Amanda LeCouteur

“Asylum seekers”, “boat people” and “illegal immigrants”: Social categorisation in the media

This paper is concerned with representations of people entering Australia to request asylum. The study critically analyses the role of social categorisation in descriptions about these people, drawn from texts available through the Australian print media. The aim is to examine constructions that constitute marginalising practices toward people who request asylum in Australia. It is argued that traditional approaches to social categorisation have a number of shortcomings, particularly in the context of an examination of potentially marginalising discourse. A discursive psychological approach is adopted for the purpose of analysing certain categorisations and identifying the social actions they constitute. Sample extracts are drawn from media articles and specific categories examined include “illegal immigrants”, “boat people”, and related category labels. It is argued that certain types of categorisation can support and encourage specific actions and, in particular, specific marginalising practices.

Apologising to the stolen generations: Argument, rhetoric, and identity in public reasoning

Abstract Since the appearance of the Bringing Them Home report in 1997, text and talk about the appropriateness of a national apology for the past practices of forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities have appeared on a regular basis in national and local print media, on television and radio, In organised community meetings, and also in everyday discussions between ordinary people. This paper employs a critical discursive approach to analyse the ways in which common argumentative forms, discursive practices, and rhetorical devices were deployed in 104 emailed comments to a newspaper website that either denied or asserted the appropriateness of a national apology. Our analysis emphasises the constructive nature of discourse: the ways in which discursive practices constitute objects and events in particular ways and with particular consequences. Specifically, we identify a number of rhetorically self-sufficient arguments that were deployed in these texts, as well as focusi...

‘Race’ and the Human Genome Project: Constructions of Scientific Legitimacy

At the public announcement of the completion of a draft map of the human genome (June 2000), Craig Venter, Head of Celera Genomics and chief private scientist involved with the Human Genome Project, claimed that ‘race’ was not a scientifically valid construct. This statement, based on an analysis of the genomes of five people of different ethnicities, has not served to end the considerable discussion and debate surrounding the concept of ‘race’. Using a social constructionist and critical discursive approach, this study analyses text and talk associated with the debate on the scientific validity of the concept ‘race’. Given the problematic and highly contested nature of this concept, the present research examines, closely and in detail, a range of ways in which constructions of truth are worked up in scientific discourse. In particular, we analyse the ways in which empiricist and contingent repertoires within scientific discourse are mobilized to establish and contest claims of objectivity and facticity. We also examinea range of rhetorical devices deployed by protagonists in the debate to warrant particular truth claims including quantification rhetoric and the ‘Truth Will Out Device’ (TWOD). We conclude that despite the promissory representation of the Human Genome Project as having produced scientific evidence to discredit the biological legitimacy of ‘race’, the concept is likely to persist in both popular and scientific usage.

Collective Guilt: On Whether to Apologize to Indigenous Australians: The Denial of White Guilt

In The Guilt of Nations , Barkan (2000) argues that we are in the midst of a “new international morality,” reflected by an increasing willingness of nation-states around the world to apologize for historical injustices. Western leaders, such as Clinton, Blair, Chirac, and Schroder, have all offered national apologies to aggrieved groups for past wrongs. Social psychologists have increasingly turned their attention to the notion of collective or group-based guilt as a means of understanding this recent social phenomenon. Doosje et al., (1998) for example, demonstrated in both laboratory and field studies that group-based guilt could be induced in respondents when the history of exploitation by ones own group toward another group was made salient. Concepts such as group-based guilt and, more specifically, “White guilt” (Steele, 1990) have been theorized to be associated with support for the compensation and reparation of exploited groups for past injustices. Apologizing for previous wrongdoings is recognized as an important first step toward making such amends. Apologizing to Indigenous Australians for past historical injustices has been a social and political issue at the forefront of national concern in Australia for some time. In April 1997, The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) (1997a) tabled The Report of the National Inquiry Into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children From Their Families : a report that generated unprecedented public debate concerning the maltreatment of Indigenous peoples throughout Australias colonial history.

Repertoires of teaching and learning: A comparison of university teachers and students using Q methodology

The aim of this study was to compare thediscursive repertoires for explicating teachingand learning that were preferred by universityteachers and students. Fifty statements,reflecting Samuelowicz and Bains (1992)five-dimensional model of conceptualisations ofteaching and learning, were administered to 52academic teachers and 125 students for rankingusing a Q-sort procedure (McKeown and Thomas1988). Statements were grouped, based uponvarying gradations of endorsement, and thenfactor-analysed to identify common responsepatterns. In terms of the model formulated bySamuelowicz and Bain, the university teachersand students surveyed exhibited broadlydifferent preferred repertoires. We argue,however, that the model is too simplistic, inits formulation of bipolar dimensions ofteaching and learning, to capture thecomplexities of the preferences and practicesof university teachers and students. A focus oncomplexity rather than descriptivereductionism, and an acceptance of the notionthat people are inconsistent and variable inthe accounts they give, is argued to be morelikely to result in fruitful insights into theways in which people construct pedagogicalpreferences and practices. The results indicatea need for continued exploration of the rangeof discourses surrounding teaching and learningin ways that pay attention to the localcontextual frameworks within which theserepertoires are acted out.

