Amanda Wise, MA in Professional Communication

Supervised by Philip Vannini, Mandi conducted a critical discourse analysis of how government policy documents shape dominant discourses surrounding the development of Alberta’s oil sands in instrumentally rational ways.

Using Habermas’ concept of the public sphere, both environmental management and public participation were examined as ideologies in which discourse can be grounded to falsely position oil sands development as environmentally sound and publically endorsed. The study culminated in a discussion of how the production of three specific oil sands discourse frames have a negative impact on the quality of communication and debate in the public sphere.

Graduate Study Research Awards