Discursive Illusions
Discursive Illusions
Discursive Illusions (drawing on a combination of the Foucauldian and Faircloughian notion of discourse), I propose as an umbrella term encompassing various forms of public discourses, particularly those associated with politics and media. These discourses can be viewed as an attempt by writers or speakers to convince their audiences that the representation of reality being propagated is the truthful one; an effort to induce audiences to suspend their judgments or interpretations in favor of the writer or speaker’s. Potentially, as all our discourses are ideological, they are also those of illusion. However, within this framework I am interested in discursive illusions that arise from conflict between different representations of reality, and the dynamicity with which these representations can change. Examples can include populist or nationalist discourses, discourses of terrorism or activism, discourses about climate-change or refugees. There are, however, various discourses, such as those of marketing or corporate social responsibility, amongst others, within which discursive illusions are much harder to discern, primarily due to the relative staticity of their discourses, even though they can appeal to a larger consciousness seeking answers about lifestyle or societal expectations.
I argue that discursive illusions are created when writers and speakers, through various modalities (e.g., press conferences, speeches, news reports) seek to legitimatize their representation of reality. The discourse here itself becomes the modality- the medium through which meaning, or argument is formed, whether through speech, texts, or any other multimodality. These discourses shape and are shaped by society and have real world impact.
Digital Professions
Digital Influencers and Online Expertise
Based on data from beauty vlogs published by well-known YouTubers, this book explores how they discursively negotiate multiple identities in a creative and participatory space, giving rise to complexities in the definition of categories such as expert, layperson, learner, and teacher in fluid and dynamic digital contexts.
In this insightful book. I explore here the interdiscursive construction of identity on YouTube. Taking a multi-methodological approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, I examine beauty vlogs at the levels of socio- cognition, language, and genre to provide a better understanding of some of the measures of success and effect as well as new practices of expertise in online communication. The book contributes to a better understanding of how young people work online, often collaboratively, to conform to or resist mainstream notions of expertise, authenticity, race, and beauty, as well as the linguistic and semiotic tools they use to perform their identity, in order to become digital entrepreneurs and cultural influencers.
​
Students and scholars in the field of discourse analysis, situated within the contexts of popular culture and social media, will find this book a valuable read. This volume also enhances the everyday person’s understanding of the complexities of new media communication and a new generation of cultural intermediaries.
Hello
A Bit About Me
I study the discursive construction of social and political phenomenon from a critical discourse analytical perspective. My goal is to better understand how people in society use language in identity-construction and argumentation.
My most recent book (Digital Influencers and Online Expertise: The Linguistic Power of Beauty Vloggers, Routledge, 2023) lends greater visibility to how young people- digital natives - exploit the boundaries between expert and layperson in the discursive construction of expertise through informal tutorializing, indicating how the teaching classroom has grown online in a post-pandemic world, and the importance of co-creation in the process of teaching and learning. My research gives insight into the growing democratization of the digital classroom, whereby learners want to reflect on and make sense of their participation. With the rise of new digital technologies, rapidly growing influence of AI, and post-pandemic, the notions of active learning and community building have become even more pertinent. The reiteration of community, active participation and engagement, and tangible impact offered through further effective digitization of teaching and learning can help enrich the learning experience.
My first book (Discursive Illusions in Public Discourse: Theory and Practice, Routledge, 2015) puts forward a multi-perspective discourse analytical framework, that of Discourse of Illusion, which seeks to theorise and analyse how ideological arguments posed by competing groups are formed and spread in society for the purpose of achieving collective consent. As such, I have done extensive research on media and political discourses, particularly in the contexts of populism, terrorism, digital activism, and public square movements.
I am currently working on the Discursive Construction of Hindu Nationalism and Diaspora Identity in Digital Mediascapes. This on-going project explores the representation of contemporary socio-political Hindu ideology in public discourse regarding various sociocultural and political issues.
​
Resume
Professional Experience
-
Visiting Associate Professor, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2023-
-
Associate Professor, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2016-2023
-
Assistant Professor, Department of English, City University of Hong Kong, 2007-2016
Academic Background
-
Doctor of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2007
-
Bachelor of Arts (Honors), University of Wales, Cardiff, Wales, 2003
Research Interests
-
Critical Discourse Analysis
-
Language and Politics
-
Digital Professions
-
Applied Linguistics
Teaching Areas
-
Critical Discourse Analysis
-
Critical Language and Cultural Studies
-
Popular Culture and English
-
Discourse and the Professions
Awards
​​
-
Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, Faculty of Humanities, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2019
-
Higher Degree Research Excellence Award, Macquarie University, 2007
-
Dell Hymes Commendation for Sociolinguistics, University of Wales, Cardiff, 2003
​
Esteem Measures
​
Select
Publications
Discourses of Terrorism
​
Book
​
1. Bhatia, Aditi. (2015). Discursive Illusions in Public Discourse: Theory and
Practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315776903
Refereed Journal Articles
​
2. Bhatia, Aditi. (2011). Finding Faith and Solidarity: Building Community in Political Press Conferences. Iberica 21, 117-139.
http://revistaiberica.org/index.php/iberica/article/view/331
3. Bhatia, Aditi. (2009). Discourses of Terrorism. Journal of Pragmatics 41(2), 279-
289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.05.016
4. Bhatia, Aditi. (2008). Discursive Illusions in the American National Strategy for
Combating Terrorism. Journal of Language and Politics 7(2), 201-227.
