DESIRE, the center for the study of Democracy, Signification and Resistance, organized the second edition of the colloquium ‘Discourse Theory: Ways Forward’. After the success of the first edition in 2019 we were thrilled to continue the conversation in March 2023.
The colloquium took place on 23-24 March 2023 in the Palace of the Academies in Brussels.
The colloquium brought together scholars working with constructivist and post-structuralist discursive approaches, broadly defined. The programme included work on a wide range of themes across disciplines, including:
Excellent keynotes were given by Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University) on Europe's Populist Condition and the Desire for Mastery, and Alan Finlayson (University of East Anglia) on The Rhetoric of Reactionary Digital Politics.
The colloquium programme committee consisted of Benjamin De Cleen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, colloquium co-coordinator), Jana Goyvaerts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, colloquium co-coordinator), Nico Carpentier (Charles University), Jason Glynos (University of Essex), Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), and Ilija Tomanić Trivundža (University of Ljubljana).
The local organizing committee consisted of Benjamin De Cleen, Jana Goyvaerts and Maximilian Grönegräs (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), and Pieter Maeseele (Universiteit Antwerpen). We would like to thank Anna Luo, Archibald Gustin, Fatima Zahid Ali, Omran Shroufi, Savvas Voutyras and Yazan Badran for their help during the conference.
The colloquium took place on 23-24 March 2023 in the Palace of the Academies in Brussels.
The colloquium brought together scholars working with constructivist and post-structuralist discursive approaches, broadly defined. The programme included work on a wide range of themes across disciplines, including:
- Environment and climate
- Media and journalism
- Political communication and propaganda
- Health and care
- The discursive and the material
- Discourse, class, and political economy
- The past, present and future of progressive politics
- Nationalism, racism, and the (populist) far right
- Sex and gender
- International relations, conflict and war
- Discourse theory, critique and practice
Excellent keynotes were given by Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University) on Europe's Populist Condition and the Desire for Mastery, and Alan Finlayson (University of East Anglia) on The Rhetoric of Reactionary Digital Politics.
The colloquium programme committee consisted of Benjamin De Cleen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, colloquium co-coordinator), Jana Goyvaerts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, colloquium co-coordinator), Nico Carpentier (Charles University), Jason Glynos (University of Essex), Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), and Ilija Tomanić Trivundža (University of Ljubljana).
The local organizing committee consisted of Benjamin De Cleen, Jana Goyvaerts and Maximilian Grönegräs (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), and Pieter Maeseele (Universiteit Antwerpen). We would like to thank Anna Luo, Archibald Gustin, Fatima Zahid Ali, Omran Shroufi, Savvas Voutyras and Yazan Badran for their help during the conference.
Pictures by Thomás Zicman de Barros, Yazan Badran, Archibald Gustin and Jana Goyvaerts. More pictures can be found on the DESIRE Facebook Page.
programme
Day 1 (Thursday 23 march)
8.45 – 9.30: Registration
9.30 – 10.00: Introduction by the organising committee (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
10.00 – 11.00: Opening Keynote by Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University): Europe's Populist Condition and the Desire for Mastery (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
11.00 – 11.30: Coffee Break (Room: Marmerzaal)
11.30 – 13.00: Parallel Session 1
9.30 – 10.00: Introduction by the organising committee (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
10.00 – 11.00: Opening Keynote by Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University): Europe's Populist Condition and the Desire for Mastery (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
11.00 – 11.30: Coffee Break (Room: Marmerzaal)
11.30 – 13.00: Parallel Session 1
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Room: Albert II Auditorium
1a: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PROGRESSIVE POLITICS 1 Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis Salome Ietter (Queen Mary University of London): The populism of the French ‘Gilets jaunes’: back to class? On populist and anti-capitalist (in)compatibilities Jacopo Custodi (Scuola Normale Superiore): Is There a Left Case for National Pride? The Patriotic Discourse of the Communist Party in Portugal Samuele Mazzolini (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia): Left populism and institutions: lessons from Ecuador on Laclau’s antinomies Adam Dinsmore (University of York): Reasons to be cheerful? Competing left futures in England’s ‘Red Wall’ |
Room: Rubenszaal
