3.2 Reading: Discourse analysis and environmental politics

Discourse

Discourse as defined by Hajer M. and W. Versteeg 2005 is the “collection of ideas, concepts and categories through which meaning is given to social and physical phenomena, and which is produced and reproduced through an identifiable set of practices”. Other scholars also defined discourse as organization of language above sentence. “I also want to look at discourse as a set of ideas and feelings that interpret and create a meaning of sentence beyond the ways it is written or said”.

Discourse analyses

The writers defined discourse analyses as the analysis of a unit of language above sentence used in a social context to perform social functions. Goggle engine refers to discourse analyses as the act of evaluating the language beyond the sentence. The analysis also considers written, spoken and unspoken words.

What are the main advantages of using discourse analysis?  

The good side of using discourse analysis in to expose the reality the meaning of a sentence. In a social researches it helps to interpret the writer’s text on a broader view and helps the readers to perceive the situation from a deeper perspective.

How is discourse helpful in studying environmental politics? 

The discourse is a useful analytical tool in studying environmental politics. It could be used to interpret or reveal the actual meaning in policy statements and briefs from political point of views to making environmental decisions.

What are the limitations of discourse analysis?  

• Subjectivity of the CDA has a limitation of the process becoming objective

·       Random selection of data  

·       over-interpretation,

How has discourse analysis been applied in relation to food systems? 

Examining the different stages of food systems and analyzing actors and their roles has all being a critical discourse analysis.