Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Child labor is a complex global phenomenon. Though poverty is widely accepted as the primary cause of child labor, there are many dimensions of the phenomenon that still remain to be explored. Very little attention has been given to the policies that drive efforts to address child labor and how they are framed. Of particular interest is how we determine who is a child, and the notions of childhood underpinning these policies. Less attention has been given to the relationships and power dynamics underlying the policy-making process that surrounds this discourse. A qualitative method, namely, critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used to examine the discursive construction of children and childhood in child labor discourse. Underlying power dynamics through the analysis of diverse child labor-related policies at the global (ILO), regional (OAU/AU), sub-regional (ECOWAS), global/sub-regional (Harkin-Engel Protocol), and local (Ghana) levels was explored. Findings revealed that homogenized and hegemonic trends are visible in child labor discourse. While the ILO's discourse on child labor was either reproduced or referenced in the other policies, there was generally a homogenized definition of children based on Western social constructions and views of children. Child labor policies were not fully cognizant or sensitive to local constructions and conceptions of how we define children and what we determine are appropriate roles at various ages. In particular reference to Ghana, the Government of Ghana's child labor policies did not reflect the sociological and cultural realities of the nation. Findings of the study also suggest that for some organizations and countries, especially in the Global South, political and economic considerations influenced whose voices were included in child labor policy creation. Critical discourse implications for social work education, policy analysis, practice and research are discussed.

The importance of family is widespread, both in society in general and within social work specifically. This essay focuses on the construction of family in the guidelines concerning adoption that the Board of health and welfare issue. The aim of this study is to identify and uncover dominant discourses concerning family in the guidelines. To do this we have used a form of Critical Discourse Analysis, influenced by Norman Faircloughs three-dimensional analytical model. Our major findings were, among others, that different kinds of family practices are excluded from the idea of what a family is. This process of exclusion is done through two different sets of discourses; discourses of sameness and discourses of difference. Discourses of sameness is concerned with including the adoptive family in the norm of the “ideal” family, but without really changing the idea of what a family can be. This leaves the traditional idea of family to remain unchallenged in the guidelines. Discourses of differences is concerned with the construction of the adoptive family as different than the idea of the “ideal” family. The consequences of this is that the construction of the “good” family excludes family practises that defy the traditional “ideal” family.

The aim of this study was to examine discourses of homelessness and how they were represented in Swedish news media. A total of 28 articles from various newspapers were analysed in the study. Eight of the articles were published 1994/1995 and 20 articles were published 2014/2015. Critical discourse analysis was chosen to be the theoretical and methodological framework of this study. The analysis indicates that there are four main discourses that can be seen in the news media regarding homelessness: alienation, homelessness, housing and responsibility.

Gender representation is a frequently addressed field within media and communication studies in general and in the subject of TV advertising in particular. Previous research mainly focused on the detection of commonly exploited stereotypes that are used to portray women and men respectively. Much emphasize has been placed on the relationship between the sexes regarding social roles and professions, embedded in a cultural and ideological context. The purpose of this scientific work however is to examine how the construction of gender stereotypes in media takes place, which practices are used to connote meaning. Using a qualitative method, namely a visual discourse analysis, the aim of the study is to unveil subtle but also obvious symbols and characteristics that are used to represent feminine and masculine traits respectively in order to expand the current body of research. This proceeding marks an approach to have a closer look at the social interaction of females and males in TV advertisements in order to get an insight in the allocation of power and subsequently, social roles. Four TV advertisements are used as objects of investigation. As a theoretical fundament, the gender theories of sexism, masculinism and feminism are introduced. The findings suggest that the representation of women and men still follows strong patterns of stereotyping, not just on the level of role allocation but also on a behavioral level. However, the study comes to the conclusion that an asymmetric treatment of the sexes is not necessarily the result of gender stereotyping; in the case, both sexes are stereotyped similarly, not depicting either men or women dominating their counterparts in a global context.

One of the most interesting approaches on how we perceive nations today is the idea of imagining nations as brands. Nation branding is used by many governments as a tool for the dissemination of a certain nation imagery. From a media approach, this thesis explores the notion of nation branding as ideologically loaded in media discourse, and the official web discourse on Spain serves as a case. Specifically, the thesis reveals the media construction of Spain on the official website marcaespaña.es, exploring its relation to national identities and the underlying ideologies behind the online selfrepresentation. The thesis draws on the concepts of nation, national identities, ideology and discourse, relating them to nation branding from a critical perspective. To do so, the thesis employs Critical Discourse Analysis as method for analyzing national narratives, where nation branding discourse is seen as a social practice that legitimizes certain ideologies and power relations. The study concludes that the Spanish construction, portraying Spain as unique and united, reduces its national identity to an excellence and elite discourse, ignoring the complex reality of the nation. The thesis shows how this way of constructing the nation serves, through a website, to legitimize the current economical and political system, including the current government and the Spanish nationalism.

