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Dr. Ruth Wodak

Distinguished Professor of Discourse Studies

Degree: PhD (Vienna), Habilitation (Dr. Hab.) (Vienna); Honorary Doctorate (Dr. h.c.) (Örebro University, Sweden)

Associated research centres and groups: Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Centre for Language in Social Life, Cultural Political Economy Research Centre, Dynamics of Memories, Language, Ideology and Power Group (LIP)

Current Teaching

LING 442 Introduction to Discourse Studies

LING 440 Critical Discourse Analysis

LING 401 RIAL Workshop

PhD by Thesis & Coursework: Critical Discourse Analysis

Research Interests

Ruth's main research agenda focus the development of theoretical approaches in discourse studies (combining ethnography, argumentation theory, rhetoric, and text linguistics); organizational communication; identity politics and politics of the past; language and/in politics; racism, prejudice and discrimination.

2010, a special issue of the European Journal of Cultural Studies, co-edited by Lynne Pearce (English Department, Lancaster) and Ruth was published , focusing the construction of regional and national identities in the media and in fiction. A special issue of Critical Discourse Studies together with John E. Richardson (Newcastle) on 'Discourse, History, and Memory' was published in October 2009. In this special issue, we present a range of different discourse theoretical approaches to the discursive construction of memory and the past(s). Another special issue ( The Journal of Language and Politics) is dedicated to New Discourses in Contemporary China (co-edited by Paul Chilton, Hailong Tian and Ruth Wodak) (2010). This special issue will be published as edited volume in 2012, updated and revised (Benjamins).

Ruth hasalso recently published (with P. Kerswill and B. Johnstone) a new comprehensive Handbook of Sociolinguistics (2010). Ruth's monograph The discourse of politics in action: politics as usual has been published in June 2011 in paperback (second revised edition, Palgrave). The co-edited book, with Gerard Delanty and Paul Jones, Migration, Identity and Belonging has also been published as paperback in March 2011 (Liverpool Univ. Press).

Related to the acute and urgent European problems/ issues of transnationalism and migration The Forum of Concerned Citizens launched an 'Open Letter to Europe' in March 2010 which draws attention to the fragile and dangerous situation of migrants and asylum seekers in Europe. For May 9, 2011, which is Europe day, openDemocracyinvited Professor Ash Amin, instigator of the 2010 Open Letter to Europe from the Forum of Concerned Citizens (see above) to edit a special issue, with the theme 'The Uses of Xenophobia'. Ruth contributed to this special issue while focusing on 'Old and new demaguogery'.

In respect to this topic, two edited volumes are in press: Analysing European Fascism: Fascism in Text and Talk (co-edited with John Richardson, Routledge 2012); Rightwing Populism across Europe: Discourse and Politics (co-edited with Majid KhosraviNik and Brigitte Mral, Bloomsbury 2012). June 18, 2012, three short chapter summaries related to our book were published on Opendemocracy; more will follow shortly (http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/ruth-wodak/security-discourses-and-radical-right).

Ruth has also been commissioned to edit four comprehensive volumes (readers) on CDA for 2012 (Sage).

July 1-3, 2010, an interdisciplinary and international conference "Migrations - Interdisciplinary Perspectives' took place at the University of Vienna, organised by the Interdisciplinary Dialogue - Forum (IDee) of the University of Vienna. Ruth is speaker (Sprecherin) of IDee and was co-organizer of this conference, together with Renee Schroeder. Conference Proceedings Migrations: Interdisciplinary PerspectivesSpringer were published in June 2012 (http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/population+studies/book/978-3-7091-0949-6).

Currently, Ruth's research focusses on the discourse, rhetoric and argumentation of populist rightwing politicans across Europe (compared with the US 'tea- party'), on frontstage and backstage, for a monograph due 2013: The Politics of Fear - Analysing Rightwing Populist Rhetoric (Sage). Specifically, (inter)dependencies between politics and the media will be elaborated in several case studies. The recontextualisation and glocalisation of images and posters across several European rightwing political parties also form a relevant focus of this book.

Moreover, Ruth's current research projects include a study on Language change in Austrian German (from 1970 - 2010), while exploring several genres in various social fields (with Dr. Markus Rheindorf, Vienna). Secondly, Ruth participates in an interdisciplinary team of historians/journalists, psychiatrists and linguistswhich is investigating the discursive and psychological dynamics of a very unique network consisting of children of Holocaust survivers and resistance fighters in Vienna (Kinderjause - Zur Geschichte einer marginalisierten Gruppe; 'Childrens' party - the history of a marginalised peer group).

Ruth participates on the advisory boards of two 7th EU-framework projects, which both started in the spring 2010: ACCEPT (coordinated by Anna Triandafyllidou, EUI); and ELDIA (coordinated by Anneli Sarhimaa, Helsinki).

Ruth teaches on MA and PhD levels and currently supervises 13 PhD students at Lancaster University. She convenes the LIP group (Language, Ideology, and Power) which meets every week during term times, and is also affiliated to CPERC (Cultural Political Economy Research Centre) and DoM (Dynamics of Memory Cluster) at Lancaster University.

