Abstract:

This article aims at exploring the significance of Foucault’s notion of functioning of discourse in the present age of cross-cultural communication. Foucault considers discourse as a set of systematic statements with a topic at its core, which acts as tool to exercise power on individuals or on society. Power according to Foucault is to position the very outlook of individuals or of societies towards social reality. Thus discourse acts as a tool to bring change in the way of thinking towards social realities. This article took the post 9/11 anti-Muslim discourse of international media, intellectuals and government as a baseline to show how this discourse in international media functioned as a tool to position the way people now negatively look at Muslims and Islam around the world. Maltreatment of Muslims around the world has also been discussed to show how significant is Foucault’s notion of functioning of discourse in the present age of cross-cultural communication. It is concluded that as we are living in the era of global village; a single negative discourse can lead to massive malfunctioning in the world. This article will be helpful for the readers of Foucault in understanding his theory; it will be helpful for the general public to understand how they are subjectified and their perspectives about social realities are positioned through discourse in the current age of cross-cultural communication, it will also be helpful for the researcher of this field in discourse analysis.

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