To speak or not to speak : A critical discourse analysis of course literature on so called honor related violence

The aim of this study is to analyze the different discourses linked to so called honor related violence in course literature from term 1 through 6 during the fall of 2018 at the department of social work at Stockholm university. This due to the extensive debates on the subject that implies varied opinions from both media and the research community. To analyze the different discourses, Fairclough's critical discourse analysis is used by looking for modality, transitivity and intertextuality in the different texts. The analysis circles around three different discourses. One is the “us and them” discourse, which differentiates the Swedish ideals from “others” which are portrayed as worse. The second discourse handles “critique against polarization”, which can be connected to post colonialism that criticizes the “us and them” discourse. The third discourse is the “precautionary” discourse that can be connected to social constructionism, whereas the texts leave room for interpretation as they rarely make any certain statements. Throughout all of these discourses we also found that the perpetrator and the victim rarely is spoken of when talking honor related violence, as compared to “normal violence”, and more often structural explanations rather than individual ones were used