Discourse Theory and Psychoanalysis as Methods for Political Analysis
Date:
18/02/2015
Organised by:
London Social Science DTC and School of Politics and IR, QMUL
Presenter:
Yannis Stavrakakis is Professor of Political Discourse Analysis in the School of Political Sciences at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is currently researching populist and anti-populist discourses and their effects on democracy. He is the author of Lacan and the Political (Routledge, 1999) and The Lacanian Left (SUNY Press, 2007) and co-editor of Discourse Theory and Political Analysis (Manchester University Press, 2000).
Level:
Advanced (specialised prior knowledge)
Contact:
Alex Challis
020 7882 5829
a.challis@qmul.ac.uk
Map:
View in Google Maps (E1 2AD)
Venue:
Room 1.30 Garrod Building, Turner Street, Whitechapel Garrod Building, London E1 2AD
Description:
Discourse Theory and Psychoanalysis as Methods for Political Analysis
Workshop for research students and early career researchers
London Social Science Doctoral Training Centre
and
School of Politics & International Relations
Queen Mary, University of London
Place: Room 1.30 Garrod Building, Turner Street, Whitechapel Garrod Building, London E1 2AD
Time: 10 am –12 pm, 1-3 pm and 3.30-5.30 pm on Wednesday 18 February 2015. This is a whole day workshop, and participants are expected to be present for the whole day.
**Places are limited to a maximum of 20, with preference given to DTC students. If the event of the workshop being fully booked, applicants can request to join the waiting list by emailing Alex Challis a.challis@qmul.ac.uk **
Description:
The course consists of a one-day workshop for research students and young researchers. The aim of the workshop is to examine discourse theory and psychoanalysis as methods for political analysis. Given the plurality and diversity of both discursive and psychoanalytic traditions, the course will focus on the so-called Essex School of discourse analysis (initiated by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe) and on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, exploring their multiple conceptual and methodological articulations. The workshop examines the usefulness of discourse theory and psychoanalysis for the study of politics not only by examining their theoretical status, but also by seeing how they can be put to use in the analysis of social and political discourse as well as in accounting for both the symbolic and affective dimensions of identification processes.
The workshop consists of three two-hour sessions led by Prof Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Queen Mary, University of London). The three sessions are organised around readings from Laclau, Mouffe and Lacanian political theory as well as secondary literature, especially focusing on the methodological issues arising from utilising the conceptual apparatus they offer in the analysis of concrete socio-political phenomena.
The workshop will focus on three themes: philosophical assumptions behind the discourse theoretical and Lacanian approaches (intellectual origins of the two traditions, similarities and differences in conceptualising subjectivity, discourse and affect); conceptual innovations and issues of ‘application’ (theorising identification processes beyond economic, psychological and biopolitical reductionism); examples of uses of the approaches in the critical analysis of political phenomena (such as nationalism and European identity).
At the end of the course, the participants will have acquired knowledge of the basic philosophical assumptions behind discourse theory and psychoanalysis, of the implications of these approaches for questions related to research methodology in the social sciences and humanities, as well as sufficient familiarity with a conceptual toolkit relevant for political analysis.
Some knowledge of discourse theory and psychoanalysis will be assumed, and participants should be familiar with debates within contemporary political and social theory. An interest in theoretical questions and discussions will also be assumed. Participants are asked to do the set readings in advance of the workshop. A list of additional readings will be made available upon registration.
Session 1: Discourse Theory and Psychoanalysis in Perspective: Origins and Trajectories
Set readings:
Laclau, Ernesto, ‘Philosophical Roots of Discourse Theory’, http://www.essex.ac.uk/centres/theostud/documents_and_files/pdf/Laclau%20-%20philosophical%20roots%20of%20discourse%20theory.pdf
Žižek, Slavoj, ‘Beyond Discourse-Analysis’, in Laclau, Ernesto, New Reflections on the Revolution of our Time, London: Verso, 1990, pp. 249-260.
Laclau, Ernesto, ‘Preface’, in Žižek, Slavoj, The Sublime Object of Ideology, London: Verso, 1989, pp. ix-xv.
Stavrakakis, Yannis, ‘Introduction’, in Lacan and the Political, London: Routledge, 1999.
Session 2: Discourse Theory and Psychoanalysis at Work: Concepts and Methods
Set readings:
Laclau, Ernesto and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, London: Verso, 1985, chapter 3.
Howarth, David and Stavrakakis, Yannis, ‘Introduction’, in Howarth, David and Aletta Norval and Yannis Stavrakakis (eds) Discourse Theory and Political Analysis, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000, pp. 1-23.
Althusser, Louis, ‘Freud and Lacan’, in Writings on Psychoanalysis: Freud and Lacan, trans. Jeffrey Mehlman, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, pp. 7-32.
Stavrakakis, Yannis, ‘Lacanian Theory: Ideology, Enjoyment and the Spirits of Capitalism’, in Gerard Delanty & Stephen Turner (eds) Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Social and Political Theory, London & New York: Routledge, 2011, pp. 66-76.
Stavrakakis, Yannis, The Lacanian Left, Albany: SUNY Press, 2007, chapter 2.
Session 3: Applied Psychoanalysis and Discourse Analysis: Nationalism and European identity
Set readings:
Howarth, David, ‘Applying Discourse Theory: the Method of Articulation’, in David Howarth & Jacob Torfing (eds) Discourse Theory in European Politics: Identity, Policy and Governance, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp. 316-350.
Vanheule, Stijn, ‘Qualitative Research and its Relation to Lacanian Psychoanalysis’, Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, vol. 7, no. 2, 2002, pp. 336-342.
Laclau, Ernesto, On Populist Reason, London: Verso, 2005.
Stavrakakis, Yannis, The Lacanian Left, Albany: SUNY Press, 2007, chapters 5 and 6.
Cost:
Free
Website and registration:
Region:
Greater London
Keywords:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs, Discourse Analysis, Qualitative Approaches (other)
Related publications and presentations:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs
Discourse Analysis
Qualitative Approaches (other)