Hybrid Voices and Collaborative Change: Contextualising Positive Discourse Analysis

This book provides a case study of discourse in action to challenge assumptions in much Critical Discourse Analysis regarding the top-down nature of power in language. Calling for greater contextualisation in critical work, the book frames an in-depth analysis of institutional discourse between indigenous communities and government and non-government groups in Guyana with an account of the sociocultural setting. The analysis of representational, interpersonal and rhetorical features of talk and texts reveals how local discourse patterns are "smuggled into" the institutional framework, bringing the discourses closer to the experience of the indigenous community, enhancing understanding and opening up space for greater community participation. Importantly, rather than viewing such discourse as necessarily oppositional, the book develops the theme that power takes many forms, social and linguistic, and that these can be used collaboratively in the production of more participatory and empowering modes of communciation that draw on the strengths of each community. The book therefore takes the recent positive trend in discourse analysis, critiqued by the author as text-based and celebratory rather than practical in context, one step further in illustrating the workings of positive change and suggesting a role for applied linguists in assisting marginalised communities in altering dominant discourse practices "from below."