This thesis brings to light political dynamics related to clientelism and other forms of corruption in Ghanaian electoral campaigns from 2012 to 2023. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the research question: how do political actors of the two major political parties in Ghana –the NPP and NDC –debate and argue about clientelism in Ghana? To answer this question, it analyzes three 2012, 2016, and 2020 elections and alternations in power, while also considering the upcoming 2024 elections. Using Discourse Analysis and drawing on primary and secondary data collected in Ghanian media (YouTube videos of political campaigns; televised interviews given to local media; etc.), this study unravels the cultural, religious and historical imports of language in the Ghanaian context of clientelism, veering away from the traditional definition of clientelism. The study finds that leading political actors in Ghana produce three types of discourses when they talk about clientelism: discourses on food and clientelism; discourses on family, clan, ethnicity and clientelism; and discourses on clientelism, wrongdoings and promises of politicians. These discourses use metaphors, proverbs, songs, speeches and other cultural references.

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The primary purpose of this inquiry is to examine the techniques of indirect ethical communication which Fielding invented, adapted, and perfected, and which may be seen at work in his novels, developed to meet what he understood to be the special needs of his readers. His innovations in the fictional communication of ethical value are explained in the context of the widespread agreement in his own time that the direct communication of ethical and religious conviction was difficult, if not impossible, because real conviction depends upon a frank, reasonable, and voluntary assent to the terms of belief. The enquiry examines two kinds of indirect ethical discourse, which have been termed dialogue and dialectic. Dialogue in fiction consists in the interchange of ideas in conversation, including series of conflicting or complementary examples or illustrations, implicit references to other texts, and encounters between rival definitions of evaluative terms. The focal points of Fielding's dialogues are matters of some moment, such as the duties of charity, temperance, the respect due to the clergy, marriage, prudence, and the origin and scope of law. Because the reader of satire is invited to compare what is ridiculed with a social normative referent, satire is a kind of dialogue. But certain dialogic patterns are designed to entrap the reader, forcing him to reconsider the assumptions by which he interprets the novels. This process becomes dialectical when the program of reader-implication stimulates an inward turning. The philosophical context includes both the Platonic assumption that the Good is latent in each individual, and the Anglican doctrine of assent lpersonal rsponsibility for belief) . The reader is an appropriate target for the indirect stimulation of the potential faculty of Good Nature, beginning with the reduction of cormnon but erroneous opinion (elenchus), and reaching completion with the Socratic method of "intellectual midwifery" (maieusis), which assists the reader to bring latent ideas into active life. The enquiry undertakes a close reading of Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, considering questions of comedy and the admixture of jest and earnest, deliberate artificiality of form, narrative technique, irony, reader response, and ethical discourse. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Using Michel Foucault and Edward Said's theoretical contributions regarding discursive formations, this thesis performs a critical discourse analysis of the anti-immigration discourse in America; a flawed rhetoric that uses the power of language to create is own truth. The ultimate research question of this thesis asks what can be learned about the discursive formations of the anti-immigration rhetoric from Foucault and Said's contributions. To begin, varying aspects of discourse are discussed, such as non-critical and critical discourse analysis. The concept of discourse, as will be used in this thesis, is heavily indebted to the scholarly work of Michel Foucault. As such, a review of Foucault's contributions showing how discourse allows some to gain power over others and then to create a self-sustaining truth will be used as a base from which all argument shall be built. Next, this thesis explores Said's discourse theory, which extends Foucault's concept of discourse to claim that those in power often assert a knowledge of others that is not accurate, but serves the purpose of maintaining a dominating status over them. This is followed by a critical discourse analysis of texts produced by key authors in the American anti-immigration discourse such as Samuel Huntington, Tom Tancredo, and Pat Buchanan in order to provide insight into their anti-immigration rhetoric. In conclusion, by unpacking the anti-immigration discourse, the reader will discover a discursive method that clearly parallels that which is so heavily critiqued by Foucault and Said, namely the construction of knowledge through inaccurate and flawed discourses. / Master of Arts

Recent scholarly work in mathematics education has included a focus on learning mathematics with understanding (Hiebert & Carpenter, 1992; Hiebert et al., 1997; Fennema & Romberg, 1999; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000). Hiebert et al. (1997) discussed two processes that they suggested increase understanding and that are central to this study: reflection and communication. Learning mathematics with understanding requires that the students create a deeper knowledge of mathematics through reflection and communication. The environment in which such learning can take place must include patterns of behavior, known as social norms that promote deeper thinking. When the social norms encourage reflection and communication among the members of the classroom community, or supports learning with understanding, it becomes what I term a productive discourse community. The purpose of this study is to find out what a teacher does to create and maintain a productive discourse community where students can reason and learn with understanding. To accomplish this purpose, this research asks the following question: In what ways does the teacher in the study direct mathematical discourse in order to facilitate understanding? To answer this research question, data was gathered from eight class periods. The classroom discourse was analyzed and six discourse generating tools were found to be used by the teacher: (1) using lower-order questions to engage students, (2) persisting in eliciting students' reasoning, (3) encouraging as many student participations as possible, (4) encouraging students to analyze and evaluate each other's comments, (5) encouraging students to share as many strategies as possible and (6) using a focusing discourse pattern. There were also three social norms found to be established in the classroom at the time of the data collection. These norms are: all students are expected to (a) participate (b) share their reasoning when called upon, and (c) listen to, analyze, and evaluate each other's comments. Through further analysis, it was found that the six discourse generating tools reinforced the social norms, while the social norms supported the six discourse generating tools. Thus creating an environment where reflection and communication occurred in a way that promoted learning mathematics with understanding.