See full CV.

Some recent book publications

Potential Doctoral Proposals

(Critical) Discourse Studies (theories, methodologies)

Identity Politics (individual, collective; national, transnational)

Language and/in Politics

Discrimination, Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Sexism in/via Discourse

Analysis of (social) Media

Commemoration; collective memories; politics of the past

Oganisational Discourses and Practices

Brief Bio

Ruth Wodak is Distinguished Professor and Chair in Discourse Studies at Lancaster University since 1/9/2004 (personal chair). She moved from Vienna, Austria, where she was full professor of Applied Linguistics, University Vienna, since 1991. Ruth is past-president of the Societas Linguistica Europea.

On February 6, 2010, Ruth was awarded an honorary doctorate by University Örebro, Sweden. In September 2010, Ruth became member of the Academia Europaea. On December 19, 2011, Ruth was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria (Großes Silbernes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) (see https://plus.google.com/photos/108476165525172811802/albums/5689034182536784017?authkey=CPjX67rShNuptQE&banner=pwa&gpsrc=pwrd1#photos/108476165525172811802/albums/5689034182536784017for some details of the ceremony).

In June 2012, Ruth will be spending 10 days at the University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, as 'Academic Icon', supporting the research of the Linguistics Department, giving lectures and holding workshops. (See http://www.um.edu.my/mainpage.php?module=Maklumat&kategori=71&id=911&papar=1for the Academic Icon Programme.)

Besides various other prizes, Ruth was awarded the Wittgenstein Prize for Elite Researchers in 1996 which made six years of continuous interdisciplinary team research possible. In October 2006, she was awarded the Woman's Prize of the City of Vienna.

Her research is mainly located in Discourse Studies (DS) and in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Together with her former colleagues and Ph.D students in Vienna (Rudolf de Cillia, Gertraud Benke, Helmut Gruber, Florian Menz, Martin Reisigl, Usama Suleiman, Christine Anthonissen), she elaborated the "Discourse-Historical Approach in CDA" (DHA) in the 1990s which is interdisciplinary, problem-oriented, and analyzes the change of discursive practices over time and in various genres.

She is member of the editorial board of a range of linguistic journals, co-editor of the journals Discourse and Society, Critical Discourse Studies (with John Richardson and Phil Graham) and Journal of Language and Politics (with Paul Chilton). Together with Greg Myers, Ruth co-edits the book series DAPSAC (Benjamins) (the most recently published monograph in the DAPSAC series is Journalism and Politics).

Ruth has held visiting professorships in Uppsala, Stanford University, University of Minnesota, and Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. In the spring 2004, she had a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. 2007, she was awarded the Kerstin Hesselgren Chair of the Swedish Parliament and stayed at University of Örebro, Sweden, from March to June 2008.

Recent Announcements

New books and special issues of journals published

Critical Discourse Analysis: Four Volumes, edited by Ruth Wodak

Just published: Messer, Michi; Schroeder, Renee; Wodak, Ruth (Eds) (2012) Migrations: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Berlin: Springer. (http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/population+studies/book/978-3-7091-0949-6)

Wodak, Ruth (2011) The Discourse of Politics in Action: Politics as Usual (2nd revised edition, paperback) Basingstoke: Palgrave,

Paul Chilton, Hailong Tian and Ruth Wodak (Eds) (2012) Discourse and Socio-political Transformations in Contemporary China

2012 DAPSAC series: Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture celebrates 10 years

Recently published:

Wodak, Ruth & Krzyzanowski, Michal (Eds.) (2011) Jakosciowa Analiza Dyskursu w Naukach Spolecznych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Losgraf (translation of Qualitative Discourse Analysis in the Social Sciences Palgrave 2008).

Gerard Delanty, Ruth Wodak, Paul Jones (Eds.) (2011) Migration, Identity and Belonging. Liverpool: LUP.

Paul Chilton, Hailong Tian, Ruth Wodak (Eds.) (2010) 'New Discourses in Contemporary China', special issue of Journal of Language and Politics

Ruth Wodak, Barbara Johnstone, Paul Kerswill (Eds.) The Sage Handbook of Sociolinguistics. London: Sage.

Pearce, Lynne & Wodak, Ruth (2010) 'Region/nation/belonging: Textual (re)constructions and imaginings' Special Issue European Journal of Cultural Studies 13/1.>

Wodak, Ruth (2009) The Discourse of Politics in Action: Politics as Usual Basingstoke: Palgrave.

R. Wodak & G. Auer-Boreo (Eds.) (2009) Justice and Memory. Confronting traumatic pasts. Vienna: Passagenverlag.

'Discourse, History, and Memory', Critical Discourse Studies 6/1 (Eds. J. E. Richardson & R. Wodak)

J. Culpeper, F. Katamba, P. Kerswill, R. Wodak, T. McEnery (Eds.) (2009) English Language: Description, Variation and Context Basingstoke: Palgrave.

