Upcoming Events

WDA Spring School 2026

The next Spring School Discourse Analysis in Sociology of Knowledge will take place from March 25 to 27, 2026. Over the past decade, discourse research in the social sciences and humanities has experienced a boom. Methodological training in the various disciplines has only begun to address this boom. In particular, questions relating to concrete work on texts, dealing with different data formats, and interpreting data in the context of discourse research are among the gaps in methodological training.

© Universität Augsburg

The Spring School on Sociological Discourse Analysis (WDA) is aimed at researchers from various social science and humanities disciplines who are working or wish to work on qualification projects or research projects using the discourse-theoretical and discourse-analytical perspectives of WDA. It offers an introduction to the theoretical and conceptual foundations of WDA, an introduction to methodological implementations and their exemplary testing in joint analyses of data provided by the organizers, the opportunity to discuss questions and research designs in WDA-based discourse and dispositif research, and the chance to bring questions from your own ongoing projects or project plans into the discussions.

In addition, two optional specializations are offered:

Specialization A: Specific questions on discourse research in the sociology of knowledge

Specialization B: Analysis of modes of subjectivation

More Information: 

The Spring School will be held in German and in person at the University of Augsburg. It will begin on March 25, 2026, at 3 p.m. and end on March 27 at 3:30 p.m. The number of places is limited.

• Additional program: Open space for questions and discussions, joint dinners, city walk if applicable, etc.

• Venue: The Spring School will take place on the premises of the University of Augsburg. They are located on the university campus. 

Detailed information is available on the website www.diskurswissenschaft.de

New publication (in German): Anthology “Diskurssoziologie der Kritik” (Discourse Sociology of Criticism) published by Springer VS

Springer VS

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-48278-7

Editors: Reiner Keller, Amira Malik, Natalie Schwarz, Christopher Schwitanski & Patricia Thomas

About the anthology:

• Current debates on freedom of science and art 
• Investigations into phenomena of “cancel culture” 
• On the possibilities of a sociological discourse analysis of criticism

For some time now, there has been heated public debate about events surrounding so-called ‘cancel culture’. Different scientific and political positions argue about whether academic freedom, artistic freedom, and ultimately freedom of expression are under threat or not. Such debates are predominantly conducted along fundamental philosophical, intellectual, and political lines, or on a case-by-case basis. Systematic empirical studies are rather rare. This is where the present volume comes in. It introduces the concept of a sociological discourse analysis of criticism and, based on four case studies, explores its analytical potential in relation to phenomena of what can be said and shown in ‘cancel culture’. At the same time, it lays the foundations for further research.

 

New publication (in German): 

"Knowledge relations and knowledge policies:  Analyses of the discursive construction of reality and its consequences "

 

 

Source: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-48453-8

Overview

Editors:

• Martin Blessinger,
• Moritz Hillebrecht,
• Reiner Keller,
• Lena Schürmann,
• Georg Tiroch

•     addresses conflicts of interpretation in various fields and current social debates
•     provides insight into current topics, issues, and developments in sociological discourse research
•     illustrates the breadth and connectivity of discourse research

 

 

 

New publication (in German): 

"Knowledge, Self and Society: The Research Perspective of Interpretative Subjectivation Analysis" written by Saša Bosančić and edited by Reiner Keller and Boris Traue

 

 

Source: link.springer.com/book/9783658478681

Overview

Authors:

• Saša Bosančić

Editors:

• Reiner Keller,
• Boris Traue 

• Saša Bosančić posthumously receives the Thomas A. Herz Prize for Qualitative Social Research
• The book offers orientation in the complex field of subject and subjectivation research
• Interpretative subjectivation analysis as power-critical social analysis

 
The manuscript for this book was submitted by Saša Bosančić as his habilitation thesis at the University of Augsburg in February 2020. In early summer of the same year, the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences habilitated him with the venia legendi in sociology. The German Sociological Association posthumously awarded the manuscript the Thomas A. Herz Prize for Qualitative Social Research at its Bielefeld Congress in fall 2022.

 Upcoming Events

 

 

 

DNC6 (6th DiscourseNet Congress) - Discourse and the imaginaries of past, present and future societies: media and representations of (inter)national (dis)orders at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels), 7-10 July 2025

https://discourseanalysis.net/en/dnc6-6th-discoursenet-congress-discourse-and-imaginaries-past-present-and-future-societies-media

 

Call for Papers: Ad-hoc-group „Digitale Diskurstransitionen und algorithmische Macht/Wissen-Regime.“ [Digital discourse transitions and algorithmic power/knowledge regimes] at the Congress of the German Sociological Association (DGS) 22-26 September 2025

https://discourseanalysis.net/de/de/call-papers-ad-hoc-gruppe-digitale-diskurstransitionen-und-algorithmische-machtwissen-regime-dgs 

 

 

 

Autumn School Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse University of Augsburg | September 15 to 17 2025

 

 

Following the high interest and success of the last six international workshops with participants from different countries and all world regions, there will be another introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in September 2025. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this approach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that the English Autumn School SKAD gives priority to participants without a German language background. German speakers are invited to register for our German language Summer School WDA.

The workshop will discuss the following topics:

·         What is at stake when using SKAD in discourse research?

