A Critical Discourse Analysis of Victims’ Narratives in Stella Dimoko Korkus’ Domestic Violence Diary

Abstract

This paper explores victims’ narratives in Stella Dimoko Korkus’ Domestic Violence Diary 1-4 by means of critical discourse analysis. The study specifically explores the discursive strategies deployed in the victims’ narratives and analyses their ideological functions as resistant discourse against domestic violence (henceforth, DV). The data comprise fifteen (15) purposively selected narratives relayed by victims of DV in Stella Dimoko Korkus’ weblog. The weblog was purposively selected because of its thematic global collection of narratives from victims of DV. The work employs van Dijk’s ideological square approach to critical discourse analysis as theoretical framework. Findings from the analysis reveal that the victims, by means of diverse discursive strategies, advertently create polarisation structures and cognitions that represent themselves (the victims) as the dominated group, and their abusers as the dominant group. The study, therefore, foregrounds the role of Stella Dimoko Korkus’ Domestic Violence Diary weblog in the instantiation of victims’ resistance against DV. The significance of Stella Dimoko Korkus’ Domestic Violence Diary as discourse of resistance against DV and of solidarity with women- victims of DV is thus illustrated.