Career transitions and identity: a discursive psychological approach to exploring athlete identity in retirement and the transition back into elite sport

Athletes’ career transitions have received widespread research attention and have been identified as potentially distressing for athletes. Yet, the transition back into elite sport following retirement, although rare, has not been a focus of research attention. The concept of athlete identity has been widely researched within sport psychology to give insight into the varied experiences of athletes, especially in relation to the transition out of elite sport. Accordingly, identity may provide additional insight into the transition back into competing at an elite level. Through adopting a discursive psychological approach to the examination of 84 newsprint media representations involving athletes and career transitions, the present study aims to explore dominant social understandings around athlete identity and the choices athletes make to compete (or not) in sport. In doing so, the aim is to add to existing literature around athlete identity and gain insight into the social contexts in which athletes choose to transition back into elite sport, as well as to extend the existing discursive psychological literature of sport and exercise into areas of athlete identity, career transition and the media. Returning to compete in elite sport was routinely depicted in media accounts as something that is not chosen, but as driven by emotion, compulsion and a need to play. Such representations of athletes construct their identity as necessarily motivated by emotion and compulsion.

Lay theories of anorexia nervosa: a discourse analytic study.

Previous studies on lay theories of anorexia nervosa have examined the ‘accuracy’ of lay knowledge, and the identification of factors by family and friends that would encourage early interventions (Huon, Brown, & Morris, 1988, 7, 239–252; Murray, Touyz, & Beumont, 1990, 9, 87–93). In contrast to these approaches, we examine lay theories of anorexia nervosa using a critical psychology perspective. We argue that the use of a discourse analysis methodology enables the examination of the construction of lay theories through dominant concepts and ideas. Ten semi-structured interviews with five women and five men aged between 15 and 25 years were carried out. Participants were asked questions about three main aspects of anorexia nervosa: aetiology, treatment and relationship to gender. Each interview was analysed in terms of the structure, function and variability of discourse. Three discourses: sociocultural, individual and femininity, are discussed in relation to the interview questions. We conclude that, in this study, lay theories of anorexia nervosa were structured through key discourses that maintained a separation between sociocultural aspects of anorexia nervosa and individual psychology. This separation exists in dominant psychomedical conceptualizations of anorexia nervosa, reinforcing the concept that it is a form of psychopathology.

Managing accountability for domestic violence: Identities, membership categories and morality in perpetrators’ talk

Psychological research and popular discussion around domestic violence/intimate partner abuse have focussed on broad features of descriptive accounts such as victim precipitation, excusing of aggressors, and minimizing or denying the violence. Few studies have examined the finer detail of how such matters are routinely invoked in talk, and how they are regularly built in ways that make their authors appear credible and warranted. This study uses a discursive psychological approach to examine the talk of men recruited from domestic violence counselling groups who participated in one-on-one interviews about their violent/abusive behaviour. The analytic focus is on instances of situated identity categorization in these men’s accounts that involved the consequential moral assessment of self and partner in ways that justify or warrant violence/abuse. Routinely, in these men’s talk about their abused partner, subtle and particular categorizations associated with being a woman were worked up sequentially to depict her as having breached the normative moral order. These warranting practices were evident in the talk of both men who denied, and who overtly acknowledged, the wrongness of their violent/abusive actions. The findings raise important issues for understanding how commonsense reasoning around the causes of domestic violence and its justifiability is sustained, as well as having practical implications for theory, prevention and treatment.

The Colleague Development Program: a multidisciplinary program of peer observation partnerships

Background: As an introduction to peer observation of teaching, a multi-disciplinary program of peer observation partnerships was implemented across Faculty of Health Sciences. The ‘Colleague Development Program’ focussed on formative feedback and on promoting collegiality within and across traditional discipline boundaries. Aims: To describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Colleague Development Program. Methods: Participants asked a trusted colleague to observe their teaching. Feedback on good practice and suggestions for improvement were sought. Colleague observations were guided by specific learning objectives articulated by participants. Following the teaching observation/s, the colleague observer and the participant discussed the extent to which the participants learning objectives had been achieved. A written summary of mutually agreed outcomes was prepared. Program evaluation included anonymous participant questionnaire and focus group discussions. Results: Forty-two staff enrolled in the program with 23 completing all elements and participating in the evaluation. Participants reported increased confidence in teaching, confirmation of good practice, exposure to new ideas, and a greater sense of institutional support and collegiality. Conclusions: Situating peer evaluation within a collegial partnership overcame participants’ concerns about being the subject of ‘evaluation’ and ‘criticism’ by emphasising existing collegiality and trust amongst peers.

Accountability, monitoring and surveillance: Body regulation in elite sport

Regulation of athletes’ bodies is commonplace in sporting environments, despite evidence that athletes have a higher risk of developing disordered eating than non-athletes. This article explores how athletes’ bodies are regulated in practice, building on examinations of body surveillance in other contexts. Over 40 interactions occurring during body monitoring are analysed. Athletes, pre-emptively or following an explicit request, accounted for their body regulatory behaviours, also working to produce positive athlete identities. Failing to produce an account of improvement was interactionally problematic, making visible athletes’ accountability to the institute to regulate their bodies. Implications of body regulatory practices are discussed.