The aim of this essay is to describe the discourse of rape in the Swedish press Dagens Nyheter. The research questions are focused on how the concept of rape, the perpetrator and the victim are described in the discourse of rape in Dagens Nyheter. The study consists 48 articles from the Swedish press Dagens Nyheter and they have been published during 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. All the articles contain the term of rape. The articles have been analysed with Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and resulted in four areas; "rape", "how the perpetrator and the victim are described based on gender, age and name", "the relation between the perpetrator and the victim" and "the attribute of the perpetrator and the victim". The main results can be explained by different theories, in this essay social constructivism and gender theory will be used as theoretical tools. The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that the perpetrators are men at the age of below 20 to 30 years, the victims are women at the age of below 20 years and the diversely parts are described in different ways in the discourse of rape.

Sweden has traditionally been portrayed as a tolerant and generous country in terms of its migration policy. In conjunction with the increased flow of refugees in 2015 this image of Sweden has slowly but surely come to be questioned. Swedish political parties have raised concerns over the increased number of asylum seekers, and stressed the social, political and economic implications it may have for the Swedish society. This essay examines how Swedish political parties frame the refugee issue, and how these frames can be understood from a security lens. The following questions have been examined; How do Swedish parlamentary parties frame the refugee issue? To what extent is the refugee issue securitized in the Swedish context? What consequences can securitization of the refugee issue have for Swedish citizens’ attitudes to the welcoming of refugees? Two complementary methods are used to analyze the material. In the first step, Faircloughs critical discourse analysis uncover Swedish parliamentary parties frames of the refugee issue. In the second step, the securitization theory is applied in order to relate these refugee portrayals to security. Four central refugee discourses are identified in the material, following are; solidarity, responsibility, identity and expenditures. The essay argues that the refugee issue tends to be framed as a security threat of parties on the right wing of the political spectrum. Parties such as the Moderate Party and the Sweden Democrats have securitized the refugee issue. These parties frame the issue in terms of expenditures and identity, which follow a security rhetoric. The remaining parties show a great concern on the issue, but put emphasis on solidarity and responsibility. Successful securitization has thus not taken place among these parties.

The aim of this bachelor thesis was to examine how the Swedish tabloid press represent women refugees in the news coverage of the european refugee crisis.  The main question was: How are women refugees represented in the tabloid press news stories about the refugee crisis? To approach our question we used a critical discourse analysis. We examined a total of 17 news stories published during the first two weeks in September 2015, all of them published in Aftonbladet, Expressen, GT or Kvällsposten. During the analysis a total of four discursive themes emerged: The strong refugee woman, the weak refugee woman, the invisible refugee woman and the refugee woman as a mother figure. Three of our themes – the weak refugee woman, the invisible refugee woman and the refugee woman as a mother figure – are examples of how old ideologies about refugees and women still are present in the Swedish evening papers of today. These constructions  are based on myths and historical stereotypes.  Even though the refugee woman commonly are described as weak, subordinated and inactive, she can also be described as strong and independent – the strong refugee woman. This, the fourth theme, differs from the traditional stereotypes.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: China‘s rise as an economic superpower has had important consequences for its relations with African countries over the past 10-15 years. Not only were these relations thoroughly reviewed and significantly increased, but China also adopted a new cooperation policy that its administration describes as being based on mutual benefits and win-win economic collaboration. However, there is a sceptical public opinion in Africa and also in some developed countries about China‘s current engagement with African countries, and in particular with countries from the sub-Saharan region. In fact, China is frequently accused of acting as a new colonizing power and of increasing its relations with African countries simply as a strategy to achieve higher power-politics