Discourse, Identity and Legitimacy: Self and Other in representations of Iran's nuclear programme(62 Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture)

This book is a critical study of the ways that discourses of the (national) Self and Other are invoked and reflected in the reporting of a major international political conflict. Taking Iran’s nuclear programme as a case study, this book offers extensive textual analysis, comparative investigation and socio-political contextualisation of national identity in newspaper reporting. In addition to providing comprehensive accounts of theory and methodology in Critical Discourse Analysis, the book provides a valuable extensive discussion of journalistic practice in Iranian and British contexts, as well as offering insights into historical development of ‘discourses in place’ in Iran. Across four separate chapters, major national and influential newspapers from both countries are critically analysed in terms of their micro-linguistic and macro-discoursal content and strategies. The book is a vital source for interdisciplinary scholarship and will appeal to students and researchers across the critical social sciences, particularly those in linguistics, media and communication studies, journalism and international politics.

Table of Contents:
1. 1. Introduction; 2. 2. Iran's socio-political history; 3. 3. Theoretical background; 4. 4. The British and Iranian press; 5. 5. Methodology and data selection; 6. 6. Kayhan newspaper; 7. 7. Shargh newspaper; 8. 8. The Times newspaper; 9. 9. The Guardian newspaper; 10. 10. Conclusion; 11. Appendix (Kayhan chapter); 12. References list; 13. Index

Review :
Majid KhosraviNik’s excellent new book is a detailed, critical and sophisticated analysis of the ways that the Iranian nuclear programme is represented in British and Iranian newspapers. In addition to questions of the ideational function of reporting – and the ways newspapers variously construct and enact political projects – KhosraviNik also skilfully examines the interpersonal aspects of reporting, and specifically the ways that national reporting works up particular national identities. The result is a compelling and cutting-edge analysis of journalistic process and product, which will be of vital interest to scholars of Critical Discourse Studies, journalism studies, politics and international relations. This is an extremely timely book, that will encourage readers to think more closely and sceptically about the ways that newspapers construct major political issues. The book skillfully fulfills the interdisciplinary impetus of critical discourse studies in practice. It goes out of its way to incorporate insights from journalism studies, from the one hand and political history, from the other, to be able to position the data and analyses at hand in their right media and sociopolitical contexts. An exceptional feature of the book is that its chapters come as complete and rich packages of information on the topic they cover. [...] KhosraviNik’s book would appeal to students and researchers in a range of disciplines including media and communication studies, journalism, politics, history and of course, (critical) discourse studies. Majid KhosraviNik’s timely book opens up a new space for discussion of Iran’s nuclear program from a perspective less focused on discursive representations in newspapers. [...] The brilliance of this book lies in the fact that it is one of the few studies taking a multicontextual position and approaching the same topic from two different and strikingly contrasting contexts. [...] This book is a useful source for two groups of readers. First, those generally interested in the issues regarding the Iranian nuclear program can find valuable data, contextual information, and interpretations in this book. Second, this book is extremely useful for researchers who want to see critical discourse studies (CDS) in action. For me this book is just how CDA should be done: a skilled, detailed critical analysis, set alongside a deep scholarly expertise in a specific and important socio-political context. This book contributes in significant ways not only to our understanding of the ways the debate over Iran’s nuclear program has been discursively enacted but also of the significance of language use in news discourses and journalistic practices. The forerunners of critical linguistics and later CDA effectively deployed analytical tools from linguistics and literary criticism to raise critical language awareness. In recent years, however, a considerable part of what has come to be known as discourse analysis is either uncritical when it involves language analysis, or it lacks the latter when it claims to be critical. KhosraviNik’s contribution will certainly go a long way in helping to fill this gap, especially in media studies and journalism, political communication, and general applied linguistics. Majid KhosraviNik's book offers a unique comparative analysis of the coverage of Iran's nuclear programme in the Iranian and British press within the broader framework of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). He combines detailed sociopolitical and historical knowledge of the background of this programme and about the media in Iran and the UK, with theoretical expertise in CDS and systematic critical analysis of relevant structures of news discourse.