Home Voicing the absented presence of blackness in Canada: a multimodal critical discourse analysis
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Voicing the absented presence of blackness in Canada: a multimodal critical discourse analysis

  • Emilio Amideo ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 11, 2021

Abstract

Canada makes of multiculturalism its trademark in a process caught between a (yet to come) full openness toward cultural and linguistic diversity, and the removal of an ambiguous collective memory rooted in racio-cultural violence. One that at different times in Canadian history considered Black people unwanted citizens, making of their experience an “absented presence” within the Canadian discourse. Drawing on Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, the aim of this essay is to investigate the retrieval of part of that absented presence through an exploration of the 2015 miniseries The Book of Negroes (dir. Clement Virgo) which traces the life story of the West African storyteller Aminata Diallo as she is captured, sold into slavery and then slowly regains her freedom. The essay focuses on the analysis of the different semiotic resources employed in the miniseries and on the way a reflection of their co-articulation contributes not only to the meaning-making potential of the narrative but also to a specific response in the audience. The multiple ‘languages’ of storytelling through which Aminata’s story unfolds emphasise the need for a rethinking of national belonging by way of privileging diasporic affiliations that reject the violence inherent in monolithic and appropriating discourses.


Corresponding author: Emilio Amideo, Department of Literary, Linguistic and Comparative Studies, University of Naples L’Orientale, Via Duomo 219, Palazzo Santa Maria Porta Coeli, Room 1.08, Napoli, Italy, Email:

References

Amideo, E. (2021). Queer tidalectics: linguistic and sexual fluidity in contemporary black diasporic literature. Critical insurgencies series. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.10.2307/j.ctv1m9x337Search in Google Scholar

Baldry, A. and Thibault, P.J. (2006). Multimodal transcription and text analysis. London: Equinox.Search in Google Scholar

Balirano, G. (2015). Framing identities in advertising: a multimodal discourse analysis. In: Balirano, G. and Nisco, M.C. (Eds.). Language, theory and society: essays in English linguistics and culture. Napoli: Liguori, pp. 1–31.Search in Google Scholar

Bateman, J.A. (2012). Multimodality and film. In: Chapelle, C.A. (Ed.). The encyclopedia of applied linguistics, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0824.Search in Google Scholar

Bissoondath, N. (1994). Selling illusions: the cult of multiculturalism in Canada. Toronto: Penguin Canada.Search in Google Scholar

Brand, D. (2001). A map to the door of no return: notes to belonging. Toronto: Vintage Canada.Search in Google Scholar

Browne, S. (2015). Dark matters: on the surveillance of blackness. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1515/9780822375302Search in Google Scholar

Clarke, G.E. (1997). Honouring African-Canadian geography: mapping black presence in Atlantic Canada. Border/Lines 45: 35–38.Search in Google Scholar

Clarke, G.E. (2002). Odysseys home: mapping African-Canadian literature. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.10.3138/9781442659865Search in Google Scholar

Cohen, A.J. (2001). Music as a source of emotion in film. In: Juslin, P.N. and Sloboda, J.A. (Eds.). Music and emotion: theory and research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 249–272.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230143.003.0031Search in Google Scholar

Cooper, A. (2017). Black lives matter – at settlement, confederation, and 150 years later. Monitor 24: 25–28.Search in Google Scholar

Gorbman, C. (1980). Narrative film music. In: Yale French studies, Cinema/Sound, Vol. 60, 183–203, https://doi.org/10.2307/2930011.Search in Google Scholar

Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotics: the social interpretation of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar

Halliday, M.A.K. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar, 3rd ed. Revised by Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. London: Hodder Arnold.Search in Google Scholar

Hill, L. (2007). The book of Negroes. Toronto: Harper Collins.Search in Google Scholar

Hill, L. (2008). Why I’m not allowed my book title. The Guardian.Search in Google Scholar

Hudson, P.J. and Kamugisha, A. (2014). On Black Canadian thought. CLR James J 20: 3–20, https://doi.org/10.5840/clrjames201492216.Search in Google Scholar

Jewitt, C. (Ed.) (2009). The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Kozloff, S. (1988). Invisible storytellers. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520909663Search in Google Scholar

Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Kress, G. (2011). Multimodal discourse analysis. In: Gee, J.P. and Handford, M. (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis. London: Routledge, pp. 35–50.10.4324/9780203809068.ch3Search in Google Scholar

Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: the modes and media of contemporary communication. London: Arnold.Search in Google Scholar

Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203619728Search in Google Scholar

Laforest, M.H. (2007). La magia delle parole. Omeros di Derek Walcott. Napoli: Guida.Search in Google Scholar

Ledin, P. and Machin, D. (2017). Multi-modal critical discourse analysis. In: Flowerdew, J. and Richardson, J.E. (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies. London: Routledge, pp. 60–76, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315739342-5.Search in Google Scholar

Library and Archives of Canada (2018). Black history in Canada [online], Available at: http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/Pages/blacks.aspx (Accessed 20 May 2020).Search in Google Scholar

Machin, D. (2013). What is multimodal critical discourse studies? Crit. Discourse Stud. 10: 347–355, https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2013.813770.Search in Google Scholar

Machin, D. and Mayr, A. (2012). How to do critical discourse analysis: a multimodal introduction. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.Search in Google Scholar

McKittrick, K. (2002). “Their blood is there, and they can’t throw it out”: honoring Black Canadian geographies. Topia Can. J. Cult. Stud. 7: 27–37, https://doi.org/10.3138/topia.7.27.Search in Google Scholar

Muñoz, J.E. (1999). Disidentifications: queers of color and the performance of politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Search in Google Scholar

O’Halloran, K.L. (2006). Visual semiosis in film. In: Halloran, K.L. (Ed.). Multimodal discourse analysis. London: Continuum, pp. 109–130.Search in Google Scholar

O’Halloran, K.L., Tan, S., Smith, B.A., and Podlasov, A. (2011). Multimodal analysis within an interactive software environment: critical discourse perspectives. Crit. Discourse Stud. 8: 109–125, https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2011.558698.Search in Google Scholar

O’Toole, M. (2011). The language of displayed art, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Ortiz, F. (2002 [1940]). Contrapunteo cubano del tabaco y del azúcar. edición de Enrico Mario Santí. Madrid: Cátedra.Search in Google Scholar

Philip, M.N. (1997). A genealogy of resistance and other essays. Toronto: The Mercury Press.Search in Google Scholar

Tan, E.S. (2011). Emotion and the structure of narrative film: film as emotion machine. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

van Leeuwen, T. (1999). Speech, music, sound. London: Macmillan.10.1007/978-1-349-27700-1Search in Google Scholar

Virgo, C. (2015). The book of Negroes. CBC (Canada), BET (USA).Search in Google Scholar

Walcott, R. (2003). Black like who? Writing black Canada, 2nd ed. Toronto: Insomniac Press.Search in Google Scholar

Walcott, R. and Abdillahi, I. (2019). BlackLife: post-BLM and the struggle for freedom. Winnipeg: ARP Books.Search in Google Scholar

Wildfeuer, J. (2013). Film discourse interpretation: towards a new paradigm for multimodal film analysis. New York: Routledge.10.4324/978020376620Search in Google Scholar

Williamson, T. (2017). Canada’s vanishing point. Monitor 24: 19–22.10.1017/S0307472200008786Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2020-07-17
Accepted: 2021-07-05
Published Online: 2021-08-11

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 31.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/mc-2020-0022/html
Scroll to top button