Discursive acts of resistance

A multimodal critical discourse analysis of All-Poland Women’s Strike’s social media

Authors

  • Małgorzata Chałupnik University of Nottingham
  • Gavin Brookes Lancaster University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20148

Keywords:

speech acts, communication acts, protest, abortion, reproductive rights, multimodal critical discourse studies, Poland

Abstract

Ogolnopolski Strajk Kobiet (All-Poland Women's Strike) is a grassroots campaign established in Poland in 2016 in response to the proposed tightening of abortion laws but which also engages with broader social, feminist and women's rights issues. Using a critical approach to multimodal discourse analysis, this article analyses the postings of the campaign on its main social media platform, Facebook, investigating closely the types of multimodal speech acts, referred to here as 'communicative acts', employed therein. The article examines the forms that such communicative acts take and the broader functions they fulfil within the (online and offline) context of the campaign. The observed communicative acts contribute towards and indeed enact the protest quite directly, forming an important part of the campaign's discourse of feminist dissent.

Ogolnopolski Strajk Kobiet powstal we wrzesniu 2016, na fali protestow wywolanych propozycja prac nad zaostrzeniem polskiego prawa aborcyjnego. Ruch zajmuje sie rowniez szerzej pojetymi zagadnieniami spolecznymi i feministycznymi oraz prawami kobiet. Przedmiotem naszej analizy sa posty Ogolnopolskiego Strajku Kobiet na platformie spolecznosciowej Facebook. W odniesieniu do postow tego ruchu zastosujemy krytyczna analize dyskursu, skupiajac sie na multimodalnych aktach mowy, do ktorych bedziemy sie w tym artykule odnosic jako do 'aktow komunikacyjnych'. W kontekscie dyskursu Ogolnopolskiego Strajku Kobiet bedziemy obserwowac formy i funkcje niniejszych aktow komunikacyjnych. W naszym artykule postulowac bedziemy, ze posty Ogolnopolskiego Strajku Kobiet sa czesto bezposrednia forma protestu, tworzac wazna czesc dyskursu masowego zrywu i buntu feministycznego.

Author Biographies

  • Małgorzata Chałupnik, University of Nottingham

    Małgorzata Chałupnik is Assistant Professor in Linguistics and Professional Communication in the School of English at the University of Nottingham. Her expertise is in the area of discourse analysis, focusing in particular on business and health(care) communication and language, gender and sexuality.

  • Gavin Brookes, Lancaster University

    Gavin Brookes is UKRI Future Leader Fellow in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University. His research interests include corpus linguistics, critical discourse studies, multimodality and language and identity. He is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics (John Benjamins) and Co-Editor of the Corpus and Discourse book series (Bloomsbury).

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Published

2022-11-18

How to Cite

Chałupnik, M., & Brookes, G. (2022). Discursive acts of resistance: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of All-Poland Women’s Strike’s social media. Gender and Language, 16(3), 308-333. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20148