[Linganth] Plugging sessions

[Adam Hodges]

AAA PANEL:  Discourse, War and Terrorism
DATE / TIME:  Friday, Nov 19, 1:45 - 5:30 PM

SESSION ABSTRACT:
Language is a primary tool used in the construction of cultural
understandings; and discourses in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 have
provided the frameworks through which the world now views global terrorism.
This panel explores the discursive production of identities, ideologies, and
collective understandings of terrorism in light of the Bush administration’s
ongoing “war on terror.”  At issue are how enemies are defined and
identified, how political leaders and citizens react, and how societies
collectively understand their position in the world vis-à-vis terrorism.
Intimately involved in the production of cultural understandings are the
media, and importantly tied to the language used by political leaders are
ideologies that drive policy.

This panel joins scholars from around the world and across disciplines to
analyze these issues.  In particular, the narrative of the “war on terror”
is examined in light of the Bush administration’s ideological stance
vis-à-vis terrorism as a military war.  The discourse and actions of the
administration are looked at within the larger post-Cold War context to
explain the conflation of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in the
discourse of the New World Order.  Reactions to the “war on terror”
discourse are viewed in places such as Serbia, where intellectuals see the
global war against terrorism as an opportunity to upgrade their country's
position on the international stage and revive Serbia's myth as “defender of
the West.”  A gendered perspective looks at the Bush administration’s war of
liberation in light of the masculinization of the Arab population in the
United States and the simultaneous emasculation within the Arab world.

The panel takes a close look at the media’s role in shaping reactions to and
creating cultural understandings of terrorism.  Media reports of AP and
Reuters are examined with regard to the portrayal of emotions such as fear,
worry, and concern.  The formation of Arab identities is examined in stories
that appear in the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, where
“Arab” is used to describe alternately a religion, a phenotype, a region, a
language, and a nationality, sometimes in the same article.  The explicit,
implicit, and presupposed discursive strategies used in titles and subtitles
of the French language Swiss press to construct negative identities of the
Other in the Iraq war are analyzed.  Finally, the Bakhtinian notion of
heteroglossia and the dialogic construction of meaning are used to explore
the processes by which Western discourses on terrorism are entextualized by
program moderators, guests, and callers in Aljazeera talk shows.


_________________________________
Adam Hodges
Department of Linguistics
University of Colorado

« Le véritable voyage de découverte ne
consiste pas à chercher de nouveaux
paysages, mais à avoir de nouveaux
yeux. »
  -Marcel Proust

www.adamhodges.com


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-linganth at ats.rochester.edu
[mailto:owner-linganth at ats.rochester.edu] On Behalf Of Richard J Senghas
Sent: 04 October 2004 17:33
To: Linganth List
Subject: [Linganth] Plugging sessions

Hey AAA folks,

Howzabout we start plugging language-oriented sessions at AAA in
November?  If you would, please identify the day, date, times, &
places whenever possible.  Fun events also encouraged, especially if
they don't appear in the program!  ;-)

-Richard
--
======================================================================
Richard J. Senghas, Assoc. Professor     | Sonoma State University
Chair, Dept. of Anthropology/Linguistics | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
Coordinator, Linguistics Program         | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
Richard.Senghas at sonoma.edu               | 707-664-3920 (fax)