Urban wall monologues: a critical discourse analysis of graffiti in Granada

Abstract

Graffiti emerge in the cities as powerful tools of communication but also as a spontaneous expression of social criticism. Their complex polyhedral nature has been studied from multiple angles ranging from Sociology, Urban Planning, Criminology, Linguistics or Art Criticism but few studies have adopted a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective, paying special attention to the fuzziness of its communicative nature. The present chapter analyses a corpus of 187 graffiti located in Granada, compiled between 2017 and 2018. Specifically, the study of graffiti unveiled the anti-hegemonic discourse of minority sectors of society who used the city walls to visibilize their voices as well as to claim their predominant role as social actors.