DESIRE, the centre for the study of Democracy, Signification and Resistance organised the colloquium ‘Discourse Theory: Ways Forward’. The colloquium took place on 7-8 February 2019 in Brussels.

​The aim of the colloquium was to critically and constructively consider where Discourse Theory is at this moment, and to reflect on ways forward for discourse theoretical approaches to society, politics, communication and media. In particular, the colloquium will focus on four topics:

1. The discursive and the material
2. Discourse theoretical perspectives on political economy
3. Populist discourses and discourses about populism
4. Discourse theory and visuality

The colloquium programme committee consists of the chairs of the five institutional members of DESIRE: Benjamin De Cleen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, colloquium coordinator), Nico Carpentier (Charles University in Prague), Ilija Tomanić Trivundža (University of Ljubljana), Jason Glynos (University of Essex) and Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).

The local organizing committee consists of Benjamin De Cleen (coordinator), Jana Goyvaerts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Pieter Maeseele (Universiteit Antwerpen).

For PhD students, a masterclass was organized on wednesday 6 February 2019. 

Day 1

Day 2

More pictures can be found on our facebook page

program

Book of Abstracts
​PDF-version of the programme

​Thursday 7 February

9:00 – 9:30: Registration (Room: Atrium)

9:30 – 10:00: Introduction (Room: Espace Roi Baudouin)
Introduction by the organising committee and VUB rector Caroline Pauwels

10:00 – 11:30: Plenary Panel 1: DISCOURSE, MATERIALITY, REALITY, FANTASY (Room: Espace Roi Baudouin)
Chair: Jason Glynos

1. Aysem Mert (Stockholm University): From Utopian Socialism to Ecotopia: Is Another Utopia Possible?
2. Nico Carpentier (Charles University in Prague): The Discursive-Material Knot and Participatory Theory
3. Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): Criticizing Discourse Theory: Post-Hegemony and the Return of the Real
4. Johannes Angermuller (University of Warwick): Truth and Untruth in Discourse. For a Strong Programme in Discourse Research       ​

11.30 – 11.45: Coffee Break (Room: Atrium)

11.45 – 13.15: Parallel Session 1

Room: Rubenszaal
Panel 1a: LEFT-WING POPULISM
Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis

1. Alexandros Kioupkolis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): Populism 2.0
2. Themis Kaniklidou (Hellenic American University): Left-Wing Populist Discourse and Communication in Greece
3. Arthur Borriello (Université Libre de Bruxelles) & Anton Jäger (Cambridge University): Left-Populism on Trial – Laclauian Politics in Theory and Practice
4. Esperanza Morales López (University of A Coruña) & Nicolina Montesano Montessori (HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht): The Articulation of ‘the People’ in the Discourse of Podemos and its Partners En Marea and En Comú. The Dilemma with Ethnicity

Room: Lipsiuszaal
Panel 1b: DISCURSIVE-MATERIAL: POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
Chair: Nico Carpentier

1. Olga Baysha (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow): Dehumanizing Political Others: A Discursive-Material Perspective
2. Zoltán Gábor Szűcs (Hungarian Academy of Sciences): The Case for a Political Poetics
3. Frank Stengel & Dirk Nabers (Uni Kiel): Beyond Materialism and Idealism: Toward a Discourse Theory of International Relations
4. Steven Griggs (De Montfort University) & David Howarth (University of Essex): The Discourse of Collaboration, Democratic Politics and Resistance: The Case of Nantes

Room: Stevinzaal
Panel 1c: POLITICIZING ECONOMIES OF THE WORKPLACE
Chair: Jason Glynos

1. Alessandro Niccolò Tirapani (City​ University of London): 'There is No Budget!'. The Reproduction of Precariousness among Interns in Brussels 
2. Edina Dóci (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) & Matthijs Bal (Lincoln University): Neoliberal Ideology in the Workplace and in Work and Organization Psychology: a Discursive Logics Perspective. 
3. Jan Zienkowski (Université Saint-Louis) & Benjamin De Cleen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): The Logics of Anti-Labour Union Discourse
4. Taavi Sundell (University of Helsinki): Laclauian Post-Foundational Discourse Theory: From Economy Without Politics to Politics Without Economy?

13.15 – 14.15: Lunch (Room: Atrium)

14.15 – 15.45: Parallel Session 2

Room: Rubenszaal
​Panel 2a: THEORIZING POPULISM 1
Chair: Emilia Palonen​

1. Galib Bashirov (Florida International University): Populism and Transformation of Identity: A Discourse Theoretical Approach
2. Camila Vergara (Columbia University): Populism as the Discursive Performance of Emancipation
3. Seongcheol Kim (WZB Berlin Social Science Center): …Because the Homeland Cannot Be in Opposition: A Discourse and Hegemony Analysis of Fidesz and Law and Justice (PiS) from Opposition to Power​
4. Péter Csigó (Obuda University): Anti-foundationalist discourse theory and left populism: a non-(necessary) correspondence?

