A Note on the Manufacturing of Hegemony and Counter-Discourse: The Case of the Arab Spring
Keywords:
Arab Spring, Discourse, Hegemony, Ideology, MENA, Power, Resistance.Abstract
This paper addresses hegemony and resistance as generic phenomena and offers a brief reflection on the processing of the dominant discourse in society and the ways in which it sustains assent in the consciousness of the mass public. The so called “Arab Spring” is taken as a case study to illustrate how the struggle over power is taking place in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). At a broad theoretical level, I seek to scrutinise the functional correlation between the discourse of the established elite and its rival alternative discourses. Why do certain versions of discourse prevailed over a long period of time while others still remain on the periphery? How are hegemonic discourses produced and reproduced? What is the role of the various social institutions, the media in particular, in promulgating specific discourses and dismissing others? Providing answers to these questions entails at least references to two major fields of research; cultural studies and discourse analysis. There is a need to fathom the discursive structure of discourse with reference to language, ideology, and culture in general. Thus one needs to consider the axial role of the mass media outlets, notably the various virtual public spheres in the struggle of dominance and resistance.
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