Performing Identity in “Transforming Poverty Partnerships”: An Extension of Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This article extends Fairclough's (1992) approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) to include analysis of intercultural relationships. In doing so, the author theorizes subject realization and subject actualization as ways to explore ethnographic data. These concepts aid in a critical analysis of class and related performances by participants of 1 U.S. nonprofit organization. This organization, referred to as Transforming Poverty Partnerships (TPP), pairs leaders with middle-class “allies” in attempt to pull them above the poverty line. This analysis reveals the reinforcement of several dominant U.S. ideologies through individual and group performances within the everyday activities of TPP. Moreover, the analysis provides implications for scholars who seek to use a tangible, critical method of analysis for their observations of everyday performances.

KEYTERMS:

• body
• class
• critical discourse analysis