·         SKAD theory: discourses & dispositifs – and how to conceptualise them

·         Research questions and conceptual tools in SKAD

·         The methodology of interpretive analytics

·         Getting into the field: methods of data collection and analysing data

·         Getting out of the field: from data analysis to comprehensive diagnostics

·         Discussion of participants’ research

·         Special interest session

Further information on the Autumn School, registration process and general conditions of participation can be found here.

 

 

 

 

Working Group SKAD

 

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

we (Reiner Keller, Annette Knaut and Dennis Puorideme) are pleased to announce the start of an English-language working group on the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD) within the framework of DiscourseNet (see https://discourseanalysis.net/group/46). We would like to invite anyone who is interested to participate. To start with, we are initially planning a two-hour online meeting via Zoom every two months, depending on interest. We suggest Wednesday, 19 March at 6 p.m. Central European Time as the first date. We hope that this is possible for participants from different time zones; time schedules might be modified later. The first meeting will be about organisational matters and general considerations for further action. We also offer to discuss the theoretical foundations of SKAD. This can be continued in follow-up meetings. On the other hand, there should be the opportunity to present and discuss your own past, present or maybe future SKAD-related work, as well as questions of data analysis and the further development of the approach. There will be room for open questions and discussions. Further suggestions for content are very welcome.

 

We are planning a real-life meeting to discuss further possibilities for collaboration at the upcoming DiscourseNet conference in Brussels in July 2025.

 

We look forward to your registration with the group (via the DiscourseNet website) and will be happy to keep you informed about our activities. If you are interested in participating in the first online meeting, please let us know. We will send you a zoom link in a timely manner.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Reiner Keller, Annette Knaut and Dennis Puorideme

-------

DiscourseNet website: https://discourseanalysis.net/group/46 

 

 

 

Conference ›The Discursive Construction of Reality VI - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Discourse Research in the Sociology of Knowledge‹ 

 

Conference at the University of Augsburg, Germany | March 27th – 28th, 2025

Over the last decades, the research program outlined by the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has spread to many disciplines in social science. SKAD discourse research, drawing upon Michel Foucault’s work, symbolic interactionism and sociology of knowledge, is interested in exploring processes of ‘discursive construction of reality’, social relations of knowledge and knowing, and politics of knowledge and knowing – the manifold ways of discursive meaning making. Bearing these core tenets in mind, the original approach has nonetheless been successfully amended, expanded, and occasionally modified to meet the demands of different fields of study and forms of data. Corresponding studies may be found in sociology, but also in neighbouring disciplines such as cultural studies, political science, historical science, educational science, theology, linguistics, and criminology among many others.
Following the series of Augsburg conferences in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023 on interpretive and sociology of knowledge discourse research with over 120 participants and 40contributions from different disciplines each year, the upcoming conference will continue in the spirit of an interdisciplinary discussion about the foundations and applications of SKAD and SKAD-inspired discourse research, as well as related perspectives (such as subjectivation research, situational analysis, ethnography of discourses and dispositifs).

The conference will be held in German and English. There will also be online access to presentations and participation for those unable to travel to Germany. There will be no fees. Cold and hot drinks will be available on site for a small contribution.

Social Events at the conference
Besides an optional dinner with traditional Swabian and Bavarian cuisine on the first day of the conference we invite you to our closing party on March 28th after the end of the conference in a local club location.

 

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller, Martin Blessinger, Claudia Foltyn and Amira Malik

 

Further information you can find here. 

The conference is supported by the Sociology of Knowledge Section of the German Sociological Association and the Society of Friends of the University of Augsburg.

 

Spring School Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse University of Augsburg | 9 to 11 April 2025

(German speaking event) 

 

 

Over the past decade, discourse research in the social sciences and humanities has experienced a strong boom. Methodological training in the various disciplines has only partially taken this into account. In particular, questions of concrete textual work or the handling of different data formats and the interpretation of data in the context of discourse research are among the gaps in methodological training.
The Spring School on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) is aimed at researchers from various social science and humanities disciplines who are working or would like to work with the discourse theoretical and discourse analytical perspectives of SKAD in a qualification or research projects. It offers

•     an introduction to the theoretical and conceptual foundations of SKAD,
•     an introduction to methodological implementations and their exemplary testing in joint analyses of data,
•     the opportunity to discuss questions and research designs of SKAD-based discourse and dispositive research, and
•     the opportunity to bring issues from ongoing or planned projects into the discussion.

In addition, two optional in-depth courses can be taken:

•     Specialisation A: Specific issues concerning the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse
•     Specialisation B: Analysis of modes of subjectivation

Further information on the content of the specialisations, conditions of participation and registration can be found here. 

Registration ended on March 9, 2025

Contested Realities of Sex Work: An Analysis of Knowledge Policies in the Regulation of Prostitution in Germany. Springer VS

 

New publication by Dr. Lina Brink, Prof. Dr. Marlen S. Löffler and Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller: 

 

Umstrittene Wirklichkeiten der Sexarbeit: Eine Analyse von Wissenspolitiken in der Regulierung von Prostitution in Deutschland. Springer VS. [Contested Realities of Sex Work: An Analysis of Knowledge Policies in the Regulation of Prostitution in Germany. Springer VS.]