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.7.2.02bha
5. Bhatia, Aditi. (2007). Religious Metaphor in the Discourse of Illusion: George W.
Bush and Osama bin Laden. World Englishes 26(4), 507-524.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2007.00525.x
6. Bhatia, Aditi. (2006). Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Press Conferences.
Discourse & Society 17(2), 173-203. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926506058057
Refereed Book Chapters
​
7. Bhatia, Aditi. (2017). The Discursive Construction of Terrorism and Violence. In
John Flowerdew and John Richardson (eds). Handbook of Critical Discourse
Analysis. pp. 434-446. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315739342
8. Bhatia, Aditi. (2015). The Discursive Portrayals of Osama Bin Laden. In Susan
Jeffords and Fahed Al-Sumait (eds). Covering bin Laden: Global Media and the
World's Most Wanted Man. pp. 20-34. University of Illinois Press
9. Bhatia, Aditi. (2013). World of the Impolitic: A Critical Study of the WMD
Dossier. In Adam Hodges (ed). Oxford Series in Sociolinguistics: The
Discourses of War and Peace. pp. 95-116. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937271.003.0005
10. Bhatia, Aditi. (2006). Language and Ideology in Political Press Conferences. In
Azirah Hashim and Norizah Hassan (eds). English in Southeast Asia: Prospects,
Perspectives and Possibilities. pp. 163-178. University of Malaya Press.
​
Identity-Construction in Digital Professions
Book
11. Bhatia, Aditi. (2023) Digital Influencers and Online
Expertise: The Linguistic Power of Beauty Vloggers. Routledge
​
Refereed Journal Articles
12. Bhatia, Aditi. (2019). Vlogging and the discursive co-construction of ethnicity
and beauty. World Englishes 39(1), 7-21. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12442
13. Bhatia, Aditi. (2018). Interdiscursive Performance in Digital Professions: The
Case of YouTube Tutorials. Journal of Pragmatics 124, 106-120.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.11.001
​
Refereed Book Chapters
​
14. Bhatia, Aditi. (2022). Analysing online videos: A multi-perspective approach to
Critical Discourse Analysis. In Camilla Vasquez (ed). Research Methods for
Digital Discourse Analysis. pp. 177-196. Bloomsbury.
​​​​
Discourses of Populism and Nationalism​
​
Refereed Journal Articles
​
15. Ganaah, John, Nartey, Mark and Bhatia, Aditi (2022). Legitimation in
Revolutionary Discourse. Journal of Language and Politics.
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22002.gan
16. Bhatia, Aditi. (2023). Abrogating Article 370 and Kashmir’s
Exceptionalism: A Critical Discourse Analysis of India’s Bodies Politic. Critical
Discourse Studies.
17. Bhatia, Aditi. (2021). The Discursive Construction of Legitimacy in the
Abrogation of Indian Constitution’s Article 370. Journal of Pragmatics 183, 132-
141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.07.009
18. Ross, Andrew S and Bhatia, Aditi. (2021). ‘Ruled Britannia’: Metaphorical
Construction of the EU as Enemy in UKIP Campaign Posters. The International
Journal of Press/Politics Politics 26(1), 188-209.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161220935812
19. Bhatia, Aditi. (2020). Saffronisation of India: A critical discourse analysis of
contemporary political ideology. World Englishes 39(4), 568-580.
https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12494
20. Nartey, Mark and Bhatia, Aditi. (2020). ‘We prefer self-government with danger
to servitude in tranquillity’: Mythological heroism in the discourse of Kwame
Nkrumah. World Englishes 39(4), 581-593. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12499
21. Jenks, Chris J and Bhatia A. (2020). ‘Infesting our country’ – Discursive illusions
in anti-immigration border talk. Language and Intercultural Communication
20(2), 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2020.1722144
22. Bhatia, Aditi and Jenks, Chris J. (2018). Fabricating the American Dream in US
media portrayals of Syrian refugees: A discourse analytical study. Discourse &
Communication 12(3), 223-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481318757763
Refereed Book Chapters
​
23. Bhatia, Aditi and Ross Andrew S. (2020). The Trickle-Down Effect of Trump: A
Critical Analysis of Populist Politics. In Ruth Breeze and Ana Maria Fernandez
Vallejo (eds). Populist discourses across modes and media. pp. 25-45. Peter
Lang.
