Material Discourse—Materialist Analysis

Book excerpt: Material Discourse – Materialist Analysis explores the entanglement of material realities and discourse and shows how a materialist discourse analysis can be put into practice. A cognate concern for language and discourse, as well as well as materiality and materialism can look back on a long tradition in the Social Sciences and Humanities. This book makes their relation an explicit focus. Located at the intersections of materialism and Discourse Studies, it highlights the materiality of discourse and the entanglement of matter and meaning. The essays collected in this volume are united by a rejection of static dichotomies such as discursive / material, language / materiality or material / immaterial. Rather than presenting materialism and Discourse Studies as distinct from one another, they are shown to be intimately entwined. The book brings together theoretical and empirical contributions from a whole range of disciplines, fields, and academic contexts in a truly transdisciplinary and global manner. Material Discourse – Materialist Analysis is a timely intervention into the ongoing debates revolving around materiality, materialism, discourse, and language, as well as the intricate relations between them.