A change in focus: from texts in contexts to people in events

While it is undeniable that Latin American discourse analysts have received the influence of European theoretical and methodological approaches, I maintain that when the focus changes from texts in contexts to people in events, new research problems arise, different results are obtained and new or slightly different approaches emerge. In order to show this, I first deal with the development of the Latin American Association of Discourse Studies (Asociación Latinoamericana de Estudios del Discurso – ALED) as a multicultural project that involves several countries. Then I present a general view of the interactional approach I have developed, and which I am still developing in my own cultural context. I shall refer in particular to the categories that I have used in my research related to political dialogue. The paper aims at presenting an overview of advances in discourse studies in Latin America from a regional as well as from an individual perspective, with a view to facing our own social, educational, and political realities and contribute to the debate on theories and methods in discourse analysis.