Deconstruction as a Research Strategy for Discourse Studies: An Aporetic and Iterable Model for Opening Discourses
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Nearly sixty years after its introduction by Jacques Derrida, deconstruction remains difficult to apply, due to its resistance to being reduced to a method, analysis, or critique. This resistance stems from its opposition to logocentrism and epistemic closures. Nevertheless, deconstruction must be applied to exist, posing an inherent paradox. Although existing scholarships have proposed various ways to apply deconstruction, many either fail to align with it or are too vague in outlining practical applications. Acknowledging these challenges, this study proposes a minimal model for applying deconstruction in research. The model conceives deconstruction as an aporetic and iterable double-reading strategy, offering an approach that can guide future applications. Unlike other discourse methods that focus on causes, effects, or ideological functions shaping reality, power, identity, or knowledge, deconstruction interrogates the very conditions that make discourse possible. To this end, the proposed model draws on Derrida’s notion of double-reading , comprising two parallel and iterable readings: Double Commentary and Disruptive Reading , which focus on exposing and destabilizing the binary logic embedded in discourses to disrupt their structures of meaning and open them to supplementary interpretations and undecidables, interpretations that resist closure and fixation. By presenting a model with an open and flexible strategy, this study contributes to making deconstruction more accessible as a research practice for Discourse Studies while remaining aligned to deconstruction.
Institution: Radboud University Nijmegen
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,650
OpenAlex ID: W4412544668