Critical Approaches to Analysing Public Texts
Date:
11/02/2016
Organised by:
University of East Anglia
Presenter:
Dr Yann Lebeau, Dr Esther Priyadharshini, & Dr Amy Pressland
Level:
Intermediate (some prior knowledge)
Contact:
Dr Simon Watts, PGR Training Coordinator, Faculty of Social Sciences, UEA; Tel: +44(0)1603 591295; E-mail: simon.d.watts@uea.ac.uk
Description:
Public texts take many shapes (print, digital, documentary/film, advertising, products & services) and serve multiple purposes (for policy, advocacy, propaganda, for different publics, and so on) and their immediate availability in a ‘textually mediated world’ raises issues about their status and power in the public sphere. Educational and social theorists (Giroux; Bell Hooks; Steinberg) have pointed out the importance of engaging with public texts as they perform an important ‘educational’ role. Paying attention to these public texts and their pedagogies (ways of teaching/learning) raises questions about how best to approach the critical investigation of these texts. This will be the central concern of the day’s sessions. The presenters will discuss field research as well as their own experiences of analysing public texts, drawing on critical frameworks like postcolonial and feminist theory. There will also be opportunities for participants to work in small groups to critically analyse some example texts.
Provisional Schedule: 10 am: Welcome and introductions (Yann); 10.15–11.15am: Documentary screening and initial analysis (Yann & Esther); 11.15–11.30am: Coffee/tea break; 11.30am-12.30pm: Public pedagogical texts - genre & text analysis of material from ‘The Economist’ (Esther); 12.30-1.30pm: Lunch (a sandwich lunch will be provided); 1.30-2.30pm: Analysis of educational policy texts (Yann); 2.30-2.45pm: Coffee/tea break; 2.45-3.45pm: Analysis of public texts as pedagogies of gender (Amy); 3.45-4.00pm: How might you use critical approaches to analysing public texts in your own PhD? (Whole Group discussion).
Cost:
PGR students from Universities of East Anglia; Essex; Kent; Surrey; Sussex; Reading; Royal Holloway; & Goldsmiths = FREE; PGR students from all other institutions = £30; Early-career researchers/academics = £60
Website and registration:
Region:
East of England
Keywords:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs, Exploratory Research, Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis, Textual Analysis, Public texts , Education
Related publications and presentations:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs
Exploratory Research
Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis
Textual Analysis