status and to structure a new global economic order. The present study addresses the question of whether China‘s official discourse about its relations with sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2010 contains any grounds for the sceptical public opinion mentioned above. In more concrete terms, the main objective of the study is to determine from a linguistic perspective, and more specifically from a critical discourse analysis point of view, whether there are any overt or covert messages of power and ideology in China‘s discourse to sub-Saharan African countries which could justify the sceptical public opinion about China‘s current engagement in this part of the continent . The texts representing China‘s discourse about its relations with sub-Saharan African countries that are examined for this study comprise official speeches, statements, and other related official documents delivered by Chinese officials in the period 2000-2010, and published in English on the websites of various institutions, including China‘s official websites. These texts are examined from within the framework of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) as set out by, specifically, Wodak (2001a). The texts are analysed using the DHA three-dimensional procedure consisting of (i) identifying the Content(s) and Topic(s) of the specific discourse, (ii) investigating the discursive strategies used in the specific texts, and (iii) analysing the linguistic means and the specific context-dependent linguistic realizations. On the one hand, the analysis of the Discourse Topics indicates that the relations between China and sub-Saharan African countries are grounded in China‘s pluralist approach to international affairs. From this perspective, then, it could be argued that China‘s current engagement in sub-Saharan Africa does not warrant the sceptical public opinion mentioned earlier. On the other hand, however, the analysis of the discursive strategies used to represent China and sub-Saharan African countries, indicates that such sceptisism is likely warranted. The relations between China and African countries have predominantly been investigated from economic and political perspectives. However, the manner in which these relations are expressed, implied, negotiated, interpreted, distributed, etc. in discourse has not yet received any systematic attention. The present study was therefore undertaken to contribute, from a linguistic perspective, to the knowledge of and the debate about China‘s current engagement in Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: China se opgang as ‘n ekonomiese supermoondheid het belangrike gevolge gehad vir sy betrekkinge met Afrikalande oor die afgelope 10-15 jaar. China het hierdie betrekkinge deeglik hersien en beduidend uitgebrei, en het daarby ook ‘n nuwe samewerkingsbeleid aanvaar wat volgens sy administrasie gegrond is op wedersydse voordele en wen-wen ekonomiese samewerking. Daar is nietemin ‘n skeptiese openbare mening in Afrika en ook in sommige ontwikkelde lande oor China se huidige verbintenis met Afrikalande, en in die besonder met lande van die sub-Sahara streek. Trouens, China word gereeld daarvan beskuldig dat hy optree soos ‘n nuwe koloniale moondheid, en dat sy verhoogde betrekkinge met Afrikalande bloot ‘n strategie is om groter magspolitieke status te bekom en om ‘n nuwe globale ekonomiese struktuur daar te stel. Die huidige studie fokus op die vraag of China se amptelike diskoers oor sy betrekkinge met sub-Sahara Afrikalande vanaf 2000 tot 2010 enige gronde bied vir die genoemde skeptiese openbare mening. In meer konkrete terme, is die hoofoogmerk van die studie om vanuit ‘n taalwetenskaplike perspektief, en meer spesifiek vanuit die oogpunt van kritiese diskoersanalise, vas te stel of China se diskoers met sub-Sahara Afrika enige overte of koverte boodskappe van mag en ideologie bevat wat kan dien as regverdiging vir die skeptiese openbare mening oor China se huidige betrokkenheid in hierdie deel van die kontinent. In die studie word ‘n verskeidenheid tekste ontleed wat verteenwoordigend is van China se diskoers oor sy betrekkinge met sub-Sahara Afrikalande. Dié tekste sluit amptelike toesprake, verklarings en verwante dokumente van Chinese amptenare in wat gelewer is in die tydperk 2000-2010, en wat in Engels gepubliseer is op die webwerwe van verskeie instellings, insluitend China se amptelike webwerwe. Die tekste word ondersoek binne die raamwerk van die Diskoers-Historiese Benadering (DHB) soos uiteengesit in, spesifiek, Wodak (2001a). Die analise van die tekste volg die DHB se drie-dimensionele prosedure, wat die volgende inhou: (i) identifisering van die Inhoud(e) en Onderwerp(e) van die spesifieke diskoers, (ii) analise van die diskursiewe strategieë wat gebruik word in die spesifieke tekste, en (iii) analise van die talige middele en die spesifieke konteks-afhanklike talige realiserings. Aan die een kant dui die analise van die Diskoers Onderwerpe daarop dat die betrekkinge