Main research topics

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Keynote speakers

Organizing committee

Scientific committee

References

The languages of the workshop will be English and French. 

Workshop page in French: Quelles places pour l’échange démocratique dans les espaces médiatiques numériques ?

Main research topics

• Hate speech and Counter-discourse
• Dominant-subordinate discursive strategies
• Conspirationism (Fake news/Deep fake, Big Data): discourse and counter-discourse
• Agonal discourse and its forms of expression (debates, press, urban music, graffiti and murals)

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In recent years, the concept of "hate speech" has emerged in the public discourse as a major issue of our era. Faced with what is perceived as its expansion, European governments have been increasingly attempting to legislate on the subject. The humanities have naturally embraced this notion, which has, however, been the subject of criticism: while it is relatively easy to identify and describe overt hate speech because it takes the form of discriminatory verbal violence, it is much more complex to delineate hate speech when it assumes subtle, sophisticated forms or is presented in the form of ideological argumentation – leading researchers to propose the concept of "covert hate speech." Furthermore, the notion is not politically neutral: its use in research inherently carries the outline of a political agenda. However, it allows research to analyse in a new light the discourse corpora stemming from discriminatory or even violent ideologies, such as xenophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, LGBTQ-phobia, for example. This theme will welcome communication proposals aiming to study the composition, modes of circulation, and the impact that such discourses can have. But can we delve further into this notion? Can hate speech also be observed in reaction to processes of domination and symbolic or material violence? When certain ideological and historical conditions are met, can hate speech serve as a means for socially dominated groups to regain power? Finally, because social struggles are often dismissed as violent by certain media and political narratives, it is also possible to question the use of the concept of hate speech when wielded by a dominant social and political group – particularly the performative use of it to silence legitimate social struggles. This theme will also propose to reverse the traditional use of the concept of "hate speech" by exploring the possibility of a political legitimacy of hate speech as resistance and empowerment.

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Another possible research theme would be to study discourses intended to (re)produce relationships of dominance in social networks, namely interactions between dominant and subordinate groups, such as pairs of experts/novices; political leaders/voters/NGOs; ruling political parties/opposition political parties; public media/independent media; majority populations/national minorities; industrialized countries/developing countries, etc. This opens up the possibility of studying this theme from both a macro perspective, analysing the issues of dominant-subordinate discourses (where discourse is understood as ways of thinking and values specific to different socio-economic and cultural domains – societal norms), as well as from a micro perspective, studying dominant-subordinate discourse (where discourse is understood as arrangements of sentences with specific functions), such as linguistic expressions of authority, oppression, dominance, omnipotence, silencing, etc., in specific communication events (textual genres). Themes to be addressed could include possible social and discursive tensions related to gender-sex identity, ethnic groups, social classes, political institutions, etc., transmitted in various social networks.

Social media networks encourage the production of controversial discourses, the virality of which is encouraged by the algorithms of technological platforms. This tendency to circulate discourses without questioning their veracity promotes the proliferation of conspiracy theories or conspiracy narratives (exploiting deep fake technology). This third theme aims to examine the discursive strategies employed by various media and political actors who exploit technical devices for the transmission of informational content. It invites us to focus on the study of large corpora (Big Data) and to analyse how unverified (lack of fact-checking) and often misleading information (fake news, alternative truths) gains great popularity and enables politicians to construct discourses and counter-discourses based on the pragmatic exploitation of these circulating digital publications. The multimodal aspect of these networks will be of interest, as well as the interactionist dynamics of discourses and counter-discourses (targeting, indirect addresses, etc.).

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The renewal of digital discourse analysis studies has embraced the realm of the web in its polysemiotic dimensions; attention has thus been paid to innovative materialities (screenwriting, asynchronous written exchanges, technobrands...), to new forms and/or discursive genres produced by the web (blogs, tweets, comments), and to the interplay between mediological devices and the emergence and/or reconfiguration of (new) forms of discourse or discursive strategies. Regarding reconfigured observables, the expression of emotions on the web, including verbal and paraverbal violence, offers an unprecedented field due to its polysemiotic diversity, and to its circulation, propagation, and discursive reflexivity. All discursive materialities intersect, from street graffiti to hateful tweets.

This project is funded by the Åke Wiberg (project number H23-0123).

Keynote speakers

• Grégoire Lacaze (Aix-Marseille Université, Maison Française d’Oxford)
• Malin Roitman (Stockholms universitet)
• Laurence Rosier (Université libre de Bruxelles)
• Samuel Vernet (Aix-Marseille Université)

Organizing committee

• Grégoire Lacaze (Aix-Marseille Université, Maison Française d’Oxford)
• Christophe Premat (Stockholms universitet)
• Malin Roitman (Stockholms universitet)
• Françoise Sullet-Nylander (Stockholms universitet)
• Samuel Vernet (Aix-Marseille Université)

Scientific committee

• María Bernal (Stockholms universitet)
• Adriana Bolivar (Universidad Central de Venezuela y Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México)
• Domitille Caillat (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier 3)
• Emilie Devriendt (Université de Toulon)
• Claire Hugonnier (Université Grenoble Alpes)
• Agata Jackiewicz (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier 3)
• Grégoire Lacaze (Aix-Marseille Université, Maison Française d’Oxford)
• Julien Longhi (CY Cergy Paris Université)
• Dominique Maingueneau (Sorbonne Université)
• Sophie Marnette (University of Oxford)
• Monique De Mattia-Viviès (Aix-Marseille Université)
• Christophe Premat (Stockholms universitet)
• Malin Roitman (Stockholms universitet)
• Laurence Rosier (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
• Wilfrid Rotgé (Sorbonne Université
• Marion Sandré (Université de Toulon)
• Charlotta Seiler Brylla (Stockholms universitet)
• Françoise Sullet-Nylander (Stockholms universitet)
• Lieven Vandelanotte (Université de Namur)
• Samuel Vernet (Aix-Marseille Université)

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