Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

TY  - JOUR
JO  - Anthropologie (Brno)
TI  - For whom the texts toll: styles, discourses, and genres in Czech archaeological community
AU  - Sosna D
Y1  - 2013
VL  - 51
IS  - 2
PB  - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic
SN  - 0323-1119
SP  - 285
EP  - 299
KW  - Critical discourse analysis
KW  - Language
KW  - Rhetoric
KW  - Scientific writing
N2  - 
N2  - Archaeological theories and methods are communicated via language that shapes practices of different archaeological communities. Some of these communities wonder about their failures to spread their ideas beyond the limits of their own intellectual territories. Since written texts are central to knowledge sharing in contemporary archaeology, they represent an ideal target for the investigation of incompatibilities that exist among archaeological communities. It is not just the substantial dimension of texts that scholars consume but also the underlying assumptions and discursive practices that have considerable impact on the acceptance and pervasiveness of scientific ideas. In this paper I present the results of critical discourse analysis of a sample of texts about prehistory from 1854 to 1954 published in the Czech archaeological journal Pamatky archeologicke. This study allows us to trace the long development of language vis-a-vis the social world of archaeologists. Genres, styles, and discourses provide the analytical dimensions for understanding differences in thinking and writing between the community involved in creation and perpetuation of the journal and the large archaeological communities. The results indicate that discursive practices related to language play a critical role not only in dissemination of knowledge but also in formation of ideas about the nature of archaeology as a discipline.
ER  -