CFP: Discourse, Meaning, and Understanding

Discourse is a term that yields several meanings to academics in the human and social sciences. It is often used to describe a formal and/or informal way of text and talk, which seeks to empower some social groups and subordinate others in the social world. This definition might sound hasty at first sight in as much as discourse per se came to signify multiple forms of knowledge, systems of thought, and perhaps most important of all, the beliefs and attitudes people hold about life, death, (co)existence and the like.

When people use discourse, they knowingly or unknowingly use not only language but also the power of language to establish connections, make friendships and thus maintain a spirit of homogeneity within and beyond their discourse communities. On some occasions, they are prone to entertain themselves through the exchange of humour and laughter. In other communicative situations, they are more likely to influence the thoughts and ideas of their peers through persuasiveness and metaphoricity. Although there is a risk that discourse fosters ideology conducing misreading and miscommunication, there is a large consensus in academia that discourse should be geared towards fostering dialogue, cohesion and unison among people however their differences might be.

Starting from Gee’s (2005) premise that language is “saying, doing and being” and that discourse is to be viewed as Discourse (with a big D) and not just as discourse (with a little d), we hope to provide adequate answers to these reverberating queries: What does discourse mean in the post-COVID-19 pandemic? How do people use discourse to empower themselves and alienate other social groups? How do they receive and produce discourse? Does discourse, in the era of the pandemic and infodemic, crystallize fear and anxiety? Does it corroborate a sense of understanding and safety? Is discourse most qualified to build bridges of dialogue and bring different individuals under the umbrella of humanity? Does it perpetuate the sense of individuality or could it promote a sense of collectivity? When does discourse feed off inequality, ideology and hegemony? What sort of discourse, and which potential meanings, do old/new media promote to cater to the needs of the public at a local and global scale? Can discourse provide healing and convalescence to unwell people through humour and hilarity? Last but not least, in what ways does discourse relate to the big questions of pedagogy and translation?

The chapters we are soliciting include but are not limited to the following topics:

1.  Meaning and the Requisites of Dialogue
2.  Tolerance, Peace and Cohabitation
3.  Classroom Interactions and Pedagogy
4.  Pandemics and Infodemics
5.  Media, Gender and Representation
6.  Semiosis and Multimodality
7.  Youth Communities and Culture
8.  Identity and Citizenship
9.  Text Production and Reception
10.  Rhetoric and Metaphoricity
11.  The Power of Humour and Laughter
12.  Translation and interpretation

Guidelines for Manuscript Submission

• Contributors are invited to submit on or before March 20, 2024, a chapter of 4000 to 6000 words in a Word Document.
• The submitted chapters will be blind reviewed.
• No fees are required for manuscripts submitted to this book publication.
• The length of the paper should be limited to a maximum of 6,000 words including tables, figures and references.
• Only ORIGINAL submissions will be accepted. Manuscripts should not have been previously published or considered for publication.
• Format chapters following APA 7th edition guidelines.
• Every chapter should include an abstract of 100-150 words.
• This edited book is scheduled to be published with an ISBN number by a reputed international publisher.
• The book is anticipated to be released in late 2024.

•  The authors should submit the chapters electronically to: [email protected]

Book Editors

• Dr. Acim Rachid, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir/Morocco 
• Dr. Belamghari Mohamed, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir/Morocco 
• Dr. Sanhaji Mounir, Faculty of Languages, Arts and Humanities, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir/Morocco