Blasphemy and persecution: Positioning in an inter-religious discussion
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Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson received his PhD at the University of Birmingham and is currently an Associate Professor in English Language at Hokkaido University in Japan. His research interests are discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, and the study of religious language. His most recent publication is a 2019 article co-authored with Charles Mueller in Language and Cognition which compares the force dynamic relationships and use of metaphor in explanations about enlightenment.
Address for correspondence: Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, Kita 17 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0817, Japan
Email: petthai7@hotmail.com
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Stephen Pihlaja
Stephen Pihlaja is Reader in Stylistics and the Head of the Humanities Research Centre at Newman University Birmingham (UK). His research focuses on the analysis of religious belief and expression in discourse. His most recent book ‘Religious Talk Online’ (2018, Cambridge University Press) investigates evangelical discourse on social media.
Address for correspondence: Stephen Pihlaja, Newman University, Genners Lane, Birmingham, B32 3NT, United Kingdom 0121 476 1181
Email: S.Pihlaja@staff.newman.ac.uk
Miori Nagashima received her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently a Professor of Public Communication at Hokkaido University in Japan. Her research interests are sociology of risk and risk communication. A sample of her main publications includes a co-authored 2017 article (Nagashima and Williamson) in the Social Science Japan Journal entitled, Risk communication and the disposal of radioactive debris: Answering questions without questioning answers.
Address for correspondence: Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, Kita 17 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0817, Japan
Email: miori@imc.hokudai.ac.jp
Masako Wada received her PhD at Hokkaido University and is currently a Professor in Human Life Studies at Fuji Women’s University in Japan. Her research interests are project management, public relations, and the study of media communication. Her most recent achievement in 2018 is as a project coordinator of “Career Development Project for Researchers of Allied Universities” (Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, and Nagoya University), funded by MEXT.
Address for correspondence: Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Fuji Women’s University, Hanakawa Minami 4jo-5, Ishikari-shi, Hokkaido, 061-3204, Japan
Email: wadapmc@fujijoshi.ac.jp
Makoto Watanabe is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at Hokkaido Bunkyo University (Japan). His research focuses on the analysis of the existing and potential public sphere in the political communications in Japan and East Asia in the context of Risk Society. His particular interest is Japanese democracy in the post-Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Address for correspondence: Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hokkaido Bunkyo University, Kogane Chuo 5chome 196-1, Eniwa, Hokkaido, Japan
Email: makotow@do-bunkyodai.ac.jp
Baramee Kheovichai received his PhD in English Language and Applied Liguistics at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is currently a lecturer of English at the Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Thailand. His research interests are corpus linguistics, discourse analysis and metaphor studies. He has published articles on discourse analysis and corpus linguistics in the journal Discourse and Communication and other international journals.
Address for correspondence: Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, 6 Rachamankanai Road, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, 73000
Email: kiao_ra@yahoo.com
Abstract
In May 2017, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, the former Christian governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison. Although he was released in January 2019, his trial and the various reactions it elicited continue to highlight the very sensitive and complex issues surrounding the notion and enforcement of blasphemy and how different communities talk about it. This article focuses on a discussion about the trial between an Indonesian Muslim in favor of the blasphemy charge and an Indonesian Christian opposed to it. Using positioning analysis, it investigates how their conversation in English at a University in Japan exhibited an occasioned, fluid, developing range of evaluative language, both in terms of how they talked about themselves and others. The analysis demonstrates the complex interplay and consistent tension that is often present in inter-religious dialogue, and tracks how a wide array of discourse and contextual factors relate to developing positions, storylines, expressions of social power, and strategies for conflict management. We conclude by highlighting the inherent complexity of the dynamics of such interaction and how it can lead to greater convergence and/or tension, while emphasizing the potential benefits of face-to-face conversations around issues of possible conflict.
