Institutional Responses to Environmental Pressures

Abstract

In 2004 China began establishing Confucius Institutes at universities around the world with the aim of promoting Chinese language and culture. At their peak, more than 100 operated at universities in the United States. Questions surrounding Confucius Institutes have existed since they first began to proliferate, and in 2018 the federal government responded to those concerns with policy changes tied to federal funding to encourage the closure of Confucius Institutes in the United States. This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine how the language of university press releases relays the ideological and power dimensions involved in the decision to close a campus Confucius Institute in the United States and how the language used in university issued press releases reflects the broader discourse surrounding Confucius Institutes and U.S.-Sino relations.