Speaker Biography
Michelle Lazar is Associate Professor in the Department of English, Linguistics & Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore. Her research in Critical Discourse Studies focuses on gender, sexuality, politics, media and multimodality. She is founding editor of the Routledge Critical Studies in Discourse monograph series, co-editor of the Journal of Language and Politics, and serves on numerous journal editorial boards.
Lecture Time & Venue
Lecture Time: June 2 (Tuesday), 14:00–15:30
Lecture Venue: Lecture Hall 136, Teaching Building No. 5, Songjiang Campus (Online Lecture)
Lecture Title
Feminist Critical Discourse Studies and Empowerment
Lecture Abstract
In this talk, I outline key principles and concepts in Feminist Critical Discourse Studies (FCDS), before exemplifying through a case study on the sexual violence and murder of a young woman in India, which caught international media attention in 2012. While the talk highlights patriarchal discourses of the perpetrators and institutional actors which justify the violation of the woman, my main focus lies on grassroots discourses of empowerment that emerged in response, seeking to bring about changes in societal mindsets and behaviours. Through this case study, I aim to show how ideologies and power relations concerning gender relations are discursively and materially acted upon women’s bodies; yet, how these ideologies and power relations may be discursively changed as well.
