Supplementing the tropes: Poststructuralist discourse theory and rhetorical political analysis

Finlayson, Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-349X (2024) Supplementing the tropes: Poststructuralist discourse theory and rhetorical political analysis. Journal of Language and Politics. ISSN 1569-2159 (In Press)

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Abstract

This article explores the articulation of poststructuralist Discourse Theory (DT) with Rhetorical Political Analysis (RPA). Critical of the ways in which Ernesto Laclau’s ‘rhetorical turn’ reduces rhetoric to the tropes, and to catachresis in particular, I argue that tropes involve more than naming and that they must be understood and analysed as parts of larger argumentative propositions. Supportive of the general approach of DT I outline two rhetorical concepts, ‘enthymeme’ and ‘invention’ which can contribute to the critical analysis of the discursive terrain of politics. RPA, I argue, refocuses our attention on the forms of political agency and action which take place in specific and particular situations, in ways which are also of value to the formation of political strategies.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Policy & Politics Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Cultural Politics, Communications & Media
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	03 Dec 2024 01:35
Last Modified:	03 Dec 2024 01:35
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97870
DOI:	issn:1569-2159

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