CHAPTER THREE
THE METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter describes the methodology adopted by this research. The thesis engages an amalgam of methods comprising critical discourse analysis, con-textual analysis, and an assortment of qualitative and quantitative audience contributory approaches in isolating a ‘political music’ genre. Data for this research was gathered and obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources were drawn from my fieldwork on Nigeria’s popular music and popular music audiences conducted between 2012 and 2014 in the cities of Lagos, Bayelsa, and Adamawa. I have had personal communication with artists and conducted interviews with them including music patrons, marketers, producers and other music
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textual and contextual analyses - underlying these theories. It therefore defies any single all-inclusive definition, although there is common agreement among scholars associated with CDA on two key elements: CDA researches ‘discourse’ as manifested in ‘texts’; and does so from a ‘critical’ perspective. Thus it is imperative to examine the range of meanings associated with these concepts in social and cultural theory. For example, most critical discourse analysts consider the notion of “critical” in CDA that stands it apart from similar methods of text analysis such as rhetorical analysis, lexical analysis etc. For most theorists and practitioners, CDA is critical because it is self-reflexive, that is, it openly admits and reflects upon the interests for which it is biased rather than claiming the possibility of objectivity and for this reason committed to progressive social change (Titscher et al., 2000: 144). Furthermore, discourse research is critical because it focuses on the discursive aspects of social problems and engages the ideological workings of discourse in the interest of power and the powerful by seeking to reveal the connections between language use and other elements of social life (van Dijk, 2008: 86; Fairclough, 2001: 230). Finally, CDA is critical because it assumes that “all thought is fundamentally mediated by power relations …show more content…
As Luke (2002: 96) notes, CDA is “an explicitly normative analysis of how texts and discourses work in ideological interests with powerful political consequences”. CDA is mainly concerned with social issues and problems, thus attempts to understand how language or more properly, discourse, figures in social interactions on the assumptions that language use is socially determined and therefore intimately connected to relations of power. It argues that power relations are discursive; that discourse serves ideological and hegemonic purposes and hence mediates the link between text and society. In the words of one of its founders, critical discourse analysis
English 1010 was an amazing class, during the period that the class was going on I was able to develop my communication skills and become aware of the world around me and how individuals operate according to what the society wants from them. The English 1010 class helped in developing a new aspect of reasoning, analyzing and drawing adequate conclusion. Furthermore I was to know the kind of informations I can take in and avoid wrong assumptions. Most class assignment were based on distinct formats which was a little difficult for me in the beginning but eventually I was able to follow the procedures which help improve my grades in other classes too. We had a discussion on rhetorical analysis where we analyze the rhetorical strategy used, I
In her text, “Cognition, Convention and Certainty,” Patricia Bizzell describes the writing process through both inner-directed and outer-directed theories in order to illustrate that the writing process is infirmed by both student’s natural thought processes and their discourse community She uses her text to explain both theories, and to argue for the implementation of a new pedagogy focused on discourse analysis. First, Bizzell introduces the inner –directed theory, which seeks to discover the writing processes through the universal and fundamental structure of language. Conversely, she explains that the outer-directed theory instead argues that the individual’s discourse community does not teach a generalized form of language but rather the
A rhetorical analysis of: “For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu”, an editorial published in February, 2014 by The Boston Globe, reveals the author’s use of classic rhetorical appeals to be heavily supported with facts, including focused logos arguments. “For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu” is a Boston Globe editorial published in February 2014 by author/editor Kathleen Kingsbury. Kingsbury is a Pulitzer prize winning author and is currently the deputy managing editor (The Boston Globe). “For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu” aims to inform the reader of the hardships that minimum wage restaurant workers in the United States have to face and steps that could be taken to solve these issues. The article focuses in on the wage gap,
Politicians call for missile defense projects. Many defense projects have failed and cost not only the government but taxpayers over 50 billion dollars. Lee Fang, a writer for The Intercept, shows how ineffective these programs have been in the past. The persuasiveness of Lee's argument in his article “Politicians Use North Korea H-Bomb Fears to Pitch Wasteful Missile Defense Projects” is based on a logical approach using facts, (logos), an emotion approach trying to rally us up (pathos), and on his credibility and the creditability of his sources (ethos). Lee's appeal to our logical (logos) side is based on facts.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster offers a variety of different ways to analyze literature so the reader can understand all levels of a literary piece to get the most out of their reading. His ideas can be applied to almost any kind of work, including movies, such as Beauty and the Beast. The chapters of HTRLLAP that can best interpret and explicate all levels of meaning in Beauty and the Beast are: Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not); …More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence; and Is That a Symbol? “The real reason for a quest,” states Foster, “Is always self-knowledge.
