Foreword
We are launching the special issue of volume 21 of D.E.L.T.A., this time organised by our colleagues Izabel Magalhães, from the University of Brasília, and Kanavillil Rajagopalan, from the University of Campinas, my dear co-editor, to whom we are thankful. The volume contains an introduction, eleven articles and a book-review.
In the introduction, I. Magalhães, probably the first Brazilian to publish in the area, presents Critical Discourse Analysis, the approach underlying the papers published in this issue. She uses the term Análise de Discurso Crítica; this is a first issue open for discussion, as the term is used by only some of the Brazilian research groups working in the area, specially those linked to the UNB, while others, such as the ones related to UFSC, UFMG and PUCSP, or those in Portugal, have been using Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD). Although terminology may not constitute a crucial issue for researchers, it might be interesting to start a debate on a joint decision concerning the name of the area.
As representatives of an area that aims at discussing and understanding contemporary social dilema from a discursive perspective, the articles in this number try to shed some light on the role of discourse in the configuration of important and varied social themes such as aspects of the construction of identities in diferent contexts, ranging from language teaching to the business world. Thus the volume puits together papers dealing with the implications of identity features for the teaching of language in the post modern world (Rajagopalan), with the political debate on TV and the right to privacy of public figures (Chouliaraki), with identity and genre (both by I. Magalhães and by Vieira), with power relations in letters in a highlyliterate community (Rios), with hybrid discourse and insertion in political and cultural spaces (Pagano and C. Magalhães), with questions related to discrimination (Martins), and with media discourse dealing with privatization of public companies (Leal), and with annual repports (Gieve). The articles section ends with Moita Lopes and Fabrício, who discuss topics related to Modernity that also turn up in other articles of this issue, bringing up the discourse on identity in the media after the September, 11th events.
The issue closes with a review on a book by I. Magalhães on medical discourse (Rodrigues).
D.E.L.T.A. wishes to thank the organizers and the other authors of the papers published in this number.
L.B.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
19 May 2006 -
Date of issue
2005
