Two local research groups form the core research environment for the network hub: Mattering: Centre for Discourse & Practice and C-DiT: Centre for Discourses in Transition.
Mattering: Centre for Discourse & Practice:The aim of this knowledge group is to develop knowledge about material, discursive practices. The knowledge group combines dialogic (including historical), discourse analytic (including rhetorical) and material (including multimodal) approaches to mediation and meaning-making in social practices. The central task is to develop methods to understand, analyse, criticise and impact practices within various social areas. The methodological development will take place in conjunction with close analyses of concrete texts, interactions and practices and, further, will involve a dialogue with various ‘clients’ and partners in other research environments and in the surrounding society.
Centre for Discourses in Transition (C-DiT): This centre supports research that investigates different perspectives on discourse in our contemporary, turbulent world. In these times of crisis and transition, we need a better appreciation of the role of discourse and practice in creating and managing transition in periods of social change. The centre is concerned with how to apply discursive approaches to managing transitions democratically, with an emphasis on social and global justice. Furthermore, discourses shape transitions, but also transitions transform discourses, so the centre has an additional focus on tracking how and why discourses themselves are being transformed for a variety of reasons and purposes.