Universität Bonn

Uni Bonn - LETS

Language, Discourse and Power Structures in (De-)Democratization

 At least since the 1960s, liberal values have gained more and more importance, such as the equal participation of everyone in various social, political and cultural spheres and the self-determination and freedom of individuals. This social self-image is accompanied by the increasing flattening of social hierarchies which previously made status differences between groups especially visible and the de-marginalisation of various groups. These developments can generally be described as "democratisation". Against this backdrop, the project "Language, Discourse and Power Structures in (De-)Democratization" examines in an interdisciplinary way how societies in the 21st century negotiate social, political, cultural and economic power structures and how shifts in the social ecologies of these societies are reflected in their linguistic, discursive, aesthetic and social forms.

The project "Language, Discourse and Power Structures in (De-)Democratization" is funded by the Transdisciplinary Research Area 'Individuals, Institutions and Societies' (TRA4).

Society
© LETS Team

Initiators of the project

Avatar Kranich

Prof. Dr. Svenja Kranich

Avatar Knewitz

PD Dr. Simone Knewitz

Avatar Pirazzini

Prof. Dr. Daniela Pirazzini

20

Collaborators

16

Projects

1

Research group

Eine Wissenschaftlerin und ein Wissenschaftler arbeiten hinter einer Glasfassade und mischen Chemikalien mit Großgeräten.
© Hanna Bruns

LanDPoSts Workshop

The interdisciplinary workshop (LanDPoSts) in (De-)Democratization brings together research from national and international experts on issues concerned with the processes of democratization and/or dedemocratization as reflected in and driven by language and discourse. 

Eine Wissenschaftlerin und ein Wissenschaftler arbeiten hinter einer Glasfassade und mischen Chemikalien mit Großgeräten.
© LETS Team

Interdisciplinary Workshop ''Democratisation, roles, and discourse''

This workshop aimed to explore the intricate relationship between language use, societal roles, and the processes of democratization in various contexts. 

Eine Wissenschaftlerin und ein Wissenschaftler arbeiten hinter einer Glasfassade und mischen Chemikalien mit Großgeräten.
© Lara Putensen

Lecture series "Demokratisierung und Machstrukturen" in 2022

In the summer semester of 2022, we held a lecture series on the topic of the project. For this series, we invited renowned researchers that are taking part in the project to hold a talk on their subproject.

Check out our other research projects!

SilC - Sociocultural impact on language change

What does democratisation mean for language users?  And what are people's attitudes towards social hierarchies and concepts such as authority? 

QuiP - Queer Identities Project

We examine the issue of language use in communicating one’s queer identity on different (online) platforms. 

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