Intensifying resistance through complexification: a positive discourse analysis of the portrayal of Amazighs in a selected Moroccan EFL textbook

ABSTRACT

Although critical discourse analysis (CDA) sets out to investigate both oppressive and progressive discourses, the vast bulk of published studies seem to prioritize the former. This paper is a response to scholarly calls to engage with (non)oppressive discourses by integrating positive impulses in critical discourse analysis, and thus contribute to the growth of positive discourse analysis (PDA), a complement to CDA, which attends to the emancipatory mechanisms of resistance. Using a combination of theoretical tools, this paper takes a case study approach to explore the potentials of ‘complexification’ [Macgilchrist, F. (2007). Positive discourse analysis: Contesting dominant discourses by reframing the issues. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines, 1(1), 74–94], a counter-discursive strategy for propelling marginal discourses into the dominant official school discourse. Specifically, the paper discusses three layers of complexification found in a selected Moroccan EFL textbook which has been developed, approved and distributed by the Moroccan Ministry of Education, and has been required to be used in every school, public or private. The analysis highlights the role this textbook plays in promoting emancipatory and progressive discourses about Amazigh social actors, and hence, signals a new shift in analytic focus by illuminating a concrete application of PDA in education curricula.

KEYWORDS:

• Complexification
• normalization
• positive discourse analysis
• textbooks
• resistance
• Amazighs
• Morocco
• emancipation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Khalid Said

Khalid Said is a professor of applied linguistics at the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco; e-mail: [email protected]. His research interests center on textbook studies, Critical Discourse Analysis, curricular ethnic narratives, critical pedagogy, and foreign language teaching and learning.

Taoufik Jaafari

Taoufik Jaafari is currently a professor of Language Policy and Language Planning. He is the coordinator of the Moroccan American Studies Master program. In fact, he is one of the founding members of the English department at the Faculty of letters and Human Sciences Benmsik. He is also an active member within the center of doctoral studies: Language and Transculturalism. His main areas of academic interest include ‘Language policy and Language Planning’, ‘Educational policy’, ‘Ethics and Citizenship Education’, ‘Applied Linguistics’ and ‘Study Skills’.

Belqassem Laghfiri

Belqassem Laghfiri is a lecturer of linguistics at the faculty of letters and Human Sciences in Marrakech, Morocco. His research interests include phonology, morphology, syntax, sociolinguistics and historical linguistics.