Emancipating Academic Dependency through Critical Discourse Studies-Based Language Analysis

Abstract

Academic dependency has been a topic of discussion in various academic disciplines. Attempts to address unequal relationships between academics in the Global South and Global North have also been explored through critique of Eurocentrism, decolonial projects and Southern theories. However, the efforts have often focused on a more abstract level, with attempts to interrogate European and U.S-based models, frameworks, and methods, and sometimes to replace and/or complement them with local and indigenous ones. One aspect that has largely been understudied is the analysis of language used in knowledge production and dissemination. In this article, I argue for an inclusion of CDS-based fine-grained language analysis in the intellectual decolonisation effort. Critical language analysis is crucial because it is through language use that academic dependency and marginalisation of alternative knowledge are subtly constructed, maintained and reproduced. Thus, being conscious of the language academics use when invoking particular theories or referring to particular social groups seems to be the first important step in any decolonial project. As a flexible framework, CDS can be adjusted to suit a variety of research questions and researchers’ linguistic training backgrounds. Despite potential criticisms, I contend that the synergy between CDS-based linguistic analysis and intellectual decolonisation can considerably benefit both movements.