...women were not able to achieve ordination within the religious structure, their leadership and ability to persuade spiritual leaders made them an influential voice in the Brazilian church. This research paper will examine the roles of Brazilian women in the Brazilian Church in the progressive era with a particular interest in the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. During the progressive era, Brazilian women re-shaped the Brazilian church to a public political forum where Brazilians could engage in discourse and educate others, setting the stage for organized political movement. At the same time that middle-class Brazilian women were encouraging Brazilians to embrace “La Raca Negra” they were also endorsing the “politics of respectability” in their efforts to work for the uplift and reform of their own race. Ultimately, Brazilian women contradict their efforts to uplift the race by utilizing the Brazilian church as an arena of political discourse because they are conforming to the Victorian ideals to earn respect within mainstream society simultaneously. In order to understand the roles of women in the Brazilian church, the roots of the Brazilian church must be understood. Predominately...
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...‘Discourse’ is a complicated concept that has developed numerous discourse analytical theories. Discourses are abundant throughout society. Society itself is built upon discourses. Two differing discourses social, and cultural discourses are used to discuss the differences between Twitter and Facebook in the use of branding. Depicting the “social discourse” is “Twitter vs Facebook: Which is more valuable for brands?” an article by Megan O’Neill. The opposing discourse of “culture” is portrayed through “Social Networking: Twitter vs Facebook,” a blog post by Jessica Kim. Firstly, it should be notable that there is no utter definition of discourse. The study of discourse is a vast field, and the nature of its complexity stands as enough of an explanation. On that note, this essay will attempt to define discourse in the way it has been understood. Discourse could be defined as any given theme derived from any given body of text. According to Michel Foucault (1997), discourses are “socially constructed knowledge’s of some aspect of reality” (Theo p.94). Discourses provide us with a port of reference and a way to interpret the world, allowing our knowledge to be influenced and created through certain discourses. Specific notions on a chosen topic have been constructed according to our social contexts; our knowledge of a particular object and are influenced and created through discourses. (Theo p.94) In the Foucauldian conception, Discourse is seen as “more than just a way...
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...Discuss the concepts of 'ideology' and 'discourse' in relation to the ways in which representation functions in media texts. You might like to do this in the context of representations of gender, sexuality, 'race', ethnicity, war, refugees or celebrity, for example. Your essay should include your own analysis of a media text that has not been discussed in detail in the lectures, required or additional readings, or in your other assessments. Representation is both the process and the product of media texts, in terms of sexuality in media these representations are shaped by ideologies; the way people think and interpret the word. In turn, different ideologies promote discourse and the discussion of ideas in relation to sexuality. In relation to specific media texts such as True Blood, there are several ideologies in the program, social, political and cultural which show a non-heteronormative view on sexuality. Ideologies are ways of thinking and how we interpret the world around us. It’s through ideology that representation in media text functions to reinforce the view of that particular school of thought. Representation can be through stereotype, strengthening sometimes negative views or typecasting those who are represented. Looking especially True Blood, vampires are being “re-presented” as the gay community which have to struggle and fight for equal rights(Dhaenens, 2013). The concept of Ideology, a way of thinking which impacts how you view and world and interact with people...
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...® Acodemy of Management Heview 1993, Vol. 18, No. 3. 518-545. FOUCAULT. POWER/KNOWLEDGE. AND ITS RELEVANCE FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BARBARA TOWNLEY The University of Alberta Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault. I argue that human resource management (HRM) may be best understood as a discourse and set of practices that attempt to reduce the indeterminacy involved in the employment contract. Here I reread HRM practices from a Foucauldian power-knowledge perspective and suggest that this provides an avenue to reorient contemporary, historical, and comparative analyses of the area. A glimpse at human resource management (HRM) texts would seem to give light to a comment by Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Mills, and Walton (1984) that HRM is a series of seemingly disjointed activities. This notion echoes an earlier view of Baldamus (1961: 347) that what is encompassed by HRM's subject matter is "anything from supervision, incentives and profit sharing to machine-paced production, methods of training and employee selection." Often this heterogeneity is excused in terms of HRM's reflecting the ad hoc and reactive nature of its origins (Jacoby, 1985; Niven, 1967; Ozanne, 1967). What the heterogeneity of HRM highlights, however, is the importance of an organizing principle, or analytical focus, as opposed to common sense description, which gives HRM practices a theoretical coherence. HRM's heterogeneity stresses the importance of an order "that turns a set of bits, which have limited...
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...operate, toward the idea that ‘power is everywhere’, diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and ‘regimes of truth’ (Foucault 1991; Rabinow 1991). Power for Foucault is what makes us what we are, operating on a quite different level from other theories: ‘His work marks a radical departure from previous modes of conceiving power and cannot be easily integrated with previous ideas, as power is diffuse rather than concentrated, embodied and enacted rather than possessed, discursive rather than purely coercive, and constitutes agents rather than being deployed by them’ (Gaventa 2003: 1) Foucault challenges the idea that power is wielded by people or groups by way of ‘episodic’ or ‘sovereign’ acts of domination or coercion, seeing it instead as dispersed and pervasive. ‘Power is everywhere’ and ‘comes from everywhere’ so in this sense is neither an agency nor a structure (Foucault 1998: 63). Instead it is a kind of ‘metapower’ or ‘regime of truth’ that pervades society, and which is in constant flux and negotiation. Foucault uses the term ‘power/knowledge’ to signify that power is constituted through accepted forms of knowledge, scientific understanding and ‘truth’: ‘Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it induces regular effects of power. Each society has its regime of truth, its “general politics” of truth: that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true; the mechanisms and instances...