tussen China en sub-Sahara Afrikalande gebaseer is op China se pluralistiese benadering tot internasionale sake. Vanuit hierdie perspektief kan daar dus geargumenteer word dat China se huidige betrokkenheid in sub-Sahara Afrika nie gronde bied vir die skeptiese openbare mening wat hierbo genoem is nie. Aan die ander kant, egter, dui die analise van die diskursiewe strategieë wat aangewend word in die voorstelling van China en sub-Sahara Afrikalande daarop dat daar waarskynlik wel gronde is vir sulke skeptisisme. Die betrekkinge tussen China en Afrikalande is tot dusver merendeels vanuit ekonomiese en politieke perspektiewe ondersoek. Die wyse waarop sulke betrekkinge uitgedruk, geïmpliseer, onderhandel, geïnterpreteer, versprei, ens. word in diskoers, is egter nog nie sistematies ondersoek nie. Die huidige studie is gevolglik onderneem om, vanuit ‘n taalwetenskaplike perspektief, ‘n bydrae te lewer tot die kennis van en die debat oor China se huidige betrokkenheid in Afrika.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation reports on a study that straddles the applied linguistic fields of discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis and a sociolinguistic field recently referred to as “queer linguistics”. The study investigated the linguistic construction of gay mobilisation in South African media discourses across a period of almost 30 years. It aimed to identify characteristics of the Discourse that topicalised the gay liberation movement, considering specifically the linguistic means used in articulating on the one hand the need and the right to gay liberation, and on the other hand the public opposition to acknowledging gay rights. It invoked a social theory identified as ‘framing theory’ in analysing the different kinds of views, attitudes, social positions and arguments motivating for or agitating against the institution and protection of gay rights in post-apartheid South Africa. The project takes Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), particularly its applications in considering features and functions of media discourses, as its primary theoretical framework. First, following the insistence of the Discourse-historical approach put forward by Wodak (1990), it gives an overview of the social and historical context against which the recognition of gay rights in South Africa developed. It follows the analytic methodology suggested by van Dijk (1985) in considering issues of ‘language and power’, and the ways in which the access of elites to media attention is drawn on to support and give credence to particular ideologies. Supplementary to the application of CDA methods, an analytic approach from the fields of Social Movement Theory and Collective Action Framing is introduced to make sense of the discursive strategies implemented in the Discourse thematically tied to the South African gay liberation movement, particularly from the early 1980s up to 2006. This period was marked by the movement’s pursuit of social mobilization. Attention went to the ways in which arguments for and against gay rights were instantiated in the media using a variety of different frames. Such analysis could disclose the extent to which the "anti-apartheid" master frame was utilised by actors of the gay liberation movement. Based on their circulation demographics, two local South African weekly newspapers, City Press and Mail & Guardian, were screened in order to identify articles and letters to the editor relevant to the gay liberation discourse. The full complement of published items topicalising homosexuality directly and indirectly were collected as two corpora in order to assess the ways in which they contributed to public discourses of gay liberation. Two analytic exercises were done: first, the content of the full data-set was “tagged” and categorised according to the textual nature of the newspaper item, and the kinds of frames used in its presentation; second, a number of articles and letters were selected from the corpora for detailed analysis that would illustrate the use of the various strategies and frames found to characterise the Discourse. The first more quantitative analysis provided an overview of patterns, trends and editorial practices typically used in the media representations. The second more qualitative analysis provided insight into the finer details of media presention of ideas aimed at affecting the knowledge and attitudes of the intended and imagined readers. The findings of these analyses were presented in terms of quantifiable results as well as detailed descriptions. In broad strokes, the quantifiable findings showed that the Mail & Guardian corpus was significantly more outspoken in advocating for gay rights than the City Press corpus, and that both publications frequently framed homosexuality in terms of “tolerance”, “religion” and “rights”. The quantifiable findings also showed that in their discourses of gay tolerance and gay rights, both the City Press and the Mail & Guardian made significant use of frames typically and widely used by the media in the discourse of political change at the time. The detailed analyses investigated the textual reproduction of the authors’ ideologies, drawing attention to their regular reliance on certain types of arguments used for and against gay rights in the selected newspapers. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif lewer verslag oor ‘n studie wat die toegepaste taalwetenskapterreine van diskoersanalise en kritiese diskoersanalise asook ‘n sosiolinguistiese terrein wat sedert onlangs “queer-taalwetenskap” genoem word, betrek. In die studie word daar ondersoek ingestel na die linguistiese konstruksie van gaymobilisering in Suid-Afrikaanse mediadiskoerse wat oor ‘n tydperk van bykans 30 jaar strek. Die doel van die studie was om eienskappe van die Diskoers wat die gaybevrydingsbeweging topikaliseer te identifiseer, met inagname van spesifiek die taalkundige middele gebruik tydens die artikulering van die behoefte aan en die reg tot gaybevryding aan die een kant en die openbare weerstand teen die erkenning van gayregte aan die ander kant. Die analises van die verskillende standpunte, gesindhede, sosiale posisies en argumente ten gunste van of teen die instelling en beskerming van gayregte in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika beroep hulself op ‘n sosiale teorie wat as “ramingsteorie” (Engels: framing theory) geïdentifiseer is. Die projek neem kritiese diskoersanalise as hoof teoretiese raamwerk aan, veral kritiese diskoersanalise se toepassings in die oorweging van kenmerke en funksies van mediadiskoerse. Eerstens, deur die aandrang van die Diskoers-historiese benadering voorgestel deur Wodak (1990) te volg, word daar ‘n oorsig oor die sosiale en historiese konteks gegee waarin die erkenning van gayregte in Suid-Afrika ontwikkel het. Die analitiese metodologie voorgestel deur van Dijk (1985) word gebruik tydens die oorweging van kwessies rakende “taal en mag” asook wyses waarop sogenaamde “elites” se toegang tot media-aandag betrek word om geloofwaardigheid aan bepaalde ideologieë te verleen. Aanvullend tot die toepassing van kritiese diskoersanalise-metodes word ‘n analitiese benadering uit die terreine van Sosiale Bewegingsteorie en Kollektiewe Ramingsteorie betrek om sin te maak uit die diskursiewe strategieë wat (spesifiek van die vroeë 1980s tot 2006) geïmplementeer is in die Diskoers wat tematies aan die Suid-Afrikaanse gaybevrydingsbeweging verbind is. Hierdie tydperk is gekenmerk deur die beweging se nastrewing van sosiale mobilisering. Aandag is verleen aan die wyses waarop argumente ten guste van en teen gayregte geïnstansieer is in die media deur gebruik te maak van ‘n verskeidenheid rame. Só ‘n analise kan die mate waarin die “anti-apartheid” meesterraam deur spelers in die gaybevrydingsbeweging gebruik is, onthul. Gebaseer op hul oplaagdemografie is bydraes in twee Suid-Afrikaanse weeklikse koerante, City Press en Mail & Guardian gesif om artikels en briewe aan die redakteur relevant tot die gaybevrydingsdiskoers te identifiseer. Die vol getal gepubliseerde items wat homoseksualiteit direk en/of indirek topikaliseer, is as twee korpusse versamel om sodoende die wyses te ondersoek waarop hulle bydra tot openbare diskoerse van gaybevryding. Twee analitiese oefeninge is uitgevoer: eerstens is die inhoud van die volledige datastel geëtiketteer en gekategoriseer op grond van die teks-aard van die koerantitem en die tipe rame wat in die item se aanbieding gebruik is; tweedens is ‘n aantal artikels en briewe uit die korpusse geselekteer vir gedetailleerde analise wat die gebruik van verskeie strategieë en rame sou illustreer wat bevind is om kenmerkend van die Diskoers te wees. Die eerste, meer kwantitatiewe analise het ‘n oorsig gegee oor patrone, tendense en redaksionele praktyke wat tipies in die mediavoorstellings gebruik is. Die tweede, meer kwalitatiewe analise het insig gegee in die fyner besonderhede van mediavoorstelling van idees wat daarop gemik is om die kennis en gesindhede van die bedoelde en denkbeeldige lesers te affekteer. Die bevindinge van hierdie analises is in terme van kwantifiseerbare resultate asook gedetailleerde beskrywings aangebied. In breë trekke het die kwantifiseerbare bevindinge daarop gedui dat die Mail & Guardian-korpus beduidend meer uitgesproke as die City Press-korpus was in die bepleiting van gayregte, en dat beide koerante gereeld homoseksualiteit in terme van “toleransie”, “godsdiens” en “regte” geraam het. Die kwantifiseerbare bevindinge het ook aangetoon dat beide City Press en Mail & Guardian beduidend van rame gebruik gemaak het wat tipies en wyd in daardie stadium deur die media gebruik is in die diskoers van politieke verandering. Die gedetailleerde analises het ondersoek ingestel na die tekstuele reproduksie van die skrywers se ideologieë, en spesifiek die aandag gevestig op hul gereelde staatmaking op sekere tipes argumente wat in die geselekteerde koerante vir en teen gayregte gebruik is.