Post-disciplinary Approaches to Discourse Analysis

In many respects, Discourse Analysis is deeply rooted in inter- and trans-disciplinarity, and researchers have gradually acknowledged the relevance of post-disciplinarity to discourse studies. Regardless of the specific methodological frameworks which may aim to understand, explain, or substantiate discourse phenomena, and despite the approaches adopted (be they more nomothetic or idiographic, quantitative or qualitative, descriptive or prescriptive, contemplative or action-oriented), the analysis of discourse can benefit from the overcoming of static disciplinary categories. Post-disciplinarity perspectives do not necessarily equal but do, to some extent, enhance the reconciliation of diverse epistemic communities and the aggregation of isolated specializations. From this viewpoint, this approach should not be confused with eclecticism or a lack of systematicity, but is intended here as a plurality of views transcending fixed categories in order to integrate more dynamic and fluid frameworks which can be adapted to the peculiarities of different phenomena.