By Oscar Iván Londoño Zapata
Los Estudios del Discurso. Miradas Latinoamericanas I, by Oscar Iván Londoño Zapata constitutes an original introduction to discourse studies in general, and to the development of discourse studies in Latin America in particular.
Building on the work of the foundational authors from the region included in this volume —Adriana Bolívar, Teresa Carbó, Julieta Haidar, Anamaría Harvey Arellano, Elvira Narvaja de Arnoux y María Laura Pardo— Londoño, through a series of interviews, maps out an overview of the variety of approaches to discourse studies that can be found across Latin America. The issues addressed in each chapter reveal a wide view of the possibilities within the study of discourse: academic, political, legal, journalistic, advertising, and media, among others. These views are not ascribed to a single method, model, analytical approach or perspective, and the interview genre adds a level of richness by sharing with the reader a more candid take on these authors’ theoretical choices, key relationships, and research trajectories.
Each interview is preceded by a brief contextualization by Londoño that situates researchers within their subfields or areas of specialization; a feature often missing from edited collections like this one. The book also includes a valuable prologue by Teun A. van Dijk, highlighting the relevance of discourse studies in Latin America, and the remarcable protagonism of women in the regional field.
