Languages, medias and power under Foucauldian discursive optic

Abstract

In this interview, the researcher and professor, Maria do Rosário Gregolin discusses about the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis contributions to the language teaching and to the production and circulation of texts nowadays. The linguist reminds us that language can function as an instrument of power, because through it you can oppress and emancipate. Furthermore, she discusses the relevance of Foucauldian readings to the constitution of the Discourse Analysis (AD) in Brazil, a theoretical perspective that questions both grammatical tradition and the structural language analysis tradition, later dominant in the country, all of this in a specific historical context: the decline of the Military Dictatorship repressive government (1964-1985). In addition to this historical contextualization of the Discourse Analysis and the importance of the Foucauldian work in its consolidation, the interviewed show us, with her studies, that society is controlled by some devices, and among them she discusses the role of the new media in the process of identity construction, considering that new techniques of textual production and circulation bring about remarkable changes in social relations. Finally, the researcher reflects about one of the consequences of these new media techniques, the responsible for a greater diffusion of adulterated content, in an expansion of production, and consequently a trivialization of so-called fake news and other forms of misrepresentation of the truth(s).