Please refer to the publisher's website for further information: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55114-7

 

                                           

New publication by Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller:

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse

Foundations, Concepts and Tools for a Research Programme 

2024 Springer

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55114-7 

 

Overview

• Sets out the basic principles of a genuinely social-science oriented discourse perspective
• Presents concrete steps of ‘how to do SKAD research’
• Uses exemplary case studies from sociology, political sciences, area studies and education
  

 

About this book

In this updated version of a contemporary classic of discourse research, Reiner Keller develops the theoretical and methodological foundations of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD). Translated from the original German into English for the first time, this book brings together two previously unconnected domains of knowledge analysis in social science: the rich traditions of sociology of knowledge and symbolic interactionism on one hand and the works of discourse studies, especially in relation to Michel Foucault, on the other. It presents a critical discussion of key developments in sociology of knowledge, symbolic interactionist, and related interpretive approaches, explains the communicational turn of recent work in the field, and examines how traditions within sociology of knowledge shifted focus or converged over time. Following this, the book discusses the development of discourse theory and discourse analysis since the 1960s, including critical discourse analysis, hegemony analysis, or cultural studies approaches. Embarking from a profound reconstruction of Michel Foucault’s work, the book then sets its own distinctive course by integrating major elements of Foucault’s perspective with the sociology of knowledge. Along this path, Reiner Keller establishes the heuristics and methodology for a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse, providing a comprehensive research programme for the study of social relations of knowledge and politics of knowledge. Since its first publication in 2005, SKAD has informed a multitude of studies worldwide and across several academic disciplines. Today it can be considered as one of the major perspectives in discourse research in social science and beyond.

 

Please refer to the publisher's website for further information: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55114-7

 

 

Summer School
›The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)‹

University of Augsburg (Germany), July 29-31, 2024
Organiser: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller (University of Augsburg)

Please visit https://www.uni-augsburg.de/en/fakultaet/philsoz/fakultat/soziologie/diskursforschung/ for information and details on the venue, SKAD-related events etc.

Following the high interest and success of the last five international workshops with participants from different countries and all world regions, there will be another introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in July 2024. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this approach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that the English Summer School SKAD gives priority to participants without a German language background. German speakers are invited to register for our German language Summer School WDA. 

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse draws from Berger & Luckmann’s sociology of knowledge, the interpretive paradigm in pragmatist sociology, and core Foucauldian concepts in the analysis of regimes of power/knowledge, discourses & dispositifs. In doing so, SKAD re-directs discourse research towards Foucauldian research interests about questions of social relationships of knowledge & knowing and politics of knowledge & knowing. Doing discourse research refers, according to SKAD, to elements of qualitative research designs (like theoretical sampling, sequential analysis, analysis by contrasting cases, category building, discourse ethnography) and interpretive analytics.

Since the late 1990s, the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has been established in discourse & dispositif research in Germany and many other countries. Today, it informs a large amount of research projects and publications across fields and disciplines. Workshops introducing theory, methodology, and methods of SKAD research have been established in Germany for more than 20 years. Workshops in French and English have followed suit in the last years (e.g., in the United States, Switzerland, Austria, France, Denmark, Belgium, United Kingdom, Romania, Portugal, Japan). 

The Augsburg summer school builds on the broad international interest in SKAD and introduces core issues of the concrete doing and practice of SKAD based discourse research. It addresses colleagues from the social sciences and the broad range of the humanities who are interested in learning about SKAD and its profile within the field of discourse studies as well as in doing SKAD research/using SKAD methodologies in their own discourse-oriented research. 

The workshop will discuss the following topics: 

• What is at stake when using SKAD in discourse research?
• SKAD theory: discourses & dispositifs – and how to conceptualise them
• Research questions and conceptual tools in SKAD
• The methodology of interpretive analytics
• Getting into the field: methods of data collection and analysing data
• Getting out of the field: from data analysis to comprehensive diagnostics
• Discussion of participants’ research
• Special interest sessions (optional): SKAD applications in sociology and the humanities & SKAD application in political science

Special Interest Session A: Sociology & Humanities (Reiner Keller)
The session discusses specific questions on SKAD based discourse and dispositif research (for example, the analysis of visualisations, materiality, the ethnography of dispositifs) and allows for an in-depth discussion of SKAD applications in various disciplines (subject to selection if necessary). Participants are invited to discuss SKAD in relation to their own research interests and work.

Special Interest Session B: Political Science (Miranda Böttcher)
Discourse-oriented approaches have gained relevance in political research. This in-depth section of the SKAD summer school will provide space to discuss basic questions and approaches of SKAD based political research. It will cover all parts of the research process: from data collection via data management and analysis to the integration and presentation of results. All steps and phases will be illustrated using examples from empirical research (previous SKAD research as well as participants’ presentations). 

The workshop includes data analysis sessions. Furthermore, participants are invited to present their individual research project for group discussion.