Room: Lipsiuszaal
Panel 2b: DISCURSIVE-MATERIAL: HOW TO RECONCILE THINGS
Chair: Nico Carpentier

1. Henrik Ahman (Uppsala University): Religion, Meaning, and Mediation: An Analysis of the Role of Language in Ingmar Bergman’s Trilogy of Faith
2. Jimena Vazquez (University of Essex): The Political Lack of the Digital Subject 
3. Nicolina Montesano Montessori & Tom Bartlett (HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht): Combining CDA and DT and the Emergence of a Theoretical Puzzle ​

Room: Stevinzaal
​Panel 2c: AUSTERITY POLITICS AND BEYOND
Chair: Jason Glynos

1. Yiannis Mylonas (National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow): The “Greek Crisis” in European Media: Class, Race and Politics 
2. Joash Tapiheru (University of Essex): Coercion in Agonistic Politics – The Case of Collaborative Governance Framework at Sub-National Level in North-Ayrhsire, Scotland
3. Konstantinos Roussos (University of Essex): The Political Praxis of the Commons: Politicizing Everyday Life in Crisis-Ridden Greece.​
4. Arthur Borriello (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Ricardo Peñafiel (Université du Québec à Montréal) & Corinne Gobin (Université Libre de Bruxelles): The Austerity Discourses

15.45 – 16.00: Coffee Break (Room: Atrium)

16.00 – 17.30: Parallel Session 3

Room: Rubenszaal
​Panel 3a: DISCOURSES ABOUT POPULISM
Chair: Jana Goyvaerts

1. Antonis Galanopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): A Discourse-Theoretical Analysis of Anti-Populism in Greece: Towards a Working Definition​
2. Michal Hamo, Zohar Kampf & Naama Weiss-Yaniv (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Populism as a Meta-Discursive Resource for Positioning and Framing in Mediated Political Discourse ​
3. Barbora Čapinská (Charles University in Prague): ‘Porn on Vltava’: Fantasmatic conditions of effectivity of countering populist scandals​

Room: Lipsiuszaal
​Panel 3b: POPULISM IN POWER
Chair: Giorgos Katsambekis

1. Giorgos Venizelos (Scuola Normale Superiore): Populism(s) in Power: Collective Identities and Social Imaginaries from SYRIZA to Trump​
2. He Li (Merrimack College): The Chinese Discourse on Populism
3. Ewen Speed & Russell Mannion (University of Essex): Populism as Political Performativity: Implications for Health Policy

Room: Stevinzaal
​Panel 3c: DISCOURSE AND CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
Chair: Pieter Maeseele

1. Joscha Wullweber (University of Vienna): Money, State, Hegemony: A Political Ontology of Money as Master Signifier
2. Anar Koli (Soka University): The Political Economy of the Green Economy. A Post-Structuralist Discursive Analysis
3. Jason Glynos (University of Essex): Neoliberalism, Competition & Utility: A Critical Political Theory Perspective on the Promise of Robert Frank’s Behavioural Economics, and its Limits
4. Jens Maesse (University of Giessen): Discursive Marxism and the Concept of ‘Discursive Political Economy of Economics’
5. Laurens van der Steen (UAntwerpen): Against the Market or Against this Market? A Discourse-Theoretical Analysis of the Communication Practices of Oxfam-World Shops

17:30 - 18:15: Roundtable on Women in Discourse Studies and Populism Research (Room: Rubenszaal)
Moderated by Jana Goyvaerts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

• Ruth Wodak (Lancaster University/University Vienna)
  
• Edina Dóci (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
  
• Emilia Palonen (University of Helsinki)
  

18:15: End of Day 1

20:00: Conference Drinks

​friday 8 February

09:00 – 10:30: Plenary Panel 2: THEORIZING REPRESENTATION, HEGEMONY, POPULISM (Room: Espace Roi Baudouin)
​Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis

1. Emilia Palonen (University of Helsinki): Rhetoric-Performative Analysis
2. Lasse Thomassen (Queen Mary University of London): Laclau as a Theorist of Representation: Populism and Universality
3. Giorgos Katsambekis (Loughborough University): Are ‘the People’ of Populism Necessarily Homogeneous, Virtuous and Pure? A Critique of Mainstream Approaches from a Discursive Standpoint
4. Allan Dreyer Hansen & Marianne Høi Liisberg (Roskilde University): We the People: On the Construction of the French and Danish People. An Analysis of the Public Debates in France and Denmark after the Terror Attacks of January and February 2015

