Shaping Political Subjectivity through Media and Information Literacy

A Critical Discourse Study of EAVI’s Project

Abstract

This article calls for an investigation of the way media and information literacy (MIL) projects construct and (de)legitimize particular forms of political subjectivity. The authors argue that the field of critical discourse studies (CDS) offers useful approaches to develop this line of inquiry. They demonstrate this point in a case study of the MIL project of the European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI). The authors work with a concept of discourse understood as a performative articulatory practice, grounded in linguistic pragmatics and poststructuralist discourse theory. The article provides a qualitative discourse analysis of the way EAVI articulates MIL signifiers with specific concepts of critique and citizenship. The analysis shows that EAVI’s discourse promotes a holistic transformation of the self into an informed, reflexive and critical entity, as well as a type of society that is inclusive, cohesive and participatory. EAVI is also decidedly pro-EU and opposed to nationalist projects.