 

Summer School
›Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse (WDA)‹

Universität Augsburg, 22. bis 24. Juli 2024
Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller

 

Aktuelle Informationen zur Summer School WDA und weiteren Veranstaltungen unter www.diskurswissenschaft.de

 

Konzeption: 

Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt erlebte die sozial- und geisteswissenschaftliche Diskursforschung einen starken Boom. Dem tragen die Methodenausbildungen in den verschiedenen Disziplinen nur ansatzweise Rechnung. Insbesondere die Fragen der konkreten Arbeit am Text bzw. des Umgangs mit unterschiedlichen Datenformaten und der Interpretation der Daten im Rahmen der Diskursforschung gehören zu den Leerstellen der Methodenausbildungen.
Die Summer School Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse (WDA) wendet sich an Wissenschaftler:innen aus verschiedenen sozial- und geisteswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, die in Qualifikationsvorhaben oder Forschungsprojekten mit diskurstheoretischen und diskursanalytischen Perspektiven der WDA arbeiten bzw. arbeiten wollen. Sie bietet

• eine Einführung in theoretisch-begriffliche Grundlagen der WDA,
• eine Einführung in methodische Umsetzungen und deren exemplarische Erprobung in gemeinsamen Analysen von den Veranstaltern bereit gestellter Daten,
• die Möglichkeit, Fragenstellungen sowie Forschungsdesigns der WDA-basierten Diskurs- und Dispositivforschung zu diskutieren sowie
• Fragen aus den eigenen laufenden Projekten bzw. Projektvorhaben in die Diskussionen einzubringen.

Daneben werden optional drei Vertiefungen angeboten:

Vertiefung A: Spezifische Fragen zur wissenssoziologischen Diskursforschung (Reiner Keller, Universität Augsburg)
In der Vertiefung A besteht die Möglichkeit, speziellere Fragen zur wissenssoziologischen Diskurs- und Dispositivforschung (etwa zur Analyse von Visualisierungen und Materialitäten oder zur Dispositivethnographie) zu diskutieren und auch auf eigene Projekte der Teilnehmer:innen einzugehen (ggf. Auswahl vorbehalten).

Vertiefung B: WDA in der Politikwissenschaft (Miranda Böttcher, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin)
Die Diskursforschung hat mit etwas Verzögerung auch die Politikwissenschaft erreicht und sich dort in den vergangenen Jahren beträchtlich verbreitet. In der neuen Vielfalt diskursanalytischer Zugänge mangelt es vielen Arbeiten an einer klaren Systematik im Forschungsprozess. Auch fehlt oftmals ein passender Zuschnitt verfügbarer Ansätze und Instrumente auf politikwissenschaftliche Gegenstände sowie die Anknüpfung an traditionelle Fragestellungen und Theorien der Disziplin. Vor diesem Hintergrund soll dieser Abschnitt der Summer School grundlegende Fragen einer WDA-basierten Politikforschung diskutieren. Dabei werden mit der Datenerhebung, der Datenanalyse sowie der Datenintegration und -präsentation die wesentlichen Stufen im Forschungsprozess besprochen und exemplarisch illustriert.

Vertiefung C: Analyse von Subjektivierungsweisen (Steffen Hamborg, Universität Oldenburg)
In Anbetracht der diskursiven Verfasstheit gegenwärtiger Gesellschaften, die sämtliche Lebensbereiche und Lebenswelten durchzieht, gewinnt die Frage nach der diskursiven Situiertheit menschlicher Selbst- und Weltverhältnisse zunehmend an Relevanz. In dieser Vertiefungsveranstaltung wird zunächst ein Überblick über aktuelle Ansätze der Subjektivierungsforschung gegeben. Anhand unterschiedlicher Materialien (z.B. textliche und visuelle sowie ‚natürliche‘ und im Forschungsprozess erzeugte Daten) wird daraufhin der Frage nachgegangen, wie in WDA-basierten Forschungsarbeiten die Zusammenhänge von diskursiven ‚Anrufungen‘ und tatsächlichen Subjektivierungsweisen auf der Ebene von lebenden, handelnden und verkörperten Menschen methodologisch konzeptualisiert und empirisch untersucht werden können. 

Bitte beachten Sie: Die Vertiefungen werden parallel angeboten. Bitte geben Sie bei der Anmeldung an, an welcher Vertiefung (A, B oder C) Sie teilnehmen möchten und ob Sie ggf. ein eigenes Projekt bzw. entsprechende Daten zur Diskussion stellen möchten.

Autumn School
›The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)‹

University of Augsburg (Germany),October 5-7, 2023
Organiser: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller (University of Augsburg)

 

 

Please visit https://www.uni-augsburg.de/en/fakultaet/philsoz/fakultat/soziolo-gie/diskursforschung/ for up-to-date information and details concerning registra-tion, venues, etc.

Following the success of the last four international workshops with participants from different countries and all world regions, there will be a fifth introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in October 2023. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this approach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that the autumn school gives priority to participants without a strong German language background. German speakers are invited to register for our summer school.