10:30 – 11:00: Coffee Break (Room: Atrium)

11.00 – 12.30: Parallel Session 4

Room: Rubenszaal
​Panel 4a: POPULISM AND NATIONALISM 1
Chair: Benjamin De Cleen

1. Marie E. Tuley (University of Sussex): Migrant Integration Narratives and the Making of National Identity
2. Jakub Eberle (Institute of International Relations, Prague): People, Nation, State: Discourse Theory and Relations between Populism, Nationalism and Foreign Policy​
3. Maria Avraamidou (University of Cyprus): Representations of Europe in Greek-Cypriot Newspapers at Times of Massive Migration Movements.​​
4. Jacopo Custodi (Scuola Normale Superiore): Podemos and the Imagined Nation: The construction of Spain in the political discourse of Pablo Iglesias 

Room: Lipsiuszaal
​Panel 4b: VISUALITY 1
Chair: Ilija Tomanic-Trivundza

1. Fani Giannousi (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): Shades of Shame. Public Discourses in the Greek Crisis​
2. Paul Sambre (KULeuven): Cose Nostre: the Multimodal Reconstruction of Positive Social Change in Anti-Mafia Documentaries
3. Tim Griebel (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg): To Have or to Be? A Corpus-Assisted Multimodal Critical Realist Discourse Analysis of Austerity in the United Kingdom

Room: Stevinzaal
​Panel 4c: THEORIZING POPULISM 2
Chair: Emilia Palonen

1. Lut Lams (KULeuven): Dislocation in the Western Discourse of Representative Democracy - a Conceptual Exploration of the Signifier ‘Democracy’ in the Opinion Pages of the Dutch Press ​
2. Thomás Zicman De Barros (Sciences Po Paris): Are Theorists of Populism Cynical? 
3. Craig Love (University of Essex): Re-evaluating the Populist Puzzle: Intellectuals and Loaded Signifiers​

12.30 – 13.30: Lunch (Room: Atrium)

13.30 – 15.00: Parallel Session 5

Room: Rubenszaal
​Panel 5a: POPULISM AND NATIONALISM 2
Chair: Benjamin De Cleen

1. Michaelangelo Anastasiou (University of Victoria): The Spatiotemporality of Nationalist Populism 
2. Liv Sunnercrantz (Lund University): Populism without Nationalism, or, Learning from the Enemy
3. Ryan Flitcroft (University of Essex): Identifying Populist Discourses: Evaluating the Populist Logics of the UK Independence Party​
4. Daniel Smith (Cambridge University): Anti-Globalism as Hegemony?: A Discourse-Theoretical Analysis of Anti-Globalism and the Contemporary Populist Right​

Room: Lipsiuszaal
​Panel 5b: VISUALITY 2
Chair: Ilija Tomanic-Trivundza

1. Efharis Mascha (Hellenic Open University): Visual Manifestations of the European Discourse on Solidarity of Refugees and Migrants
2. Mariano Dagatti (University of Buenos Aires): Political Images and a Politics of the Images: A Rhetorical study of the Political Image in hypermedia societies
3. Ilija Tomanic Trivundza & Andreja Vezovnik (University of Ljubljana): Symbolic News Photography as Empty Signifier: Depicting Migration on Rtvslo.si​
4. ​Gianlouis Hernandez (Università della Svizzera italiana): 
   International students: a crisis of representation? A discourse theoretical analysis of diversity representation in Swiss higher education institutions 

Room: Stevinzaal
​Panel 5c: THEORIZING AND ANALYZING STRUCTURE AND CHANGE
Chair: Aysem Mert

1. Emilio E Feijóo (University of Essex): The Tropological ‘Foundations’ of Hegemony: (Dis)locating Catachresis in Laclau’s Political Ontology
2. ​Luk Van Langenhove (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): The Ontological Dimensions of Discourse
3. Tomas Marttila (Vienna University of Economics and Business): Relational Discourse Analysis
4. Ferruh Yilmaz (Tulane University): Analyzing Hegemony as a Stable Construction: Cultural Ontologies of the Social​

15.00 – 15.30: Coffee Break (Room: Atrium)

15:30 – 17:00: Keynote Debate: DISCOURSE THEORY: WAYS FORWARD (Room: Espace Roi Baudouin)
Ruth Wodak (Lancaster University/University Vienna) and Michael Freeden (Oxford)

17:00 – 17:15: Closing

This event is supported as a contactforum by
​de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten.