Open AccessA Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Incognegro (2008)
Author(s) -
Marilyn M. Albert
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of languages, literature and linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2972-3108
pISSN - 2382-6282
DOI - 10.18178/ijlll.2021.7.4.307
Subject(s) - oppression , racism , systemic functional grammar , grammar , sociology , power (physics) , critical discourse analysis , gender studies , ethnic group , identity (music) , linguistics , art , aesthetics , anthropology , philosophy , political science , law , politics , physics , quantum mechanics , ideology
This study attempts to conduct a multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) of Incognegro (2008), a graphic novel by Mat Johnson and arts by Warren Pleece, by applying Michael Halliday’s theory of the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) (1994) for the written texts, i.e. the captions found on the images, and Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen’s Grammar of Visual Design (GVD), or what has been recently called Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) (1996) for the images themselves. The study employs, as well, Teun A. van Dijk’s modal of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (2004), in which power, racism, segregation, oppression, ethnicity, inequality, discrimination, identity, superiority, inferiority, dominant groups, and dominated groups are being analyzed. The study aims at showing the inequality, the oppression, the racial discrimination, and the exercised power Negroes previously suffered (1930s) in America, the land of freedom, and how this suffering is depicted through graphic novels for historical documentation. The study shows that the Whites considered themselves the dominant group, whereas the Negroes were treated as slaves, not even equal to human beings, and hence are recognized to be the oppressed and the dominated group.