Discourse studies today cover a large field of approaches across the social sciences, ranging from work inspired by Foucault to Critical Discourse Analysis and through to hegemonic stability theory, corpus linguistics, and on to more interpretive approaches. The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse draws from Berger & Luckmann’s sociology of knowledge, the interpretive paradigm in pragmatist sociology, and core Foucauldian concepts in the analysis of regimes of power/knowledge, discourses & dispositifs. In doing so, SKAD redirects discourse research towards Foucauldian research interests about questions of social relationships of knowledge & knowing and politics of knowledge & knowing. Doing discourse research refers, according to SKAD, to elements of qualitative research designs (like theoretical sampling, sequential analysis, analysis by contrasting cases, category building, discourse ethnography) and interpretive analytics.

Since the late 1990s, the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has been established in discourse & dispositif research in Germany and many other countries. Today, it informs a large amount of discourse & dispositif orientated research projects and publications across fields and disciplines. Workshops introducing theory, methodology, and methods of SKAD research have been established in Germany for more than 20 years. Workshops in French and English have followed suit in the last years (e.g., in the United States, Switzerland, Austria, France, Denmark, Belgium, United Kingdom, Romania).

The Augsburg autumn school builds on the broad international interest in SKAD and introduces core issues of the concrete doing and practice of SKAD based discourse research. It addresses colleagues from the Social Sciences and the broad range of the Humanities who are interested in learning about SKAD and its profile within the field of discourse studies as well as in doing SKAD research/using SKAD methodologies in their own discourse-oriented research.

The workshop will discuss the following topics:

• What is at stake when using SKAD in discourse research?
•  SKAD theory: discourses & dispositifs – and how to conceptualise them
•  Research questions and conceptual tools in SKAD
•  The methodology of interpretive analytics
•  Getting into the field: methods of data collection and analysing data
•  Getting out of the field: from data analysis to comprehensive diagnostics
•  Digital data and analysis in SKAD based discourse research
•  Special interest sessions (optional): SKAD applications in sociology and the humanities & SKAD application in political science

Special interest session A: sociology & humanities (Reiner Keller)
The session discusses specific questions on SKAD based discourse and dispositif research (for example, the analysis of visualisations, materiality, the ethnography of dispositifs) and allows for an in-depth discussion of SKAD applications in various disciplines (subject to selection if necessary). Participants are invited to discuss SKAD in relation to their own research interests and work.

Special interest session B: political science (Miranda Böttcher)
Discourse-oriented approaches have gained relevance in political research. This in-depth section of the SKAD autumn school will provide space to discuss basic questions and approaches of SKAD based political research. It will cover all parts of the research process: from data collection via data management and analysis to the integration and presentation of results. All steps and phases will be illustrated using examples from empirical research (previous SKAD research as well as participants’ presentations).

The workshop includes data analysis sessions. Furthermore, participants are invited to present their individual research project for group discussion.

Summer School
›Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse (WDA)‹

Universität Augsburg, 13. bis 15. Juli 2023
Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller

Aktuelle Informationen und weitere Details, Anmeldemodalitäten und sonstige Informationen unter www.diskurswissenschaft.de

Konzeption:
Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt erlebte die sozial- und geisteswissenschaftliche Diskursforschung einen starken Boom. Dem tragen die Methodenausbildungen in den verschiedenen Disziplinen nur ansatzweise Rechnung. Insbesondere die Fragen der konkreten Arbeit am Text bzw. des Umgangs mit unterschiedlichen Datenformaten und der Interpretation der Daten im Rahmen der Diskursforschung gehören zu den Leerstellen der Methodenausbildungen.
Die Summer School Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse (WDA) wendet sich an Wissenschaftler:innen aus verschiedenen sozial- und geisteswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, die in Qualifikationsvorhaben oder Forschungsprojekten mit diskurstheoretischen und diskursanalytischen Perspektiven der WDA arbeiten bzw. arbeiten wollen. Sie bietet

• eine Einführung in theoretisch-begriffliche Grundlagen der WDA
• eine Einführung in methodische Umsetzungen und deren exemplarische Erprobung in gemeinsamen Analysen von den Veranstaltern bereit gestellter Daten
• die Möglichkeit, Fragenstellungen sowie Forschungsdesigns der WDA-basierten Diskurs- und Dispositivforschung zu diskutieren sowie
• Fragen aus den eigenen laufenden Projekten bzw. Projektvorhaben in die Diskussionen einzubringen.
  

Daneben werden optional drei Vertiefungen angeboten:

Vertiefung A: Spezifische Fragen zur wissenssoziologischen Diskursforschung (Reiner Keller, Universität Augsburg)
In der Vertiefung A besteht die Möglichkeit, speziellere Fragen zur wissenssoziologischen Diskurs- und Dispositivforschung (etwa zur Analyse von Visualisierungen und Materialitäten oder zur Dispositivethnographie) zu diskutieren und auch auf eigene Projekte der Teilnehmer:innen einzugehen (ggf. Auswahl vorbehalten).

Vertiefung B: WDA in der Politikwissenschaft (Miranda Böttcher, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin)
Die Diskursforschung hat mit etwas Verzögerung auch die Politikwissenschaft erreicht und sich dort in den vergangenen Jahren beträchtlich verbreitet. In der neuen Vielfalt diskursanalytischer Zugänge mangelt es vielen Arbeiten an einer klaren Systematik im Forschungsprozess. Auch fehlt oftmals ein passender Zuschnitt verfügbarer Ansätze und Instrumente auf politikwissenschaftliche Gegenstände sowie die Anknüpfung an traditionelle Fragestellungen und Theorien der Disziplin. Vor diesem Hintergrund soll dieser Abschnitt der Summer School grundlegende Fragen einer WDA-basierten Politikforschung diskutieren. Dabei werden mit der Datenerhebung, der Datenanalyse sowie der Datenintegration und -präsentation die wesentlichen Stufen im Forschungsprozess besprochen und exemplarisch illustriert.