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...process. This literature, however, has downplayed some of the other deep-seated underpinnings of soft power, which this article argues lie in the dynamics of affect. Building upon the International Relations affect and aesthetics literatures, this article develops the concept of soft power as rooted in the political dynamics of emotion and introduces the concept of affective investment. The attraction of soft power stems not only from its cultural influence or narrative construction, but more fundamentally from audiences’ affective investments in the images of identity that it produces. The empirical import of these ideas is offered in an analysis of the construction of American attraction in the war on terror. Keywords Affect, discourse, emotion, narrative, Nye, soft power Introduction In her confirmation hearings in January 2009 before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued that to deal with a multiplicity of pressing global issues, the US ‘must...
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...Title I. Topic The topic of this paper is regarding discourse analysis II. What is Discourse? There is not a straight-forward definition to describe what exactly "discourse analysis" is. Barbara Johnstone, a Professor of English and Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University, said the following about what the word "discourse" means, "To discourse analysts, 'discourse' usually means actual instances of communication in the medium of language." (Discourse Analysis, 2002, p 2) So, according to Johnstone (2002), discourse is the occurrences of communication in the form of language. This means there are many ways in which communication can take form in, such as gesture and dance, but discourse focuses in the way language is being used to communicate. I think this definition helps in understanding what discourse analysis is. It is implied, through this definition, that when we are talking about discourse analysis, we are discussing about how language is being used to communicate. This means we don't focus ourselves with language as a system, but rather how language is being applied to express something or to declare a notion. For that reason, when we study about discourse analysis that means we study the process in which language as an instrument of communication is involved. III. Spoken and Written Language Discourse analysis is dealing with analysing the function of language as a tool of communication. When people use language to communicate, they can either use language...
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...Islam’s ‘theology of rape’ The sound file aims intervene the discourse of Islamic religion through accounting for the recent but continuing exploitation of Islamic women, in particular, the religious minority group of Yaziti. Foucoult argues that discourse is ‘often rooted in organisaions which both control and are structured by distinct disciplinary knowledge’ (Frow, 2004) regulating the conduct of others (Hall 1997). Such as groups and members of ISIS, representing the Islamic state of Iraq which are regulated by it’s religious discourse. The discourse itself, formulated and produced objects within subjects of our knowledge (Barker. C and Galaniski, D 2001), such as texts like the Qu’ran, a central religious text of Islam, providing strict principles and ethics, encoding a way of behavior that is practiced globally. Acts such as prayer can be understood as a certain tradition or behavior that is governed by religious belief. Throughout the soundscape, I have shown how customs, like this are often exploited through acts of sex and sexual slavery towards the women of Iraq. Evidently, social order is constituted by discourses of power (Barker, C. & Galasinski, D. 2001), thus I chose to highlight the power of the ISIS and regulation of it’s religious discourse through audio reports of women suffering from rape to connote the authority of the ISIS. Hall argues that nothing has any meaning outside it’s discourse’ (Hall.S 1997, pg 45), evidently the file is sequenced to open...
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...and evaluation of student essays. Criterion has two complementary applications: E-rater®, an automated essay scoring system and Critique Writing Analysis Tools, a suite of programs that detect errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics, that identify discourse elements in the essay, and that recognize elements of undesirable style. These evaluation capabilities provide students with feedback that is specific to their writing in order to help them improve their writing skills. Both applications employ natural language processing and machine learning techniques. All of these capabilities outperform baseline algorithms, and some of the tools agree with human judges as often as two judges agree with each other. 2. Application Description Criterion contains two complementary applications that are based on natural language processing (NLP) methods. The scoring application, e-rater®, extracts linguisticallybased features from an essay and uses a statistical model of how these features are related to overall writing quality to assign a holistic score to the essay. The second application, Critique, is comprised of a suite of programs that evaluate and provide feedback for errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics, identify the essay’s discourse structure, and recognize...
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...1. Stereotypes, narratives, ideologies and discourses are devices that, in different ways according to different theorists, fortify media power. Critically analyse how these devices work, according to various theorists, and reflect upon which best explains communicative power. The social construction of reality is mediated through the communicative powers of stereotypes, narratives, ideologies and discourses and the media is extremely powerful in communicating messages with these devices. It will be argued that discourses are the most powerful communicating device used by the media in the postindustrial era today. Furthermore as per Croteau & Hoynes (2014, p. 9), the analysis will focus on recognised mass media that is readily available in print, film, radio, television, sound recordings and the Internet. Poststructuralists within sociology examine the structures of society and human agency. Human agency or action is influenced by sociocultural factors such as ideology that shape human identity and act subconsciously over an individual. Ideology is the system of meaning that helps explain, define and make value judgments about the world (Croteau & Hoynes 2014, p. 152). As we live in an interconnected world there are many ideologies as there are social structures in any given society. Related to this is that dominant ideas are hegemonic. Marx created the superstructure, which is the domain of ideas for example religion, legal structures, family, institutions...
