"We rely on the speech of others to position and define ourselves politically." This was stated by Jan Zienkowski, researcher of the project Public discourse of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, on the occasion of his latest book, Articulations of Self and Politics in Activist Discourse ('Articulations of Self and Politics in Activist speech ').

The Issue has been published by publishing house Springer, the fourth best scientific publishing house in the world according to the Scholarly Publishers Indicators.

For the author, discourses and debates show how we conceptualize and create contexts. Furthermore, he considers that we renegotiate and appropriate the discourses of others according to how we interpret them.

Thus, the researcher maintains that debates "determine the contexts that give meaning to abstract categories" such as identity, culture... as they relate to "subjective positions with which one can identify".

Alienation of minorities

In the book, the author also analyzes the speech of minorities and the problems they have in gaining a foothold in the public sphere. In particular, he has studied the case of Flanders (Belgium), where not everyone has the same possibilities to establish the contexts of interpretation of political discourses.

He argues that minorities have barriers to building a speech from civil service examination to the majority, leading to "feelings of alienation." These feelings are what lead them to political activism. He indicates that the projects and commitments of minority members are different, but "all are aimed at counteracting the alienating experiences they encounter in the public sphere."

During his research, Zienkowski interviewed Muslims and immigrants, who were unable to avoid the concept of 'integration' even though they were critical of the dominant speech on this principle.

The researcher considers that "some voices are taken for granted a greater authority". Therefore, he asserts that for a minority speech to be successful, it should be articulated with and within competing discourses in the public sphere. "To make themselves understood, they are forced to draw on the speech of others," he has explained.

"The more aware we are of the workings of abstract political categories and values and self-conception, the more we can broaden the interpretive and ideological view that others have of us and vice versa," he proposes.

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