Vertiefung C: Analyse von Subjektivierungsweisen (Lisa Pfahl, Universität Innsbruck)
In Anbetracht der diskursiven Verfasstheit gegenwärtiger Gesellschaften, die sämtliche Lebensbereiche und Lebenswelten durchzieht, gewinnt die Frage nach der diskursiven Situiertheit menschlicher Selbst- und Weltverhältnisse zunehmend an Relevanz. In dieser Vertiefungsveranstaltung wird zunächst ein Überblick über aktuelle Ansätze der Subjektivierungsforschung gegeben. Anhand unterschiedlicher Materialien (z.B. textliche und visuelle sowie ‚natürliche‘ und im Forschungsprozess erzeugte Daten) wird daraufhin der Frage nachgegangen, wie in WDA-basierten Forschungsarbeiten die Zusammenhänge von diskursiven ‚Anrufungen‘ und tatsächlichen Subjektivierungsweisen auf der Ebene von lebenden, handelnden und verkörperten Menschen methodologisch konzeptualisiert und empirisch untersucht werden können.

Bitte beachten Sie: Die Vertiefungen werden parallel angeboten. Bitte geben Sie bei der Anmeldung an, an welcher Vertiefung (A, B oder C) Sie teilnehmen möchten und ob Sie ggf. ein eigenes Projekt bzw. entsprechende Daten zur Diskussion stellen möchten.

 

30. und 31. März 2023  

›Die Diskursive Konstruktion von Wirklichkeit V – Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven einer wissenssoziologischen Diskursforschung‹

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller, Martin Blessinger, Claudia Foltyn und Nicole Lühring (Universität Augsburg)

Seit 2013 findet – mit pandemiebedingter Pause – im zweijährigen Rhythmus an der Universität Augsburg die Tagung »Die diskursive Konstruktion von Wirklichkeit« statt. Sie versammelt interdisziplinäre Beiträge zur Wissenssoziologischen Diskursanalyse und angrenzender Perspektiven der Diskurs- und Dispositivforschung. Damit zielt die Tagung explizit auf inter- und überdisziplinäre Diskussionen und Reflexionen zu laufenden und abgeschlossenen Forschungen sowie Fragen der Theorie, Methodologie und Methoden. Die kommende Tagung möchte die interdisziplinäre Diskussion über Grundlagen und Anwendungen wissenssoziologischer Diskursforschung und anschließender Perspektiven (etwa Situationsanalyse, Subjektivierungsforschung, oder weitere wie ethnographische Diskurs- und Dispositivansätze) fortführen. Die Tagung findet mit deutsch- und englischsprachigen Beiträgen in Präsenz statt.

Tagungsgebühren werden nicht erhoben. Vor Ort besteht die Gelegenheit, gegen einen Unkostenbeitrag Zugang zu kalten und heißen Getränken zu erhalten. Falls Sie Fragen zur Tagungsteilnahme o.Ä. haben, melden Sie sich gerne unter: wda@phil.uni-augsburg.de.

Auf dieser Seite finden Sie weitere Informationen über das Tagungsprogramm, die Anmeldemodalitäten, Anreise sowie über die Entwicklungen im Zuge der Corona-Pandemie, die sich auf die Durchführung der Veranstaltung auswirken können. Die Veranstaltung unterliegt den geltenden Corona-Regelungen der Universität Augsburg.

 

Weitere Informationen zur Anmeldung und Programm finden Sie auf www.diskurswissenschaft.de  

Autumn School ›The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse‹ (SKAD)

 

Autumn School

›The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse‹

(SKAD)

 

University of Augsburg (Germany), September 22-24, 2022

Organisers: 

Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller (University of Augsburg) and 

Prof. Dr. Wolf Schünemann (University of Hildesheim)

 

Please visit www.diskurswissenschaft.de for up-to-date information and details concerning registration, venues, etc. 

 

Following the success of the last three international workshops with participants from different countries spanning from Indonesia to Brazil, from Japan to the Neth-erlands, from Scotland to Poland and from Canada to Russia, there will be a fourth introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in September 2022. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this ap-proach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that in case of overbooking the autumn school gives priority to partic-ipants without a strong German language background.

Discourse studies today cover a large field of approaches across the social sci-ences, ranging from work inspired by Foucault to Critical Discourse Analysis and through to hegemonic stability theory, corpus linguistics, and on to more interpre-tive approaches. The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse draws from Berger & Luckmann’s sociology of knowledge, the interpretive paradigm in prag-matist sociology, and core Foucauldian concepts in the analysis of regimes of power/knowledge, discourses & dispositifs. In doing so, SKAD re-directs discourse research towards Foucauldian research interests about questions of social relation-ships of knowledge & knowing and politics of knowledge & knowing. Doing dis-course research refers, according to SKAD, to elements of qualitative research designs (like theoretical sampling, sequential analysis, analysis by contrasting cases, category building, discourse ethnography) and interpretive analytics.