How is a veto justified? Within the discipline of International Relations, discourse analysis is gaining a higher status. However, there is a surprising lacuna in the literature as a discursive approach to the veto in the United Nations Security Council, is yet to be taken. This is unfortunate, given the Security Council’s prominence. The way in which the council members make meaning through their word choice has profound effects for politics in the international system. There is, nonetheless, a growing debate on the functioning of the council, and the veto-power is an important object of contestation. Motivated by current veto-restraining initiatives, this thesis performs a discourse analysis on the 19 cast vetoes between 2005-2016. The actors of relevance are the permanent Security Council members China, Russia, and the US, and the study demonstrates how the concepts of sovereignty, intervention and legitimacy are employed in the discursive construction of the legitimate veto. The thesis further argues that there are patterns and reoccurring themes in the way meaning is created that can be summarized into a contra-discourse —a veto-discourse —contrasting the dominating discourse within the Security Council.

Stress and depression are popular and powerful terms within the mental health field. Although the relation between the two terms has been discussed and investigated in lay and scientific discourse, less is known about how this relation is constructed online. Individuals wanting to learn more about these topics are increasingly turning online using a search engine as an initial quick method of obtaining mental health information. The present research examines the stress and depression discourse found on self-help websites using a social constructionist epistemological framework and the methodological approach of discourse analysis. In the first manuscript, I specifically examined how stress was constructed in the causal ontology of depression in six different websites. The analysis demonstrated that many possible relations between the two terms were included. This finding suggests that, in the online context, ensuring that website users find themselves represented in the text is of maximal importance. In the second manuscript, I examined how the stress and depression terms themselves were constructed. This analysis suggests that the stress discourse often borrowed from depression discourse, constructing the two terms in similar ways. This parallel construction involved defining both terms as mental illnesses, with corresponding symptoms and clinical presentations that required treatment. The degree of overlap between the two terms suggests that engaging the website user was more important than the specific label used to label the distress in the online context. I examine the contrast between the general, fluid, and elastic constructions of the mental health terms found online with the ever-evolving need for increased precision and demarcation of mental health conditions within the fields of psychiatry and psychology.

This dissertation considers repetition phenomena in Hindi-English bilingual discourse. Through analysis of everyday Hindi-English conversations, I demonstrate that code-switching and related bilingual phenomena systematically expand options bilingual speakers have for structuring discourse, managing interactions, and making linguistic and social meaning. The systematicity and strategy of Hindi-English code-switching are particularly apparent in what I term bilingual repetition. In bilingual repetition, the semantic content of an utterance in one language is repeated in another language, usually in close proximity to the first occurrence. Bilingual repetition is encountered throughout South Asian multilingual contexts ranging from casual conversations to printed advertisements to Bollywood dialogues. I also consider repetition as a discourse-level areal feature of South Asia. Both monolingual and bilingual repetition phenomena offer an opportunity to investigate alternatives for making meaning both within and across languages due to the side-by-side presentation of semantically and formally related messages. Ultimately, code-switching and repetition in Hindi-English bilingual discourse emerge as practices that both create and reflect linguistic and social simultaneity. / text

The issue of the Mapuches conflict has received different reactions from stakeholders and most important, government in the countries where they exist. This issue has gained much attention in Chile, where the Mapuche form the largest ratio of the indigenous group. The issue started more than seven centuries ago when neighboring groups started to invade the mapuches land, the aggressors where mainly Inka. And the reason for invading was that the mapuche land had dense forests and were rich in minerals. The fight for the mapuches rights on these resources culminated with the entry of the Spanish. The Mapuche were involved in a war with the Spanish for about three and a half decades. When the Spanish eventually took over the territory, they divided it between Chile and Argentina to facilitate smooth governance. The Spaniards who succeeded in overcoming the Mapuche had seceded from Spain and had become permanent residents of South America under the new name “Chile”. This meant that they laid claim on the resources and territory in the mapuches land. While the Argentine Mapuche have experienced relative peace, except for the Argentine war of extermination in the 19th Century, their counterparts in Chile have had a poor relationship with most government. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between the Mapuche and the Chilean government over four decades. The study will examine the presidential discourse on the issue of the Mapuche conflict under six governments, during the periods between 1970 and 2010. I am interested in understanding the factors that led to the change of narrative from referring to the Mapuche as peasants/farmers entitled to resources as part of their cultural heritage to finally being labeled as terrorists by the Chilean Government. In meeting the research aims, I will examine the historical development of the Mapuche and the factors that have defined their attitude and perception of various laws, policies and government actions on them. The study will employ Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis method where I will carry out text analysis, processing analysis and eventually the social analysis of the discourse simultaneously.

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