Ex-Muslims’ Digital Dissent: A Case for Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Enunciative Pragmatics
Ex-Muslims’ Digital Dissent: A Case for Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Enunciative Pragmatics

Summary/Abstract: This article argues for the use of multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) combined with enunciative pragmatics (EP) to study how ex-Muslims articulate critiques of Islam/isms on platform X. It answers in what ways does the combination of MCDA and EP offers a robust approach for analysing ex-Muslims’ discourse, and how it can be operationalised in practice. Unlike prior studies centered on personal narratives or sociological implications, our approach highlights the multimodal and performative nature of online apostate discourse. Drawing on Fairclough, Kress, and Van Leeuwen, MCDA enables analysis of textual, visual, structural, and practical features of tweets, revealing how meaning is produced, critique staged, and power claimed in the digital public sphere. Coupled with EP (Charaudeau), this framework examines how subjectivity, performativity, and positioning are strategically deployed. We contend that this approach illuminates the complex interplay between discourse, ideology, and power among apostates, a dimension still underexplored in current scholarship.

• Details
• Contents