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Part of
Developing New Identities in Social Conflicts: Constructivist perspectives
Edited by Esperanza Morales-López and Alan Floyd
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 71] 2017
► pp. 133–158

Chapter 7
Rhetorical analysis of health risk discourse

The 2009 influenza pandemic crisis

This paper is part of my research on public health crisis communication. I have studied the discursive strategies at play in the case of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic within the framework of rhetoric and argumentation theory. Here, I analyse two opposing speeches given at the turning point of the 2009 pandemic crisis: the hearing in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the management of the pandemic by WHO (World Health Organization).

The aim of my study is to highlight the rhetorical nature of public trust as the central attribute of public health institutions’ professional identity. In other words, how these factors – trust and identity – are constructed using arguments, such as the argument from authority or the precautionary principle, and the narratives that give meaning to these arguments.

Keywords: health risk communication, trust, professional identity, rhetorical analysis, argument from authority, precautionary principle, framing, discourse analysis, discourse of pandemic crisis, 2009 influenza pandemic crisis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The social study of risk within a constructivist frame
  • 3.Current rhetorical theory as a toolkit for the social study of health risk
  • 4.The European Council hearing on June 26 2006: Analysis of the speeches of Wolfgang Wodarg and Keiji Fukuda
    • 4.1The speech by Wolfgang Wodarg
    • 4.2Construction of the international health authority and community in the narrative of Wodarg’s discourse
    • 4.3Construction of the political authorities and other national social institutions in the narrative of Wodarg’s discourse
    • 4.4The speech by Keiji Fukuda
    • 4.5Construction of the international health authorities and the scientific community in the narrative of Fukuda’s discourse
    • 4.6Construction of the political authorities and other social institutions in Fukuda’s discourse
  • 5.Final conclusions and interpretations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.71.07gar
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