1b: THE POLITICS OF SEX, GENDER AND THE BODY 1 Chair: Théo Aiolfi Jenny Gunnarsson Payne (Södertörn University): Why does kinship matter to politics? A discourse theoretical approach to the study of kinship Aino Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki): Extremely intimate and incredibly public – Free menstrual products and the problem of menstruation in the Finnish public discourse Mark Wilkinson (Lancaster University): ‘Spreading’, ‘trending’ and ‘soaring’: How the sedimentation of LGBTQ representation in The Times between 1957-2017 discursively constructed the queer subject as a social pathogen Nadia Feshari (Södertörn University): Frames of (unborn) human life - Imaginaries of unborn human life in Swedish abortion politics 1935-2021 |
Room: Stevinzaal
1c: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS Chair: Nico Carpentier Michael Lithgow (Athabasca University): Aesthetic discourses & digital resistance: Using discourse analysis to map early interventions into algorithmic cultures Gian Hernandez and Emma van Bijnen (University of Amsterdam): Outreaching inclusion/exclusion: Trends start here? A Comparative Analysis of Museum TikTok Accounts Outi Puukko (University of Helsinki): Productive Power in Digital Constitutionalism: Analyzing Civil Society Actors’ Definitions of Digital Rights |
Room: Albert I-zaal
1d: THEORETICAL ADVANCES Chair: Jason Glynos Allan Dreyer Hansen (Roskilde University): Re-articulating radical negativity in discourse theory: from ontological primacy to hauntological effects Nikola Venkov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences): Enter the discursive social actor: extending Post-Foundational Discourse Theory Adria Porta Caballe (University of Barcelona): The Void in Psychoanalysis from Freud to Lacan and beyond: towards the “Institutionalisation of Lack” Carola Schoor (Leiden University): Clusters of political concepts: bridging the gap of meaning |
13.00 – 14.00: Lunch (Room: Marmerzaal)
14.00 – 15.30: Parallel Session 2
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Room: Albert II Auditorium
2a: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PROGRESSIVE POLITICS 2 Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis Thomas Jacobs (Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles): ¡Hasta la victoria siempre! A discourse-theoretical typology of left-wing political strategy Freddie Larden (Queen Mary University of London): La Fanfichon: humour and identification amongst supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the 2022 French elections Jonathan Dean (University of Leeds): ‘You’ve Read Karl Marx and You’ve Taught Yourself to Dance’: Mapping the Intersections of Neoliberalism, Left Politics and Social Media Influencer Culture from a Post-Marxist Perspective |
Room: Rubenszaal
2b: THE POLITICS OF SEX, GENDER AND THE BODY 2 Chair: Jenny Gunnarsson Payne Anne Steinhoff and Rebecca Warren (University of Essex): Building agonistic solidarity: campaigning against misogyny Aylon Cohen (University of Chicago): Discourse, the Body, and the Historiographies of Radical Democracy: Towards a Queer Political Theory of Praxis Michael Chisnall (University of Canberra): Rethinking Political Antagonism in an “Unhinged” Age |
Room: Stevinzaal
2c: THE DISCURSIVE AND THE MATERIAL Chair: Savvas Voutyras Nico Carpentier and Vaia Doudaki (Charles University): European border assemblages: The entanglement of the discursive and the material in the Dutch VPRO documentary 'Along the Borders of Turkey' and its YouTube comments Paul Sambre (University of Leuven): A Calabrian public company’s response to mafia threats: from discursive plans to multimodal material and community exaptation Eva De Smedt (Erasmus Brussels University of Applied Sciences and Arts): 'Would it make a cute ruin?': Exploring discursive images of the futures for KANAL-Centre Pompidou in 2042 |
Room: Albert I-zaal
2d: POLICY, HEALTH AND EDUCATION Chair: Jason Glynos Tuomas Tervasmäki (Tampere University): Anticipatory policy rhetoric: exploring ideological fantasies of Finnish higher education Lars Ørjan Kråkenes (Volda University College): The Political Dimension of Democratic Education in Norway Ewen Speed and Konstantinos Roussos (University of Essex): Problematising participatory practice in service and policy design: identifying barriers and opportunities Ellen Russell (Wilfrid Laurier University): Uncertainty and the Justificatory Attributes of Expert Economic Texts: an Austerity Case Study |
15.30 – 16.00: Coffee Break (Room: Marmerzaal)
16.00 – 17.30: Parallel Session 3
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Room: Albert II Auditorium
3a: DISCOURSE THEORY AND POLITICAL ORGANISATION Chair: Samuele Mazzolini Martin Nonhoff, Lazaros Karavasilis, and Seongcheol Kim (University of Bremen): Using discourse theory to study political organisation: Social movements and political parties at the intersection of radical democracy, populism, and hegemony Seongcheol Kim (University of Bremen): Movement Parties of the Left, Right, and Center: A Discursive-Organizational Approach Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University): Questioning European democracy? Versions of representation in the 15M movement and Podemos |
Room: Rubenszaal
