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Volume 25, Issue 3
  • ISSN 1569-2159
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9862
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Abstract

This paper explores dominance as expressed in discourse during political debate in a U.S. state legislative chamber with a Republican supermajority. In particular, I map the discursive strategies used in the Tennessee legislature during the expulsion hearings of three Democratic lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly on April 6, 2023. Using discourse analysis, I explore how boundaries of power, race, and protest unfold discursively across 6 hours of political debate between supermajority Republicans and minority Democrats. Although the paper offers only a snapshot of the lawmakers’ framing strategies, the study demonstrates that the Black legislators who were expelled from the Tennessee House were linguistically and rhetorically positioned to be deemed worthy of excessive punishment. The findings suggest that forwarding racism and inequality through discourse is one of many facets of the radical right-wing, global movement, and it was reified in the Tennessee Legislature in 2023.

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/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.24090.mck
2025-04-30
2026-05-17

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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): democratic backsliding; gun violence; inequality; racist discourse; right-wing global movement; supermajorities

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