Centre for Discourse Studies workshop
6th - 7th November 2003

 Discursive Psychology 

Location: Kroghstræde 3, Aalborg University

Workshop leader:

The video and handout for the first lecture are available online. Access is restricted to computers within Aalborg University.

This workshop will focus on carrying out research in discourse analysis and discursive psychology. It will emphasise the development of practical skills in: 

The workshop will be informal and interactive. Where possible it will work with materials provided by participants in intensive data sessions.

The workshop will illustrate analyses of a range of topics and settings. It will address related theoretical and meta-theoretical issues to do with: conceptions of context; mind, phenomenology and cognition; the role of politics and critique; gender, power and asymmetry; practical application; quantification; realism and relativism.

The workshop is designed for PhD students, researchers, practitioners and teachers who are involved in, or interested in conducting, research in discourse studies. It will presuppose motivation but not knowledge!

Jonathan's research has been concerned with the development of discourse analysis and discursive psychology. This has ranged over a number of substantive topics including science and scientific conferences, racism, discourses of community, current affairs television, news reporting of political disputes and relationship counselling.

He has also produced a series of more methodological writings on the practicalities of analysing discourse, the way claims are justified, and the relation between discourse, rhetoric and conversation analysis. He is particularly interested in developing a discursive psychological approach to audio and video records of natural interaction and starting to explore the way new digital technology can support such analysis.

At a more theoretical level, his work has attempted to reformulate the basic theoretical and analytic notions of social psychology. For example, it provides an alternative to notions such as attitudes, attributions and social representations. This alternative focuses on talk and text in interaction rather than looking to cognitive processes within individuals; it is called discursive psychology. He has been particularly interested in the procedures through which descriptions are constructed as factual as well as developing the implications of such a study for the general approach known as constructionism. His book Representing Reality tries to pull all that together in a systematic way.  It provides one take on what constructionism is and ought to be.

He is currently editing a book with Hedwig te Molder on the relationship between discourse and cognition, and particularly the role that cognitive states should play in the analysis of interaction. This collection includes papers by Jef Coulter, Paul Drew, John Heritage, Paul Hopper, Michael Lynch & David Bogen, and others. The book should appear with Cambridge University Press in 2003.

He has also become particularly interested in studying the operation of social research methods in action. This research raises important practical and theoretical issues.  With Claudia Puchta he has studied the operation of market research focus groups.

He is currently engaged in a joint project with Alexa Hepburn (who has recently moved to Loughborough) on interaction on the NSPCC child protection helpline. This has a double focus. On the one hand, they are interested in the calls as an arena for exploring and testing ideas about the role of psychology in interaction.  On the other, they are hoping to develop resources that can be useful to the NSPCC in their training and quality control.

He has published 10 books, more than 30 book chapters and 50 journal articles, and is on the board of 15 journals. He is co-editor of the journal Theory and Psychology - an important forum for cutting edge thinking in psychology. A list of selected publications can be found online.

Over the past few years he has taught advanced workshops in discourse analysis and discursive psychology in Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA, UK and Venezuela.

Provisional schedule

The provisional schedule is given below. Recommended readings in preparation for the workshop are available.

Please note that for organisational reasons the opening lecture now begins at 8:30 and not 9:00 as previously announced.

It will be possible to present data for the data sessions at the workshop - priority will be given to PhD students. If you wish to do so, please send a short description (no more than one page) of your PhD project or research topic and data to Inge Degn <degn@hum.aau.dk>. 

Participation in the workshop will earn a student 3 ECTS points (42 hours). 

The number of participants is limited to 25 on a first-come, first-served basis.

A fee will be charged for participation to cover administrative costs, tea/coffee/fruit and lunches during the workshop. The fee for all participants is 1000 Danish kroner (dinner not included), 

Please register with Bente Vestergaard <bentev@hum.aau.dk>. The registration deadline is 15th September. After registering, you will immediately be sent an invoice with which you can pay the fee using your local banking system. Please note that your registration will only be officially confirmed when your fee has been paid. Payment of the fee should be received by 1st October at the latest.

Members of the Danish Network for Language and Culture (Netværk for sprog og kultur) are asked to indicate this at the time of their registration. They have a possibility to order lunch etc. at the cost of 250 kroner for both days. Please see their website for more details.

Travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the participant. Location, travel and accommodation information is available on this web site.

For more information, contact:

               Inge Degn or Søren Frimann Trads.

A poster (PDF) for the workshop is available online (1.2 Mb).

Note: PDF files require Acrobat Reader.

Recommended readings

Potter, J. (in press). Discourse analysis. In M. Hardy & A. Bryman (Eds), Handbook of Data Analysis. London; Sage.

Potter, J. (2003). Discourse analysis and discursive psychology. In P.M. Camic, J.E. Rhodes and L. Yardley (Eds). Qualitative Research in Psychology: Expanding Perspectives in Methodology and Design (pp. 73-94). Washington: American Psychological Association

Also, Chapter's 4 to 6 from: Potter, J. (1996). Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London; Sage.