Article

Name: Representation of power relations in medieval discourses: from critical analysis of historical text to semiotics of medieval culture

Authors: Sergey V. Sannikov

Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russian Federation

Abstract:

The article examines the problem of representation of power relations in discourse using historical material. The approach developed within the framework of the critical discourse analysis (T. van Dijk, R. Wodak, A. Holzscheiter, and N. Fairclough) is revised and expanded using the methods of the Russian and the German semiotic schools, particularly the concept of representation of power in culture by R. Posner and M. Siefkes and the semiotics of culture by Yu. M. Lotman. Power is considered in the context of semiotic relations in three dimensions of culture: mental culture, social culture, and material culture, which correspond to three types of power: the power of interpretation, manifested in various spheres of intellectual and religious culture; the power of disposition, mainly related to property; and hierarchical power (the power of position), implemented through institutions.

Keywords: analysis of discourse, semiotics of culture, image of power, symbolic power, medieval culture, Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Alfred the Great

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