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...Systemic functional grammar offers a systematic way of describing and analyzing the links between grammatical choice and socio-cultural context. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is the approach which has significance in the rhetorical prospective of any texts to manipulate societal beliefs, values and expectations. Moreover, it is concerned with the ways in which texts may influence public opinion in relation to politics, economy, religion and the environment. This essay will analyze and contrast two news texts which speak about the same theme (protesters death in Turkey), but from two different perspectives (western and Eastern), by investigating patterns in the types of processes. Interpretation:...
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...1) How do the texts you have selected EITHER challenge or reinforce conventional ideas about the following discourses? a. Gender b. Power (& Leadership) c. Identity d. Nature e. Culture The societies encountered by the Theban woman Antigone is Sophocles' Antigone, and the 19th century Englishwoman Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre, can be seen as highly unfavourable and disdainful of women. Both Antigone and Jane Eyre struggle and resist against a society which places men above them, and which sees expressions of female autonomy and liberty as unfavourable trends. Antigone and Jane Eyre both live in societies where a patriarchal culture dictates how these women should act within society, and what type of behaviour is acceptable, and which isn't. The control and subjugation of women – and the way they express themselves – can be seen as a consequence of discursive formations which aim to define the intrinsic qualities of men and women. It is in this context that the stories of Antigone and Jane Eyre can be seen as challenging conventional notions of gender and gender stereotypes, a highly pervasive discourse which affects a cluster of other ideas. This essay will argue that the characters Antigone in Sophocles' Antigone and Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre are characters who challenge gender discourses which were very prominent during their time, and subsequently, the ideational influences which structured leadership, the creation of identities, opinions regarding natural...
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...available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm “Flexibility” as the rationale for organizational change: a discourse perspective Richard Dunford, Suresh Cuganesan and David Grant “Flexibility” as the rationale for change 83 University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Ian Palmer College of Business, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) University, Melbourne, Australia, and Rosie Beaumont and Cara Steele Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, Australia Abstract Purpose – The concept “flexibility” is ubiquitous as a rationale for organizational change. However, its broad application is accompanied by a general lack of definitional agreement or theoretical cohesion. The purpose of this paper is to propose the merits of an alternative approach – applying a discourse perspective to the use of flexibility as a rationale for organizational change. Design/methodology/approach – This paper first illustrates the broad referencing of flexibility as a desired organizational characteristic. It then discusses the associated lack of theoretical coherence associated with the use of the concept “flexibility” before arguing the merits of a discourse perspective on flexibility as a rationale for organizational change. Findings – This paper identifies a set of questions to frame a discourse perspective on the use of “flexibility” as a rationale for organizational change. Research limitations/implications...
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...ENG 101 Bailey Writing Project 4 When Gee mentions the phrase dominant discourse he means a particular way of talking and thinking about a subject, created by those in power. This type of discourse is popular because it is admired and repeated a lot. So the dominant discourse Gee discusses is certainly used by a particular class, the upper class. The people in this upper class are usually white people. With dominant discourse, there are certain ways of talking and thinking that won’t be accepted so there is a need to conform to the same patterns of thinking and talking amongst the people conversing within this type of discourse. In the article, Gee gives an account of a conversation that was taking place in a bar. While the dialogue was taking place, the reader is shown what is and what is not appropriate as far as discourse is concerned. The type of discourse that an individual participates in is a learned behavior. Although it cannot really be taught from the media, the discourse of the individual is learned through their surroundings on a continual basis. Discourse can “rub off” on a person through their parents, the area in which they live, the community and how they act and speak and so on. My discourse was influenced by my parents, the school I went to and my friends and teammates. A big part of it was definitely school and my sports teams. I will be honest and say that my public high school was not the best as far as education goes so the people that attend there...
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...Micro-Ethnography discourse communities exist worldwide from communities who represent single mothers, to employees working within the workforce, to those who commute to work every day where they may be involved in either leadership or support roles, to those who participate in sports, or those who simply participate in extracurricular activities such as a church group or simply groups of people whom share the same goals, language, interests, or practices, or religion. Social discourse communities encompass any group of 2 or more members which share a common set of goals or duties or simply share a similar group dynamic. Within Gee’s “What Is Literacy?” Gee identifies the broad definition of a discourse. Gee writes, A socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking and acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or “social network. (1) Most can easily identify with many separate discourses as a result from their raising such as in “Speaking in Tongues” or as a result of their education and adaptability to their environments as in “First They Changed My Name”. Human’s ability to adapt uses our “Get in where you fit in” mind set. Acting as one’s camouflage allows us as humans to avoid sticking out and instead encourages our abilities to blend in with the crowd and not be treated differently or singled out from the majority. While working within a very upstanding company, I was recently promoted to Environmental...
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