3b: JOURNALISM AND THE FAR RIGHT Chair: Jana Goyvaerts Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius (Polish Academy of Sciences): Thinking beyond ‘junk news’: Right-wing ‘identity journalism’ as a power/knowledge system Maximilian Grönegräs (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): The adoption of journalistic genre elements in political communication: A scoping review Sabri Derinöz, Elena Louazon, and Lise Ménalque (Université Libre de Bruxelles): A journalistic construction of racism, race and “the other” in the midst of a denunciation of racism in francophone Belgium Kait Bolongaro (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): The Brussels Press Corps’ Coverage of Populist Radical Right Parties in the Italian Election in 2022 |
Room: Stevinzaal
3c: DISCOURSE THEORY AND METHODS Chair: Eva De Smedt Katy Brown (University of Bath): Towards a methodological tree: combining Discourse Theory, Critical Discourse Studies and Corpus Linguistics Théo Aiolfi (CY Cergy Paris University): Analysing Discourse Beyond Text: The Political Performance Analysis Questionnaire as an Interdisciplinary Methodological Tool to Study Politics in Motion Craig Love (University of Essex): Exploring the Accents of Discourse – Q Methodology and Discourse Analysis Cristóbal Sandoval (Universidad Diego Portales): Articulating political discourse analysis and network ethnography: New Possibilities for Discourse Theory |
Room: Albert I-zaal
3d: CRITICAL FANTASY STUDIES Chair: Jan Zienkowski Thomás Zicman de Barros (Sciences Po Paris) and Sebastián Ronderos (Fundação Getulio Vargas): Critical Fantasy Methods, or how to study the role of desire in populism Joshua Hurtado Hurtado (University of Helsinki) and Jason Glynos (University of Essex): The grip of degrowth: Inquiring into the psychic dimension of the degrowth uptake Konstantinos Roussos (University of Essex), Jimena Vazquez (Anglia Ruskin University), and Savvas Voutyras (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): Surviving crises by prefiguring futures of solidarity: reflections from grassroots healthcare provisioning in Greece Claudia Mohor Valentino (University of Essex): From subject of demand to subject of desire: a Lacanian contribution to the study of political organization in times of new mobilisations |
17.30: End of Day 1
19.30: Conference Drinks (Chateau Moderne)
19.30: Conference Drinks (Chateau Moderne)
Day 2: friday 24 march
9.00 – 10.30: Parallel Session 4
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Room: Albert II Auditorium
4a: DEMOCRACY AND AUTHORITARIANISM Chair: Savvas Voutyras Giorgos Katsambekis (National Centre for Social Research, Greece): Advancing a discursive understanding of (mainstream) authoritarianism: preliminary insights from the Greek case Emilia Palonen (University of Helsinki): Beyond disinformation: Lying and Belief in community building Dana Trif (Babes-Bolyai University): Protests, Social Movements, and the Visual Turn: Reinventing “the People” in Romania’s 2017 Pro-Democracy Protests Aurélien Mondon (University of Bath) and Seongcheol Kim (University of Bremen): From objectivist bias to positivist bias: A constructivist critique of the ‘populist attitudes’ literature |
Room: Rubenszaal
4b: NATIONALISM, RACISM AND THE (POPULIST) FAR RIGHT 1: NORMALIZATION AND CHANGE Chair: Maria Avraamidou Pedro Camelo and Michał Krzyžanowski (Uppsala University): Independence or else: Normalization of Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Right-Wing Populism in Brazil Omran Shroufi (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): Continuity and change in far-right discourse: The case of far-right support for Israel Alexander Alekseev (University of Helsinki): Democracy in Populist Radical Right Discourses: What Helps the Populist Radical Right Normalise Its Conceptions of Democracy |
Room: Stevinzaal
4c: ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND NATURE 1 Chair: Andreja Vezovnik Liv Sunnercrantz (University of Stavanger): Spectres of The Climate Crisis Alina Bychkova (Nottingham Trent University): Climate change discourses in Central Asia: economic interests, image concerns, and the traces of Soviet legacies’ Ben Glasson (Monash University): Capitalist contradictions individually managed: Exploiting the resilience of the fragmented subject |
Room: Albert I-zaal
NO PANEL |
10.30 – 11.00: Coffee Break (Room: Marmerzaal)
11.00 – 12.30: Parallel Session 5
11.00 – 12.30: Parallel Session 5
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Room: Albert II Auditorium
5a: BLIND SPOTS IN POPULISM RESEARCH Chair: Emmy Eklundh Lazaros Karavasilis (University of Bremen): What we talk about when we talk about ‘the elite’: theoretical and empirical understandings of an often-neglected term in populism studies Benjamin De Cleen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Juan Alberto Ruiz Casado (Academia Sinica Taipei): Populism of the privileged: the use of underdog identities by comparatively privileged groups Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): Populist Discourse: The Psycho-social Horizon |
Room: Rubenszaal