Windsor: Black Moss, 2004. Shaw, Caitlin. The Power of Discourse. N.p., 10 Apr. 2005. Web.
Past leaders such as Andrew Jackson, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Marc Antony are evidence that society does not reward morality and good character in leadership. Society is drawn to leaders that have good rhetoric, propaganda, and charismatic personalities, and society supports them despite their immorality. Society is concerned about stability more than the morality of their leaders and will support immoral leaders in times of crisis to provide stability. In history there have been multiple leaders that have used rhetoric, propaganda and charismatic personalities to gain power, despite their morals.
Chapter five of How To Read Literature Like An English Professor is about how Shakespeare is prominent in both old and current works of literature and in the media. Foster states “He’s everywhere, in every literary form you can think of. And he’s never the same: every age and every writer reinvents its own Shakespeare.” (33). So why Shakespeare?
How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a book that shows numerous ways and strategies to understand what their reading. Each chapter shows examples from books and use of literary devices that can help develop the meaning of the story. Think of this book as reading between the lines. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald used people to symbolize objects or things to let the reader have an interpretation on the characters. For example, the green light represents Gatsby's future for him and Daisy to be together.
“The Concept of Discourse Community.” Writing About Writing, A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 2nd ed.
Behind each movie lies the meaningful aspects and significant features worth noticing. All movies and books can be carefully examined and interpreted. Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor provides a new view on interpreting literature. In the novel, Foster identifies and analyzes common patterns, themes, and motifs found in literature, many of which are also present in Disney’s film, Maleficent. This movie showcases several of his ideas, including quests, flight, geography, and symbolism.
Despite both being from the same school of thought, the Frankfurt School, Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno found themselves debating the value of art in a world on the brink of war. The basis of Benjamin’s and Adorno’s argument was not a critique of the art itself, but rather ever-growing trend of the reproduction of art. For Benjamin, as described in, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, the reproduction of art and the novelty of film, which stemmed from technological marvels, was a natural progression and a detractor to the growing fascist presence. However, for Adorno, as discussed in “The Fetish Character of Music and the Regression in Listening”, the simplification of art, specifically music, to a mass producible
Rhetorical analysis is an investigation into how someone uses his/her critical reading skills to analyze text. The objective of the rhetorical analysis is the study of how the author writes, instead of what the author wrote. At that point, we need to examine the method that the author uses to attain his goal. According to Jonah G. Willihnganz “A rhetorical analysis is an examination of how a text persuades us of its point of view. It focuses on identifying and investigating the way a text communicates, what strategies it employs to connect to an audience, frame an issue, establish its stakes, make a particular claim, support it, and persuade the audience to accept the claim”.
European colonialism in Africa was a violent process of exploitation and dominance in the political, social, and cultural sphere of native society. Pop culture music and dance are dynamic social products that provide insight into the shifting sociocultural formations of a society. Through this analysis of pop culture I will discuss the classist social hierarchies established by colonialism and defined power by proximity to whiteness. I will explore native actors’ response to colonial social hierarchies in their alliances or resistance to colonialism and their influence on music and dance styles. Finally, we will evaluate ways in which music and dance are forms of resistance that challenge the status quo in colonial societies.
A discourse in this understanding is not based on the classical distinction between thought and action, it “(…) is about the production of knowledge through language. But it is itself produced by a practice: “discursive practice” – the practice of producing meaning” (Hall, 2006:165). It follows that because all social practices involve meaning, all practices necessarily have a discursive side. A discourse is comparable to what sociologists would call an ‘ideology’. It is composed of statements and/or beliefs that shape knowledge in the interest of one particular group.