A VERSION OF REALITY: THE PERCEPTION OF DISCOURSE IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY
Carlos Alberto Aldana-Sanchez
"Life is a constant flow of discourse
of language functioning in one of the many contexts
that together make up a culture."
McCarthy, Matthiesen and Slade(1)
A couple of months ago I was thinking about an idea that is commonly taught in linguistics courses but that sometimes is not clearly explained to the students -considering our own perception of reality as Colombians-. Undoubtedly, an idea which has deep philosophical connotations. I am talking about the concept of discourse as reality.
It has been said that discourses constitute elements of real life, omnipresent ways of knowing, valuing and experiencing the world2 It has been said also, that discourses can be used for the assertion of power and knowledge and for purposes of resistance and critique. Some thinkers even affirm that many texts have purposes of regulation, social control, development of power relations, and hegemony (3)
The question is then how to explain the way reality is related to discourse? Or, in other words, what is the implication of discourse for the understanding of reality?
Is it true that discourse is not separable from the individual, social or natural world, or from experience and reality? -Although it is commonly perceived as such- Let me begin with a real life problem. Consider whether we can separate Manuel Marulanda -alias "Tiro Fijo"-, the person accused of leading the guerrilla organization known as FARC for many years in Colombia, from all the accounts we have heard of him. From the Colombian government, we hear he is a terrorist and therefore must be imprisoned; however, those opposed to the government hail him as a hero. In this situation, there seems no definitive way of determining what kind of man Manuel Marulanda is, other than describing him in a variety of ways.
Probably, one might object to all that and form one's own judgement about who really and exactly Manuel Marulanda is, e.g. a fanatic leftist, a result of the inequalities and injustices in the country, or a man with a strong conviction. But, it should be realized, that judgement itself is formed on the basis of existing texts, other than the variety of descriptions that exist about him. Moreover, it forms a denial, dismissal or alternative to the existing texts about Manuel Marulanda. It should be noted, too, that that piece of judgement is potentially subject to modification through time and space, e.g. when new revelations are made and attitudes changed. One might also dismiss all the texts surrounding Manuel Marulanda and go to the mountains to interview him in order to find out who he really is. But then, an opinion will again be formed on the basis of the interview and (re) formulated through verbal means. In the same way, The Universidad Nacional de Colombia will be perceived according to the way it is talked and written about in society, e.g. the best academic centre in the country, "a leftist university" and so on.
That is why all reality, individual, social, historical, or imaginary, can and should be seen as constituted in and through discourse. There are at least three reasons for saying so. First, reality is society, culture, history, mind, concrete people, things or events around us, thoughts and feelings inside us —our lived experience— it is not just 'out there', but involves categorization, characterization and evaluation. That is, discourse imposes its own structure, definition, category, conception and evaluation upon the reality it is supposed 'to describe' Second, our everyday reality is a discursive one—with people conversing, listening, reading and writing to each other. Finally, reality is created, sustained and transformed through discourse. Any warfare in the contemporary globalised world cannot take place go on or cease without propaganda, verbal-psychological preparation, rhetorical concealment, negotiation and so on.
Undoubtedly there are many ways of perceiving reality, the discussion is opened, and nevertheless, one thing is clear: one should be very careful about what is conceived as "reality", and the elements from which "reality" is made, remember it is always possible to create alternative versions of reality.
(1) McCarthy, M., Matthiesen, C., Slade, D. (2001: 55) "Discourse Analysis" in Schmitt, N. (edit) An introduction to Applied Linguistics. London: Arnold.
(2) See Mills, S (1997). Discourse. London: Routledge
See Fairclough, N.(2004b) Language in New Capitalism. In http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/lnc.incarchive.html
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ResponderEliminarOur perception of reality should not depend on what mass media shows us. Objective and analytical criticism is the way.
ResponderEliminar