Since the late 1990s, the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has been established in discourse & dispositif research in Germany and many other countries. Today, it informs a large amount of discourse & dispositif orientated research projects and publications across fields and disciplines. Workshops intro-ducing theory, methodology, and methods of SKAD research have been estab-lished in Germany for more than 20 years. Workshops in French and English have followed suit in the last years (e.g., in the United States, Switzerland, Austria, France, Denmark, Belgium, United Kingdom, Romania).

The Augsburg autumn school builds on the broad international interest in SKAD and introduces core issues of the concrete doing and practice of SKAD based dis-course research. It addresses colleagues from the Social Sciences and the broad range of the Humanities who are interested in learning about SKAD and its profile within the field of discourse studies as well as in doing SKAD research/using SKAD methodologies in their own discourse-oriented research.

 

The workshop will discuss the following topics:

•  What is at stake when using SKAD in discourse research?
•   SKAD theory: discourses & dispositifs – and how to conceptualise them
•   Research questions and conceptual tools in SKAD  
•   The methodology of interpretive analytics                                                       
•   Getting into the field: methods of data collection and analysing data              
•   Getting out of the field: from data analysis to comprehensive diagnostics
•   Digital data and analysis in SKAD based discourse research                              
•   Special interest sessions (optional): SKAD applications in sociology and the humanities & SKAD application in political science

Special interest session A: sociology & humanities (Reiner Keller)

The session discusses specific questions on SKAD based discourse and dispositif research (for example, the analysis of visualisations, materiality, the ethnography of dispositifs) and allows for an in-depth discussion of SKAD applications in various disciplines (subject to selection if necessary). Participants are invited to discuss SKAD in relation to their own research interests and work.

Special interest session B: political science (Wolf Schünemann)

Discourse-oriented approaches have gained relevance in political research. This in-depth section of the SKAD autumn school will provide space to discuss basic questions and approaches of SKAD based political research. It will cover all parts of the research process: from data collection via data management and analysis to the integration and presentation of results. All steps and phases will be illus-trated using examples from empirical research (previous SKAD research as well as participants’ presentations).

 

The workshop includes data analysis sessions. Furthermore, participants are in-vited to present their individual research project for group discussion.

The University of Augsburg is located in the city of Augsburg in southern Germany, which is 60 km/40 miles from the Bavarian capital Munich and can be easily reached by train or by flight via Munich (MUC) airport. Hotel rooms are available from 40-90 Euro per day. The workshop organisers will provide more information after registration.

 

The workshop

• The workshop starts on September 22/2022 at 4 pm and ends on September 24/2022 at 6 pm.

• The number of participants is limited to 25 people max. Depending on the number of participants who wish to present their work, the organisers may need to select amongst the individual projects for discussion.

• Special interest sessions “sociology & humanities” / “political science”

• Additional program: open space time slots for questions and discussion, dinner, pubcrawl

• Venue: University of Augsburg Campus; for more information see www.diskurswissenschaft.de , “Travel and Hotel Information”.

 

Workshop fee

The workshop fee is 70 Euro per person (includes refreshments during the work-shop). This fee does not cover travel, accommodation, or meals, which are the responsibility of each individual participant. A reduced fee (35 Euros) might apply for participants arriving from Non-European ‘low income’ countries without insti-tutional coverage of participation.

 

Registration

Please register by e-mail at skad@phil.uni-augsburg.de. This should include the following elements:

•  Last name, first name, e-mail
  
•  Private address or address at your institution
•  Current position
•  If applicable: your current research project in discourse analysis and whether or not you are interested in presenting and discussing your own research/data at the workshop.
•  Choice of special interest (A: sociology & humanities / B: political science) 

 

After your registration you will receive a preliminary confirmation. We will also send you an invoice for the participation fee to be paid. The registration becomes fully effective when the participation fee has been received on our booking account.

Withdrawing from the workshop is possible until four weeks before the event; can-cellations after this time will not be refunded. There will be a waiting list in case the event is fully booked.

Please note that depending on the Corona situation in September 2022, particu-lar university campus regulations (such as proof of vaccinations, obligatory mask wearing) might apply.

 

 

Preliminary Workshop Program

 

Thursday (22/9/2022)

 

4.00 pm	Registration
4.30 pm	Welcome from the organisers + Introduction of the participants
	The Arena of Discourse Studies
	SKAD: What’s it all about?
7.00 pm	Welcome reception with food & drinks
Friday (23/9/2022)
9.00 am	SKAD: Theory & Methodology
10.45 am	Break
11.00 am	SKAD: Research process and methods
12.30 am	Lunch (not included)
1.45 pm	SKAD goes digital
3.15 pm	Break
3.30 pm	Data analysis sessions I & II (parallel sessions)
5.30 pm	Break
5.40 pm	Open Space
6.15 pm	---End of Day 2---
7.00 pm	Dinner (not included)
Saturday (24/9/2022)
9.00 am	Data analysis sessions I & II (parallel sessions)
11.00 am	Break
11.15 am	Discussion of participants projects
12.30 am	Lunch (not included)
1.45 pm	Special interest sessions A (sociology & humanities) or B (political
	science) (including discussion of participants projects)
3.00 pm	Break
3.15 pm	Special interest sessions A (sociology & humanities) or B (political
	science) (including discussion of participants projects)
5.00 pm	Break
5.20 pm	Open Discussion
6.00 pm	---End of Workshop---
7.00 pm	Dinner & optional pubcrawl (not included)

