Research Article
Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Texts on Unexplored Marine Discoveries: Constructing Mystery and Wonder
Ali Kareem Ali*
Issue:
Volume 1, Issue 1, September 2026
Pages:
1-5
Received:
27 July 2026
Accepted:
5 August 2026
Published:
20 August 2026
Abstract: This study applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine how contemporary news media construct discourses of mystery and wonder around unexplored marine discoveries, including deep-sea exploration, newly documented species, submerged geological formations, and unidentified oceanic phenomena. Drawing on Fairclough's three-dimensional model of discourse, van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach, and Halliday's systemic functional linguistics, the analysis identifies recurring lexical, rhetorical, and narrative strategies through which media texts frame the ocean as a frontier of the unknown. A purposive corpus of thirty English-language news articles and documentary transcripts published between 2019 and 2025 was analyzed using qualitative textual analysis supported by corpus-assisted keyword extraction. Findings reveal four dominant discursive strategies: (1) the lexicalization of mystery through modal and evidential hedging, (2) the personification and mythologization of marine environments, (3) the strategic juxtaposition of scientific authority with speculative narrative, and (4) the use of visual-verbal intertextuality to amplify affective engagement. The study argues that these strategies serve both an epistemic function, popularizing marine science, and an ideological function, reproducing anthropocentric and sometimes sensationalist framings of nature that can shape public perception of ocean conservation priorities. The paper concludes with implications for science journalism practice and recommendations for further multimodal CDA research on environmental reporting.
Abstract: This study applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine how contemporary news media construct discourses of mystery and wonder around unexplored marine discoveries, including deep-sea exploration, newly documented species, submerged geological formations, and unidentified oceanic phenomena. Drawing on Fairclough's three-dimensional model of...
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Review Article
A Man Is Known by His Library (or the Manifold Attractions of a Man Who Reads)
Joseph Kohm III,
Lynne Marie Kohm*
Issue:
Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2026
Pages:
6-17
Received:
15 September 2026
Accepted:
27 September 2026
Published:
20 October 2026
Abstract: A concerning conundrum has appeared in the 21st century regarding men and reading. Men today are not reading. Or at least they are reading less. This essay examines this phenomenon of decline of men and reading in a 21st century context. It bookends a discussion of this singularity with a playful but solicitous discussion of male characters created in the literature of Jane Austen, but uses the popularity of the novels of Jack Carr to offer some solutions. Section I sets forth current demographics on men and reading, works to explain those facts, and tenders a history of the publishing industry that attempts to uncover a perspective of the current state of the topic. Section II then considers what exactly male readers are reading, if anything, and why. Tracing the masculinity factor in literature, this section explores what may be missing in modern literature and why that may be the case. Then Section III applies that analysis to what librarians are saying that men and women of sustainable reading character can do to build their own personal or family library to influence generations to come. Is a man truly known by his library? Or it may be that all is needed to acquire the manifold attractions of a man who reads is a good book in a comfortable library.
Abstract: A concerning conundrum has appeared in the 21st century regarding men and reading. Men today are not reading. Or at least they are reading less. This essay examines this phenomenon of decline of men and reading in a 21st century context. It bookends a discussion of this singularity with a playful but solicitous discussion of male characters created...
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Research Article
Discourse, Power, and Health Behaviour: Communication Dynamics of Medical Male Circumcision in a Culturally Embedded Community
Grace Linet Sitawa Mwanja*,
Abraham Mulwo,
Justine Clemencia Nabulumbi
Issue:
Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2026
Pages:
18-26
Received:
9 September 2026
Accepted:
9 October 2026
Published:
12 November 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.wjjmc.20260101.13
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Abstract: Medical male circumcision (MMC) has been widely promoted across sub-Saharan Africa as a key HIV prevention strategy, yet its adoption occurs within culturally embedded contexts where traditional circumcision holds deep social significance. This study examined how public discourse influences circumcision choices among the Bukusu community in Bungoma County, Western Kenya. Using a mixed-methods design, quantitative survey data (n = 195) were integrated with qualitative interviews, narrative accounts, and institutional document analysis to explore communication channels, dominant message frames, discursive shifts, and lived experiences of communication influence. Results revealed widespread exposure to MMC messaging, primarily disseminated by health workers, community sensitisation forums, and media platforms. Dominant discourse frames centred on health safety, hygiene, disease prevention, professional medical authority, and modernity. Respondents reported that repeated exposure reshaped perceptions of risk and normalised MMC as the preferred circumcision option. Qualitative findings demonstrated strong internalisation of biomedical narratives among initiates and parents, while elders and traditional circumcisers expressed erosion of cultural authority as traditional practices were increasingly framed as unsafe and outdated. Narrative accounts illustrated how cumulative exposure, emotional risk framing, peer reinforcement, and institutional credibility progressively transformed individual decision-making processes. Documentary analysis identified systematic biomedical framing across campaign materials and revealed an overall increase in recorded MMC procedures between 2018 and 2022. Collectively, the findings demonstrate that MMC adoption is not solely driven by biomedical evidence but is fundamentally shaped by communication processes that construct authority, redefine risk, normalise behaviour, and restructure cultural power relations. The study underscores the transformative social power of public discourse in health interventions and highlights the need for culturally sensitive communication strategies that integrate traditional institutions rather than marginalise them. Integrative approaches may enhance both public health outcomes and cultural sustainability.
Abstract: Medical male circumcision (MMC) has been widely promoted across sub-Saharan Africa as a key HIV prevention strategy, yet its adoption occurs within culturally embedded contexts where traditional circumcision holds deep social significance. This study examined how public discourse influences circumcision choices among the Bukusu community in Bungoma...
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