. Indeed, one need not be a discourse
analyst to analyze the manichean rhetoric of Bush & Co. against world
terrorism, rogue states, and others who represent Evil.

And yet, there is still a LOT to analyze, critically and in great detail
that usually remains hidden unless subtle discourse analysis makes it
explicit.

This is merely to remind you that the pages of DISCOURSE & SOCIETY and
DISCOURSE STUDIES remain wide open for any good study on the discourse
aspects of September 11 and its current aftermath. In the meantime, each
of us can easily collect vast corpuses, e.g. through the internet, that
need our critical and analytical attention.

That we now have many books on 9/11 by journalists, politicians and
other analysts but none by critical discourse analysts, inspires me some
doubt about the role of CDA in the real world.

It is NOT to late, and even after a year -- or more -- critical studies
remain relevant, studies that may take advantage of the kind of
hindsight one has after a year.

I am looking forward to any suggestion, paper or proposal.

Incidentally, if you haven´t read so as yet, why not read an article by
another U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, on the current situation in the
USA, published in the Washington Post, last thursday, Sept. 5:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38441-2002Sep4.html

Best wishes


Teun

___________________________

Teun A. van Dijk
University of Amsterdam
Program of Discourse Studies
&
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Departament de Traducció i Filologia
La Rambla 32
08002 Barcelona, Spain

Phone: +34-93-272.1200 (home/casa)
FAX:   +34-93-272.0106 (home/casa)

E-mail: teun at hum.uva.nl
Home-page: http://www.hum.uva.nl/teun