Intertextuality and nationalism discourse: a critical discourse analysis of microblog posts in China

Abstract

As an important dimension of contentious politics, online political discourse reveals crucial issues related to ideology, power, and identity in times of political struggle. Drawing on Norman Fairclough’s intertextual analysis approach within the paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis in an online discursive context, this study examines the role of intertextuality in the discursive construction of social movements. It does so by analyzing how different social actors employ discursive tools to construct the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in their online commentaries. Focusing on discourse, genre, and style, this study demonstrates how online texts draw from different intertextual resources and how they echo the broader nationalist discourse in China. In addition, this paper also uncovers how the circulation and combination of these intertextual resources in an authoritarian context form specific constructions of the Umbrella Movement.