[ecrea] 17th International Workshop on Discourse Studies: Critique and Decolonization

17th International Workshop on Discourse Studies: Critique and Decolonization
Madrid, 24-25 March, 2011
Scientific Committee
Luisa Martín Rojo, Miguel Pérez Milans, Monica 
Heller, Mary Louise Pratt, Ruth Wodak, Juan Carlos Gimeno, Joan Pujolar
Organizing Committee
Luisa Martín Rojo, Miguel Pérez Milans, Miriam Jiménez, Simone Belli
Venue:
Residencia La Cristalera, UAM, Madrid (www.lacristalera.com)
Web:
http://www.ffil.uam.es/mirco/novedades.php

17th International Workshop on Discourse Studi 
es: Critique and Decolonization Madrid , 24 & 25 March, 2011
During the twentieth century, the critical turn
in discourse studies produced far-reaching
changes in the understanding of discourse
and in the models used to analyse it. Discourse
ceased to be considered an imperfect representation
tool, and was recognized as having
an essential role in the construction of the social,
political and economic reality. Social and
human sciences have progressively integrated
the contributions of the critical turn into the
history of thought. This has made it possible to
de-naturalize many of the ideas underpinning
the organization of the modern nation-state,
linking them to the viewpoints and interests
of particular social groups. Nevertheless, recently
the critical turn has come under attack
for not going far enough, and in particular for
having been preoccupied with the problems
of the European nation-states where the critical
approach was first developed.
In this line, the decolonizing turn impels us
to carry out a more detailed exploration of the
conditions of the colonial past and to discover
how such forms of domination continue to be
(re)produced today, on the basis of specific
hegemonic and universalist representations of
the sociopolitical, economic and cultural world.
Developing scientific approaches based on intellectual
traditions other than those prevailing
in the West is seen as a key step on the unfinished
decolonization project. However, this
is a far reaching project in which there is a real
risk of reproducing biased representations
about homogeneous cultural communities.
This project should not be addressed in isolation
from processes of language and cultural
commodification and their consequences for
the legitimization of certain social relations of
power within such communities (with regard
to social class, ethnicity and gender).
In view of these issues, and taking over
from the previous seminars organized by the
foundational group of the CDA, this workshop
is focused on the following questions: what is
at stake in decentring critique, and for whom?
Can a critical approach, as we now understand
it, usefully contribute to decolonization? Do we
simply need to turn our tools to the problems
and concerns of the global South or do we need
entirely new ones? Does the current institutionalization
of critical discourse studies exclude
bodies, questions, methodologies, ontologies
or all of the above? These questions will be addressed
in three debates:
1. What is to be derived from a dialogue
between the two approaches?
2. How have they contributed to studies
on class, gender, and ethnicity?
3. Is it possible to expand the space of
colonized subjects and knowledge from
the standpoint of multilingualism and
multiculturalism, with respect to dominant
languages and cultures?

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