National open university of nigeria school of arts and social sciences
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- 3.4. Self-assessed Exercises Discuss at length the relationship between Discourse and Culture 3.5. Discourse and Conflict
| 3.3. Discourse and Racism Racism is the expression of any form of prejudice, denial or discrimination against a person or a group of people on the basis of the colour of their skin, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. Racism is also seen as a belief that race accounts for differences inhuman character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Racism is often expressed by discriminatory or abusive behavior and practices towards the members of the supposed inferior races or denial of certain rights to them on the basis that they are inherently inferior to another or other races. Though racism is often expressed through actions, such as violence, oppression and denial of legal rights, it has been observed that racism is also expressed through discourse. Critical discourse analysts have labeled any discourse that has discriminatory tendencies towards people of other races) as racist discourse Racist discourse is not only practised by individuals. It is practised by institutions, such as government, corporations and educational institutions, which have power to influence the lives of many individuals. Scholars like Teun van Dijk has been working extensively on Racism and discourse since 1981. His focus has been on the reproduction of Racism in the Media, representation of immigrants, racism in elite discourse, the representation of ethnic minorities in the Press, and so forth. 3.4. Self-assessed Exercises Discuss at length the relationship between Discourse and Culture 3.5. Discourse and Conflict The relationship between discourse and conflict is considered to be very important mainly because conflicts are better managed when discourse is tactically used by those involved in it and the mediators. On the other hand, conflicts get out of hand when tact is not employed in the use of discourse for resolution. A major focus of CDA is the 119 enactment of power in discourse. Since words are said to be very powerful, they could be used to change behaviour and societal orientation towards issues. Conflicts arise from time to time among individuals and groups of people. For instance, ethnic conflicts are quite rampant allover the world. Conflicts arise in the face of perceived opposition of needs, values and interest. The idea of conflict ranges from minor disagreement over issues to conflicts that involve the use of force, termed armed conflict Though scholars in the area of conflict studies have identified some possible ways of handling conflicts, such as collaboration, compromise and accommodation, none of these can be done without the use of discourse. Engaging in dialogue and negotiation around conflict is a major way of resolving conflicts. To dialogue means to tactically use language or discourse to resolve issues. Download 0.49 Mb. Share with your friends:
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