​
​
Digital Activism and Public Square Movements​
Refereed Journal Articles
​
24. Bhatia, Aditi and Ross, Andrew S. (2022). ‘We shall not flag or fail, we shall go
on to the end’: Hashtag Activism in Hong Kong Protests. Journal of Language
and Politics 21(1), 117-142. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.21020.bha
25. Ross, Andrew S and Bhatia, Aditi. (2019). #secondcivilwarletters from the front:
Discursive illusions in a trending Twitter hashtag. New Media and Society 21(10),
2222-2241. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819843311
26. Bhatia, Aditi. (2016). Occupy Central and the rise of discursive illusions: A
Discourse Analytical Study. Text and Talk 36(6), 661-682.
https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2016-0029
27. Bhatia, Aditi. (2016). Discursive Construction of the ‘Key’ Moment in the
Umbrella Movement. Journal of Language and Politics 15(5), 551-568.
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.15.5.03bha
28. Bhatia, Aditi. (2015). Construction of Discursive Illusions in the Umbrella
Movement. Discourse & Society 26(4), 407–427.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926515576635
Refereed Book Chapters
​
29. Bhatia, Aditi. (2020). Discursive Construction of the Public Square in Hong
Kong. In Vijay K Bhatia and Jerome Tessuto (eds). Social Media in Legal
Practice. pp. 93-111. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429346088
30. Bhatia, Aditi. (2018). Narratives of Struggle and Legitimacy in the Arab Spring.
In Damian Rivers and Andrew S Ross (eds). Participatory Digital Cultures and
Contemporary Discourses of (De)Legitimization. pp.151-168. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351263887
​
Applied Linguistics/Professional Communication/Miscellaneous
​
Book
​
31. Jenks, Chris J., Lou, Jackie, and Bhatia, Aditi (eds) (2015). The Discourse of
Culture and Identity in National and Transnational Contexts. Routledge.
​
Journal Special Issue
32. Jenks, Chris J., Lou, Jackie, and Bhatia, Aditi (eds) (2013). The Discourse of
Culture and Identity in National and Transnational Contexts. Language and
Intercultural Communication 13(2).
33. Bhatia, Aditi. (ed) (2020). Special Issue on Critical Discourse Analysis and World
Englishes. World Englishes.
Refereed Journal Articles
​
34. Bhatia, Aditi. (2020). Exploring the Englishes of World Politics. World Englishes
39(4), 544-549. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12495
35. Bhatia, Aditi. (2013). International Genre, Local Flavour: Analysis of PetroChina’s
Sustainability Report. Revista Signos 46(83), 307-331.
https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1570/157028891002.pdf
36. Jenks, Chris J., Bhatia, Aditi, Lou, Jia. (2013). Introduction to the Discourse of
Culture and Identity in National and Transnational Contexts. Language &
Intercultural Communication 13(2), 121-125.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2013.770862
37. Bhatia, Aditi. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility: The Hybridization of a
‘Confused’ Genre. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 55(3), 221-
238. 10.1109/TPC.2012.2205732
38. Bhatia, Aditi and Bhatia, Vijay K. (2011). Discursive Illusions in Legislative
Discourse: A Socio-Pragmatic Comparison of Security Laws from Hong Kong
and America. World Englishes 30(4), 481-495. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-
971X.2011.01727.x
39. Bhatia, Aditi and Bhatia, Vijay K. (2011). Discursive Illusions in Legislative
Discourse. The International Journal of the Semiotics of Law 24(1), 1-19.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-010-9178-5
​
​
Refereed Book Chapters
​
40. Bhatia, Vijay K. and Bhatia, Aditi. (Forthcoming). English for Professional
Communication: A Critical Genre Analytical Perspective. In Li Wei, Zhu Hua
and James Simpson (eds). Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics (2nd
Edition). pp.123-136. Routledge.
41. Bhatia, Vijay K and Bhatia, Aditi. (2017). Interdiscursive Manipulation in Media
Reporting: The Case of Panama Papers in India. In Maurizo Gotti et al. (ed).
Power, Persuasion And Manipulation in Specialised Genres. pp. 24-37. Peter
Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b11481
42. Bhatia, Aditi. (2016). Legal necessity or competitive advantage: a critical analysis
of workplace diversity initiatives in Hong Kong. In Jerome Tessuto (ed).
Constructing Legal Discourses and Social Practices: Issues and Perspectives.
pp. 88-105. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
43. Bhatia, Aditi. (2011). Critical Discourse Analysis: History and New
Developments. In Carole Chapelle (ed). The Encyclopedia of Applied
Linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0277
44. Bhatia, Vijay K and Bhatia, Aditi. (2011). Business Communication. In James
Simpson (ed). Handbook of Applied Linguistics. pp. 24-38. Routledge
45. Bhatia, Vijay K. and Bhatia, Aditi. (2004). Global Genres in Local Contexts. In
Christopher N. Candlin and Maurizio Gotti (eds). Intercultural Aspects of
Specialized Communication. pp. 263-281. Peter Lang.