About the authors
Peter Richardson received his PhD at the University of Birmingham and is currently an Associate Professor in English Language at Hokkaido University in Japan. His research interests are discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, and the study of religious language. His most recent publication is a 2019 article co-authored with Charles Mueller in Language and Cognition which compares the force dynamic relationships and use of metaphor in explanations about enlightenment.
Address for correspondence: Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, Kita 17 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0817, Japan
Email: petthai7@hotmail.com
Stephen Pihlaja is Reader in Stylistics and the Head of the Humanities Research Centre at Newman University Birmingham (UK). His research focuses on the analysis of religious belief and expression in discourse. His most recent book ‘Religious Talk Online’ (2018, Cambridge University Press) investigates evangelical discourse on social media.
Address for correspondence: Stephen Pihlaja, Newman University, Genners Lane, Birmingham, B32 3NT, United Kingdom 0121 476 1181
Email: S.Pihlaja@staff.newman.ac.uk
Miori Nagashima received her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently a Professor of Public Communication at Hokkaido University in Japan. Her research interests are sociology of risk and risk communication. A sample of her main publications includes a co-authored 2017 article (Nagashima and Williamson) in the Social Science Japan Journal entitled, Risk communication and the disposal of radioactive debris: Answering questions without questioning answers.
Address for correspondence: Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, Kita 17 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0817, Japan
Email: miori@imc.hokudai.ac.jp
Masako Wada received her PhD at Hokkaido University and is currently a Professor in Human Life Studies at Fuji Women’s University in Japan. Her research interests are project management, public relations, and the study of media communication. Her most recent achievement in 2018 is as a project coordinator of “Career Development Project for Researchers of Allied Universities” (Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, and Nagoya University), funded by MEXT.
Address for correspondence: Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Fuji Women’s University, Hanakawa Minami 4jo-5, Ishikari-shi, Hokkaido, 061-3204, Japan
Email: wadapmc@fujijoshi.ac.jp
Makoto Watanabe is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at Hokkaido Bunkyo University (Japan). His research focuses on the analysis of the existing and potential public sphere in the political communications in Japan and East Asia in the context of Risk Society. His particular interest is Japanese democracy in the post-Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Address for correspondence: Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hokkaido Bunkyo University, Kogane Chuo 5chome 196-1, Eniwa, Hokkaido, Japan
Email: makotow@do-bunkyodai.ac.jp
Baramee Kheovichai received his PhD in English Language and Applied Liguistics at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is currently a lecturer of English at the Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Thailand. His research interests are corpus linguistics, discourse analysis and metaphor studies. He has published articles on discourse analysis and corpus linguistics in the journal Discourse and Communication and other international journals.
Address for correspondence: Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, 6 Rachamankanai Road, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, 73000
Email: kiao_ra@yahoo.com
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to the editor, Srikant Sarangi, the two reviewers, and to the participants for their willingness to take part in such a challenging discussion. Funding for this research was provided by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI-16KT008306).
A Appendix
The following transcription conventions were used in the analysis of the conversation:
| [A’s turn [B’s turn] | Used when participant B begins talking while participant A is still completing their turn |
| text (in italics) | Used when a participant speaks in Indonesian |
| <text> | Used when providing an English translation for words spoken in Indonesian |
| <text> | Used when informing the reader of behavior besides speech, such as laughter |
| . | Used to mark a pause in a participant’s speech |
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© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- TEXT & TALK celebrating the 40th ruby anniversary
- Leadership identities: Whose construction?
- How do novels hang together? Characterization as registerial meta-stability
- Bloopers and backstage talk on TV cooking shows
- Blasphemy and persecution: Positioning in an inter-religious discussion
- Rhetorical Structure Theory and coherence break identification
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- TEXT & TALK celebrating the 40th ruby anniversary
- Leadership identities: Whose construction?
- How do novels hang together? Characterization as registerial meta-stability
- Bloopers and backstage talk on TV cooking shows
- Blasphemy and persecution: Positioning in an inter-religious discussion
- Rhetorical Structure Theory and coherence break identification