5b: NATIONALISM, RACISM AND THE (POPULIST) FAR RIGHT 2: IDENTITY AND EXCLUSION Chair: Maximilian Grönegräs Kristina Vasic (Central European University): Discursive construction of the Other – the case of Slovenia under Janez Janša Maria Avraamidou (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Maria Ioannou (University of Groningen): Antimigrant debates on Twitter and their affinity to European border politics and Discourses: #IStandWithGreece Tilemachos Iatridis (University of Crete), Theofilos Gkinopoulos (University of Crete), and Irini Kadianaki (University of Cyprus): Who plays the populist card? ‘Diversity’ in right-wing parliamentary discourse in Greece and Cyprus over the past 20 years |
Room: Stevinzaal
5c: ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND NATURE 2 Chair: Jenny Gunnarsson Payne Andreja Vezovnik (University of Ljubljana): Discourses on Meat in the Age of Biocapitalism: Risky Meat, Clean Meat Fix, and Green Governmentality Kirill Filimonov (Uppsala University) and Nico Carpentier (Charles University): Can the material speak? Nature as an object and subject of discursive regulation in a Swedish TV documentary Dora Matejak (University of Ljubljana): Constructing organic farming through political governance: evidence from EU and Slovenia |
Room: Albert I-zaal
5d: DISCOURSE THEORY, CRITIQUE AND PRACTICE Chair: Jason Glynos Penny Panagiota Koutrolikou (National Technical University of Athens): Constructing European ‘Souths’ through crises: reflections of the case of Greece Thomas Siomos (Aristotle University Thessaloniki): Crisis Discourse, from dislocation to opportunity? Reid Kleinberg (University of Essex): Traversing Laclau: the Challenge of Fantasy to the Discursive Theory of Populism Julius Schneider, Rebecca Warren, Anne Steinhoff, and Jason Glynos (University of Essex): Community Organising from a radical democratic point of view |
12.30 – 13.30: Lunch (Room: Marmerzaal)
13.30 – 15.00: Parallel Session 6
13.30 – 15.00: Parallel Session 6
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Room: Albert II Auditorium
6a: ANTI-POPULISM: IDEOLOGY AND BEYOND Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis Savvas Voutyras (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): From liberalism to anti-populism: a rhetorical approach to an ideological transformation Sebastián Ronderos (Fundação Getulio Vargas) and Jason Glynos (University of Essex): Anti-populist fantasies: interrogating Veja's discursive constructions, from Lula to Bolsonaro Jana Goyvaerts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): Journalism, Populism and Democracy: Conceptualizing the Public Debate and Discourses about Populism Raylene Abdilla (University of Malta): The Fantasy of European Governmentality: The EU's Response to 'Grexit' and 'Brexit' |
Room: Rubenszaal
6b: NATIONALISM, RACISM AND THE (POPULIST) FAR RIGHT 3: CULTURE WARS Chair: Maria Avraamidou Ferruh Yilmaz (Tulane University): Critical Race Theory, Gender instruction, and “culture wars” Jan Zienkowski and Laura Calabrese (Université Libre de Bruxelles): Articulations of ‘Cultural Warfare’: analyzing the metapolitical implications of right wing culture war discourse for civil society actors in Flanders, Belgium Archibald Gustin (Université de Liège): The gender politics of the far right. The case of Vlaams Belang Susan de Groot Heupner (Griffith University): Fantasies of hatred in far right and islamist politics: A relational approach to studies of discourse |
Room: Stevinzaal
6c: FANTASIES, DISCOURSES AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS Chair: Aysem Mert Julia Maria Charlotte Feine (Stockholm University): The role of fantasies in reaching “the Oceans We Want” Jelle Behagel (Wageningen University): Fantasizing about the world and nature Elise Remling (University of Canberra): Putting the world back on track: political fantasies of “recovering” the SGDs in the face of multiple crisis" |
Room: Albert I-zaal
6d: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, CONFLICT AND WAR Chair: Vaia Doudaki Mazlum Kemal Dagdelen (Charles University): Little Mujahideen and Militarised Childhood: A Discourse-Theoretical Analysis of the Militarist Discourse in Turkish Cypriot Children's Magazines Olga Baysha (National Research University Higher School of Economics): Silencing Oppositional Voices: Ukraine’s War on Two Fronts Roumaissa Nora Sayoud (University of Limerick): Legitimating a “humanitarian” military intervention: a critical discourse analysis of the political discourse of David Cameron (the 2011 Libyan Arab Spring rebellion as a case study) Fani Giannousi (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): Warrior, victim, monster. Gendered identity construction in conflict |
15.00 – 15.30: Coffee Break (Room: Marmerzaal)
15.30 – 16.30: Closing Keynote by Alan Finlayson (University of East Anglia): The Rhetoric of Reactionary Digital Politics (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
16.30 – 17.00: Closing (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
15.30 – 16.30: Closing Keynote by Alan Finlayson (University of East Anglia): The Rhetoric of Reactionary Digital Politics (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
16.30 – 17.00: Closing (Room: Albert II Auditorium)
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This event is supported as a contactforum by
de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten. |