COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
SPECIALIZED COURSE
Discourse analysis in the hypermedia era: theoretical and methodological foundations
Course facilitator:
Dr. Baal Delupi, specialist in semiotics and artistic and political practices
General information:
Course dates: Weekly sessions every Friday, from 30 January to 13 March 2026
Time: 18:00 - 20:00 (CET/UTC+1)
Total hours of workshop sessions: 14
Modality: online
Primary language: Spanish
Price: €200 for full course
Course certificate included in price
*This price includes the course certificate. Students without funding from their department or another entity are eligible for a 30% discount. Write to admin-centre@discoursestudies.org to access this discount.
Registration (open until 23 January):
COURSE DESCRIPTION
How can we analyze discourse in a world dominated by social media, viral messages, and multiple media platforms? What tools do discourse theories provide us with to understand current political and cultural phenomena?
The course offers a critical introduction to discourse analysis in the hypermedia era, drawing primarily on the contributions of Eliseo Verón and Marc Angenot, two key authors for thinking about the social circulation of meaning, discursive production, and the ideological dimension of contemporary communication.
Throughout the sessions, issues such as the mediatization of politics, the construction of discursive hegemonies and counter-hegemonies, post-truth rhetoric, and the role of emotions in hypermedia discourses will be addressed.
The course is aimed at doctoral students, researchers, and professionals interested in deepening their knowledge of the theoretical and methodological tools of discourse analysis with a contemporary approach. No advanced prior knowledge of discourse analysis is required, although some familiarity with critical theories of communication and social sciences is recommended.
The course will be taught online. It will last a total of 14 hours (7 sessions of 2 hours each). The course combines theoretical presentations, group discussion of texts, and practical analysis of discursive corpora (political speeches, media appearances, and social media posts).
PROGRAM
Session 1. January 30th
Introduction: the hypermedia era as a discursive context
• Transformations in the social circulation of meaning
• Mediatization, digitization, and platforms
• The notion of “discursive hyperspace”
Session 2: February 6th
Social discourse and the circulation of meaning
• Marc Angenot: social discourse, interdiscursivity, and cultural hegemony
• What can and cannot be said in public spaces
Session 3: February 13th
The reading contract and social semiosis
• Eliseo Verón: production, recognition, and reading contract
• Media, audiences, and discursive circulation
Session 4: February 20th
Political discourse in the post-truth era
• Post-truth rhetoric and fake news
• Effective strategies in political construction
• Polarization and discursive dynamics
Session 5: February 27th
Social media, virality, and discursive performativity
• Digital platforms as discursive environments
• Memes, hashtags, and algorithms
• The dispute over visibility
Session 6: March 6th
Methodologies for analyzing hypermedia discourse
• Qualitative tools: rhetorical, semiotic, and pragmatic analysis
• Quantitative tools: text mining, network analysis, and discursive big data
• Possible joints
Session 7: March 13th
Case studies and course conclusion
• Collective corpus analysis (recent political speeches, social movements, public debates on social media)
• Quantitative tools: text mining, network analysis, and discursive big data
• Final discussion on the contributions of Angenot and Verón to current discourse studies