INTERPRETATION OF GENDER IN MERITOCRATIC DISCOURSE AT ACADEMIA: UKRAINIAN CASE

Abstract

The paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of gender as a performative social construct within topical frameworks of critical discourse analysis. Our study considers meritocratic academic discourse as one which manifasts itself in a multitude of ways in communicative action including the binary possibilities that we encounter in language. The communication of a gender in academia involves not just a performativity but also its reception in the meritocratic academic discourse. The study is framed by the context of the current state of the university sector and is based on linguistic and sociological studies at two universities in Ukraine