DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF POWER AND SOCIAL IDENTITIES IN AHMED’S THE PARKING LOT: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Literature tends to mirror and criticize the social power structures that form part of the society, especially in a situation which is affected by religious and social tensions. This study intends to examine the use of religious and political discourse in exhibiting power. It also analyzes the discursive strategies that create the identity of majority and minority groups in religious and institutional life. The data comprises of the Ahmed’s The Parking Lot and the study has adopted Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis (1995) as framework for studying discursive construction of power and social identities. The study has used qualitative interpretive approach to examine how language characteristics create the identity of majority and minority groups in religious and institutional life. The text is selected through purposive sampling method and analyzed on three levels; textual analysis, discursive practice, and social practice. The findings of study highlighted that the identities of minorities are vulnerable and morally situated, whereas, the majority groups tend to be collectivized and linked to emotional intensity, institutional dominance or ideological power. It also describes that the identity of individuals is reduced to their religious group identity as in the present study, the Christians are identified as poor and helpless while the Muslim majority group is acknowledged as powerful.