 

 

The Organisers

Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller is Professor of Sociology at the University of Augsburg; co-director of the Centre for Transnational Studies and member of the executive board of the German Sociological Association (DGS). From 2011 to 2016 he headed the sociology of knowledge division of the DGS. He started working on and with SKAD in the 1990s. He has longstanding experiences in discourse workshops as well as a long list of publications in discourse research. His work & research inter-ests include social science discourse research, sociology of knowledge and culture, qualitative methods, and analysis of contemporary societies. He has a longstand-ing experience in conducting and directing collaborative research projects. Keller was a member of the Munich Centre for Reflexive Modernization from 1999 to 2010 and has just finished co-directing a comparative research on French and German history of sociological knowledge production since the 1960s, funded by the Ger-man Research Foundation (DFG). Current projects include DFG-funded research on politics of knowledge and knowing in the field of hydraulic fracturing (2017-2021), energy transition (2018-2022) and regulatory conflicts surrounding prosti-tution (2018-2022), respectively. See http://www.uni-augsburg.de/keller

 

Prof. Dr. Wolf Schünemann is a political scientist, he currently holds a position as assistant professor for Internet and Politics at Hildesheim University. He is the founder and leader of the Data Science Lab and a member of the directorate of the Center for Digital Change at Hildesheim University. His research interests cover various questions concerning the governance of digitalisation, including data pro-tection, AI regulation or the fight against hate speech and disinformation. In recent works, he has presented a theoretical explanation for re-nationalisation in online content control and developed measurement techniques for transnational commu-nication flows. Since his doctoral studies, Wolf has applied SKAD in a successive number of studies to different research objects in the realm of politics. In an at-tempt to drive methodological development further, he combines SKAD with quan-titative discourse analysis as well as network analytical methods for the empirical inquiry into online discourse and communication, using large amounts of data. See https://www.uni-hildesheim.de/fb1/institute/institut-fuer-sozialwissenschaf-ten/politikwissenschaft/mitglieder/professorinnen-und-professoren/poli-tikschuenemann/

 

 

References

 

Keller, R. (2011): The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD). In: Human Studies, 34 (1), pp. 43-65.

 

Keller, R. (2012): Entering Discourses: A New Agenda for Qualitative Research and Soci-

ology of Knowledge. In: Qualitative Sociology Review, Vol. VIII Issue 2, pp. 46-55.

 

Keller, R. (2013): Doing Discourse Research. An Introduction for the Social Sciences. London: Sage.

 

Keller, R. (2014): Comparing Discourse Between Cultures. A Discursive Approach to Move-ment Knowledge. In: Baumgarten, B., Daphi, P., Ulrich, P. (Eds.): Conceptualizing Culture in Social Movement Research. Hampshire: Palgrave, pp. 113-139 (with P. Ullrich).

 

Keller, R./Hornidge, A./Schünemann, W. (Eds.) (2019): The Sociology of Knowledge Ap-proach to Discourse. Investigating the Politics of Knowledge and Meaning-Making. London: Routledge.

 

Keller, R. (2023): The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse. A Research Agenda. New York: Springer (translated from the 3rd German edition, in prep).

 

Focus on political science:

 

Schünemann, W. (2017). Almost the same stories: Narrative patterns in EU treaty refer-endums. National Identities, 19(2), pp. 199-214.

 

Wu, A.X. (2012). Hail the independent thinker: The emergence of public debate culture on the Chinese Internet. International Journal of Communication, 6, pp. 2220-2244.

 

 

General conditions for participation

 

1. Participants who have received preliminary confirmation must pay all fees as-sociated with workshop participation within four weeks after initial confirma-tion. Should payment not be received at this time, their right to participate is forfeit.
2. Paying the appropriate fee within the allocated timeframe grants participants access to a workshop. Participants may transfer their right to participate to another person with the organisers’ permission.
3. Participants may withdraw from workshops up to 4 weeks before the event. Participants will receive a refund in this case. Fees cannot be refunded if a participant withdraws after this time.
4. In case that the workshop must be cancelled by the organisers due to force majeure, all fees will be refunded.
   
5. The organisers take no responsibility for damage to or loss of electronic and other equipment.
6. Exceptions for international applicants: Non-EU residents may ask to pay their fees in cash upon commencement of the workshop if the costs incurred by in-ternational money transfers are unreasonably high. Please indicate that you require this exception within 10 working days of receiving your preliminary con-firmation. The organisers may require further information or guarantees to be provided for participants to qualify. The decision to grant this exception lies solely with the organisers.
7.  Please note that depending on the Corona situation in September 2022, partic-ular university campus regulations (such as proof of vaccinations, obligatory mask wearing) might apply.