A. Triandafyllidou, R. Wodak, M. Krzyzanowski (Eds.) (2009) Europe in Crisis: The 'European Public Sphere' and National Media in the Post-War Period Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Wodak, Ruth & Meyer, Michael (Eds.) (2009) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis London: Sage (2nd revised edition).

Wodak, Ruth, De Cillia, Rudolf, Reisigl, Martin, Liebhart, Karin (2009) The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Edinburgh: EUP (2nd revised edition).

de Cillia, Rudolf & Wodak, Ruth (Eds.) (2009) Gedenken im 'Gedankenjahr', Innsbruck: Studienverlag.

Krzyzanowski, Michal &Wodak, Ruth(2008) The Politics of Exclusion: Debating Migration in Austria New Brunswick:Transaction Press.

Robert Jessop, Norman Fairclough, Ruth Wodak (Eds.) (2008) Higher Education and the Knowledge Based Economy in Europe Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Gerard Delanty, Ruth Wodak, Paul Jones (Eds.) (2008) Migration, Identity, and Belonging Liverpool: Liverpool Univ. Press.

Wodak, Ruth and Veronika Koller (eds) (2008) Handbook of Communication in the Public Sphere. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Ruth Wodak & Michal Krzyzanowski (Eds.) (2008) Qualitative Discourse Analysis for the Social Sciences Basingstoke: Palgrave

Hannes Heer, Walter Manoschek, Alexander Pollak, Ruth Wodak (Eds.) (2008) The Construction of History. Remembering the War of Annihilation Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Hannes Heer, Walter Manoschek, Alexander Pollak, Ruth Wodak (Eds) (2008) The Discursive Construction of History, Remembering the Wehrmacht's War of Annihilation, Palgrave

New books in DAPSAC series:

New book in DAPSAC series: Magilchrist (2011) Journalism and Politics, Benjamins

New book in DAPSAC series: Dolon, Rosana and Julia Todoli (eds) (2008) Analysing Identities in Discourse, Benjamins.

New book in DAPSAC series: Verdoolaege, Annelies (2008) Reconciliation Discourse: The Case of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Benjamins.

New book in DAPSAC series: Wilson, John & Sharon Millar (2007) The Discourse of Europe. Benjamins

New book in DAPSAC series: Hodges, Adam & Chad Nilep (2007) Discourse, War & Terrorism. Benjamins.

New book in DAPSAC series: Goatly, Andrew (2007) Washing the Brain - Metaphor and Hidden Ideology. Benjamins.

Eprints Publications Repository and Bibliographic Database

Ruth Wodak has 285 selected publication records listed on this webpage. Use links to access abstracts and full text where available. View all records to sort by date, type and title. For all ePrints records go to http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk

Wodak, Ruth (2012) Language, power and identity. Language Teaching, 45 (2). pp. 215-233. ISSN 0261-4448

Wodak, Ruth (2011) Suppression of the Nazi Past, Coded Languages, and Discourses of Silence: Applying the Discourse-Historical Approach to Post-War Anti-Semitism in Austria. In: Political languages in the age of extremes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 351-379. ISBN 9780199602964

Wodak, Ruth (2010) "Communicating Europe": Analyzing, interpreting, and understanding multilingualism and the discursive construction of transnational identities. In: Globalization, Discourse, Media: In a Critical Perspective. Warsaw University Press, pp. 17-60.

Chilton, Paul and Tian, Hailong and Wodak, Ruth (2010) New discourses in contemporary China. Language and Politics, 9 (4). ISSN 1569-2159

Wodak, Ruth and Fairclough, Norman (2010) Recontextualizing European higher education policies: the cases of Austria and Romania. Critical Discourse Studies, 7 (1). pp. 19-40. ISSN 1740-5904

Chilton, Paul and Tian, Hailong and Wodak, Ruth (2010) Reflections on discourse and critique in China and the West. Language and Politics, 9 (4). pp. 489-507. ISSN 1569-2159

Wodak, Ruth (2010) The glocalization of politics in television: Fiction or reality? European Journal of Cultural Studies, 13 (1). pp. 1-20.

Wodak, Ruth and Köhler, Katharina (2010) Wer oder was ist »fremd«? Diskurshistorische Analyse fremdenfeindlicher Rhetorik in Österreich. Sozialwissenschaftliche Studien, 1. pp. 33-55.

Wodak, Ruth (2009) "Von Wissensbilanzen und Benchmarking": Die fortschreitende Ökonomisierung der Universitäten. Eine Diskursanalyse. In: Diskurs und Ökonomie. Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, pp. 317-336.

Bialasiewicz, Luiza and Dahlman, Carl and Apuzzo, Gian Matteo and Ciută, Felix and Jones, Alun and Rumford, Chris and Wodak, Ruth and Anderson, James and Ingram, Alan (2009) Interventions in the new political geographies of the European ‘neighborhood’. Political Geography, 28 (2). pp. 79-89.

Associated Keywords: Discourse analysis, Gender, Gender identities, Memory, Migration and diaspora, Multilingualism, National identities, New media, Non-verbal communication, Organisations, Semiotics, Sociolinguistics, Spoken language corpora

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