Justice in Discourse (4-5 April 2013)

Working Conference at the Lichtenberg Kolleg, University of Göttingen
Co-sponsored by the DFG Research Group on Cultural Property

“Justice” is a complex concept deeply entwined with the moral foundations of society. As a normative concept, justice is clothed in an absolute aura. And yet the deeply contextualized and hence continually negotiated nature of justice cannot be hidden. In focusing on language, this working conference seeks to shed light on this normative concept, looking at the negotiation of justice in specific contexts and media. Different disciplines and schools of analysis have contributed to this question, ranging from linguistic anthropology to critical discourse analysis in disciplines such as political science, sociology as well as, more broadly speaking, media studies.

We will use a broad working concept of discourse: the use of spoken and written language and multimodal forms of communication, as well as those more aligned with Foucauldian notions of discourse. This leaves room for different theoretical approaches to the concept. Our working conference seeks to take stock of prior work and identify gaps, not least through the presentation of case studies. Negotiations on the international level and questions of health and social justice constitute the main thematic foci of the working conference. On the case level, we hope to see how “justice is in motion” depending on the communicative situation and the socio-political configuration.

Please find the workshop program here.