Under the patronage of the Dean of the College of Arts, Prof. Dr. Majid Abdul Hamid Al Kaabi, and within the cultural unit program at the college, Prof. Dr. Imad Abdel Latif, Professor of Rhetoric and Discourse Analysis at Qatar University, delivered a lecture entitled: Critical Analysis of Discourse and Narrative Study on the electronic platform of the cultural unit.
The lecture included a discussion of the critical analysis of discourse, a field of knowledge that has settled in recent decades, and concerned with the study of hegemony and abuse of power. It was invested, as a theoretical framework, in the study of political, religious, and media discourse, and was not used much in the study of narration.
The lecture included answering the question: Is critical discourse analysis suitable for studying narrative? The answer is Yes, because the narration is an area of power representation and abuse of power, and because many Arab narrative models discussed this aspect.
At the end of the lecture, the lecturer applied Norman Faircliffe's introduction to a novel, showing what useful results this entry can achieve for the study of narration. Finally, Dr. Imad Abdel Latif recommended the necessity of adapting the critical analysis of the discourse to be appropriate for our environment, texts, and local issues, specifically the issue of colonialism, from which our countries suffer in one way or another. The lecture ended with many interventions that enriched the topic.
It is worth mentioning that Dr. Emad Abdel Latif has taught rhetoric and discourse analysis at Cairo University and Lancaster University in Britain, and worked as a visiting professor at Cambridge University. He is the founder of a contemporary field of knowledge called "The Rhetoric of the Masses", which aims to empower the rhetoric of the masses and study their eloquent responses.
His works seek to consolidate a critical approach to Arab political discourse and to develop Arabic rhetoric. He published more than thirty refereed research papers, and co-authored seventeen books.
He also co-authored - in English - the third edition of the "Islamic Encyclopedia", and the "Oxford Encyclopedia of Eminent African Figures" in its first and second editions (2011-2013). He alone co-translated seven books, including The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric (3 volumes), and The Metaphor in the Discourse.
His books include The New Arabic Rhetoric: Paths and Approaches (2020). Political Discourse Analysis: Rhetoric, Authority, Resistance (2020). Political rhetoric in the modern era: the author, the mediator, the public (2015). The analysis of rhetorical discourse: a study in the formation of concepts and functions (2014). The Rhetoric of Freedom: Battles of Political Discourse in the Time of the Revolution (2013). Strategies of Persuasion and Influence in Political Discourse (2012). Rhetoric and Cross-Cultural Communication, 2nd ed. (2018). Why do the Egyptians Clap? the Rhetoric of Crowd Manipulation in Politics and Art (2009).
