A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of ‘Brexit’: Flagging the Nation in Political Cartoons

Book chapter


Lennon, Henry and Kilby, Laura 2021. A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of ‘Brexit’: Flagging the Nation in Political Cartoons. in: Palgrave.
AuthorsLennon, Henry and Kilby, Laura
Abstract

The rhetorical investigation of multimodality in political discourse is a growing concern for discursive researchers adopting critical approaches. The study of political cartoons is a prime example of how both visual and linguistic meaning can be constructed and interpreted based on its prevailing social, cultural and political settings. Adopting a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) approach, this chapter further pursues the study of multimodality in political communication by examining a corpus of political cartoons—drawn from the UK and beyond—concerned with the UK’s Referendum on membership of the European Union and the subsequent vote to leave in 2016. We analyse how the rhetoric of these cartoons flags the construction of national identity, otherness and belonging, lending themselves to condensed ideological messages seeking to frame Brexit. It is argued such cartoons can be seen as micro-instances of the anchoring of Brexit as a self-referential political divide defined by oppositional discourses and their accompanying intellectual legacy. A phenomenon, which, we contend, is richly explained by the rhetorical communication of the visual alongside the linguistic. We conclude the chapter by reflecting on how MCDA can assist our understanding of political communication and contribute to the critical tradition of discursive psychological work.

Keywordsmultimodal critical discourse analysis; discursive psychology; Brexit; signs; political cartoons
Year2021
PublisherPalgrave
ISBN9783030602239
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60223-9
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/625823
hdl:10545/625823
File
File Access Level
Open
File
Publication dates04 Feb 2021
Publication process dates
Deposited15 Jun 2021, 09:26
AcceptedNov 2020
ContributorsUniversity of Derby and Sheffield Hallam University
Permalink -

https://repository.derby.ac.uk/item/94xq0/a-multimodal-discourse-analysis-of-brexit-flagging-the-nation-in-political-cartoons

Download files


File
license.txt
File access level: Open

  • 55
    total views
  • 27
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 1
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Conformity Through Fear: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of COVID-19 Information Adverts
Lennon, H. and Gill, K. 2022. Conformity Through Fear: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of COVID-19 Information Adverts. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines. 14 (1), pp. 22-44.
When words are not enough: Combined textual and visual multimodal analysis as a Critical Discursive Psychology undertaking
Kilby, Laura and Lennon, Henry 2021. When words are not enough: Combined textual and visual multimodal analysis as a Critical Discursive Psychology undertaking. Methods in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metip.2021.100071
Charlie Hebdo and the prophet Muhammad: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of peace and violence in a satirical cartoon
Kilby, Laura and Lennon, Henry 2018. Charlie Hebdo and the prophet Muhammad: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of peace and violence in a satirical cartoon. in: Springer International Publishing.
Desert island data: an investigation into researcher positionality
Dean, Jon, Furness, Penny, Verrier, Diarmuid, Lennon, Henry, Bennett, Cinnamon and Spencer, Stephen 2017. Desert island data: an investigation into researcher positionality. Qualitative Research. 18 (3), pp. 273-289. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794117714612