The electoral program in Pará state division plebiscite and the use of patriotic discourse for the symbolic construction of the territory and agents involved

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the construction of patriotic discourse to represent the territory and the dominant agents in an electoral program of the campaign for the division plebiscites of the Pará state. The program was broadcasted during the Free Electoral Time in television, in 2011. The study is grounded on the Critical Genre Analysis theory (BONINI, 2013, 2011; MOTTA-ROTH, 2013), which focuses on genre in terms of its participation in shaping social reality and its role in maintaining asymmetrical power relations in context of social practices. The approach also draws on the theoretical and methodological contributions of Critical Discourse Analysis, based on the studies developed by Fairclough (2008) and those of Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999). The results of the analysis show: the use of traditional and hegemonic Pará identity to defend the “no separation” position, adding to the patriotic discourse the discourse of fear, the militant discourse and the usurpation discourse. The pro-separation citizen is attributed the image of the “other”, the “separatist”, as opposed to “we”, defenders of “full Pará”.

Keywords

• práticas sociais e gêneros do discurso
• programa eleitoral
• discurso patriótico