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Constellations and connectivity

Topic: Discourse
by Jharna, 2019 Cohort

When you think about discourse what comes to mind? Perhaps you see an image of news headlines- bold red letters proclaiming the incompetence of yet another politician. Perhaps you think of the novels you’ve been forced to analyse throughout high school and the literary techniques used. Perhaps, you just imagine people talking, a conversation, isn’t that ‘engaging in

You see, a ‘discourse’ is a system of thought, attitudes, actions or utterances that form our perceptions. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehend because it constructs the very thing it describes. Think of it as a constellation, existing only as the interaction of its parts, in the context of human imagination of coherence that group parts together.

How does discourse help unravel complexity?#

Grouping utterances into constellations or a ‘discourse’, is an immediate act of simplifying the complexity of our realities into commonly understood concepts. Here, discourse is both constructed of and creates a conceptualisation of ideas that help make sense of a world that is often too overwhelming to unravel otherwise. For example, ‘Expressive discourse’ functions in literature to both reflect emotions that form the foundations of expressions and to evoke these emotions in the first place. Discourse in the context of ‘political discourse’, refers to the knowledge and actions of many different stakeholders, shaped by previous discourse of what constitutes the ‘political’.

There is an ongoing exchange of language, conversation and information because discourse works to convince, confine and challenge. This encourages interdisciplinary connections, forcing us to listen, reflect and ask questions of current discourse and shaping the course of future discourse. In this way, discourse simultaneously reflects, represents and shapes both our internal individual worlds and external public worlds. For example, existing public political discourse places our individual thought in a realm. The language, vocabulary, actions, thoughts that come from our internal worlds, in turn, contribute to the broader public direction of that realm. It is therefore bound up in real-world relationships and institutions as the way we comprehend the world is through socially constructed bonds that have practical outcomes.

Participants who engage in the same discourse live in the same spatio-temporal setting and have similar understanding of the coherence of what makes up that discourse. One person’s understanding of what is ‘political’ discourse may be different to another and vary with time. People might perceive stars in the night sky in a completely different formation. These opinions are equally valid, adding to the ever- changing nature of discourse and the formation of new

So, think back to what image came to mind when you think of ‘discourse’ and how you would think of it now. It is not simply speech, language or representation. Rather, it is a set of interactions, all ongoing and ever-changing, that help you conceptualise, simplify and engage with complexity. Recognising what discourses influence us is important because it helps identify gaps. Awareness of the discourses that we operate in exposes the discourse we are ignoring when looking at a complex problem.

Explore this topic further#

• Wikipedia page on Discourse{.link-ext target=”_blank”}
• Mark Olssen’s article on Discourse, Complexity, Normativity: Tracing the elaboration of Foucault’s materialist concept of discourse{.link-ext target=”_blank” }
• Graham, L., Discourse analysis and the critical use of Foucalt{.link-ext target=”_blank”}

Return to Discourse in the Primer

Disclaimer#

This content has been contributed by a student as part of a learning activity.
If there are inaccuracies, or opportunities for significant improvement on this topic, feedback is welcome on how to improve the resource.
You can improve articles on this topic as a student in "Unravelling Complexity", or by including the amendments in an email to: Chris.Browne@anu.edu.au

When you think about discourse what comes to mind? Perhaps you see an image of news headlines- bold red letters proclaiming the incompetence of yet another politician. Perhaps you think of the novels you’ve been forced to analyse throughout high school and the literary techniques used. Perhaps, you just imagine people talking, a conversation, isn’t that ‘engaging in

You see, a ‘discourse’ is a system of thought, attitudes, actions or utterances that form our perceptions. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehend because it constructs the very thing it describes. Think of it as a constellation, existing only as the interaction of its parts, in the context of human imagination of coherence that group parts together.

How does discourse help unravel complexity?#

Grouping utterances into constellations or a ‘discourse’, is an immediate act of simplifying the complexity of our realities into commonly understood concepts. Here, discourse is both constructed of and creates a conceptualisation of ideas that help make sense of a world that is often too overwhelming to unravel otherwise. For example, ‘Expressive discourse’ functions in literature to both reflect emotions that form the foundations of expressions and to evoke these emotions in the first place. Discourse in the context of ‘political discourse’, refers to the knowledge and actions of many different stakeholders, shaped by previous discourse of what constitutes the ‘political’.

There is an ongoing exchange of language, conversation and information because discourse works to convince, confine and challenge. This encourages interdisciplinary connections, forcing us to listen, reflect and ask questions of current discourse and shaping the course of future discourse. In this way, discourse simultaneously reflects, represents and shapes both our internal individual worlds and external public worlds. For example, existing public political discourse places our individual thought in a realm. The language, vocabulary, actions, thoughts that come from our internal worlds, in turn, contribute to the broader public direction of that realm. It is therefore bound up in real-world relationships and institutions as the way we comprehend the world is through socially constructed bonds that have practical outcomes.

Participants who engage in the same discourse live in the same spatio-temporal setting and have similar understanding of the coherence of what makes up that discourse. One person’s understanding of what is ‘political’ discourse may be different to another and vary with time. People might perceive stars in the night sky in a completely different formation. These opinions are equally valid, adding to the ever- changing nature of discourse and the formation of new

So, think back to what image came to mind when you think of ‘discourse’ and how you would think of it now. It is not simply speech, language or representation. Rather, it is a set of interactions, all ongoing and ever-changing, that help you conceptualise, simplify and engage with complexity. Recognising what discourses influence us is important because it helps identify gaps. Awareness of the discourses that we operate in exposes the discourse we are ignoring when looking at a complex problem.