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Introducing Critical Policy Discourse Analysis
I'm delighted that the chapter we wrote as an introduction is now available as full access on the publisher's website (link below).

Michael Farrelly
Mar 121 min read


Critical Discourse Analysis In Times Of War: Methodological Reflections On Studying Ongoing Conflict
When conflict unfolds in real time, language does not merely describe events; it actively participates in shaping their meaning. Headlines circulate before facts settle. Casualty figures are framed before responsibility is agreed upon. Terms such as retaliation, clash, terror, or self-defence become interpretive anchors long before public consensus emerges.

Mohamed Nacer Eddine Tioua
Mar 54 min read


Experience: CDA - THE Tool for Uncovering Covert Truths
My experience in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) during my undergraduate studies provided me with an avenue of inquiry for my MSc in Social Research, allowing me to draw concrete, unique conclusions which significantly enriched my master’s dissertation.

Thomas Branagan
Feb 192 min read


Community Data Talks Back
After three years of working alongside community groups as part of the GALLANT (Glasgow As A Living Lab Accelerating Novel Transformation) project based at the University of Glasgow, our team has reached a major milestone: the end of our core data collection period across six community science projects. We have an extraordinary amount of data.
What makes this dataset unique isn’t just its size or duration, but rather that the entire process was co-produced and community-gene

Sarah Gambell
Feb 124 min read


Critical Policy Discourse Analysis Conference
I’m delighted to announce the first Critical Policy Discourse Analysis conference - to be held in Sheffield, UK, in June 16th-18th. There’s a full conference and a PhD pre-conference on 15th June. The call for papers is now open! The conference pages are here , more details soon. The call for panels and papers is now open - please submit your proposals by 3rd April 2026.

Michael Farrelly
Feb 51 min read


What is a social actor?
Screen shot of analysis of the representation of social actors from recent Language and Power Podcast episode This question—what is a social actor—is an important one that we, as people doing text and discourse analysis, should take seriously. It is a question that we should address before getting into the details and procedures on how and why we analyse the ‘representation’ of social actors in text and discourse. This is because understanding what we mean by ‘social actor’ w

Michael Farrelly
Oct 21, 20253 min read


What is The Discourse Academy?
The ambition is to build a resource for developing, discussing, teaching, and learning methods of critical discourse analysis.

Michael Farrelly
Jun 19, 20251 min read


Analysing the Representation of Social Actors in Text and Discourse
Screen shot of analysis of the representation of social actors from recent Language and Power Podcast episode I’ve been analysing the representation of social actors in text and discourse for many years now. I first used Theo van Leeuwen’s system for analysing the representation of social acts for my PhD, which I completed in 2006. I found this system incredibly useful at the time and have continued to do so in many discourse analytical projects since. If anything, I find ana

Michael Farrelly
Jun 18, 20252 min read
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