Los discursos de la pandemia. Nuevas estrategias de comunicación del riesgo en un nuevo contexto sociocultural

Abstract

This paper proposes a rhetorical-discourse framework for the analysis of public health crisis. The last epidemic crisis have highlighted the problematical character of definitions of health risk, illness/disease, health, and scientific authority, as discursive social constructions in a global communication context increasingly complex. Using the influenza A (h1n1) pandemic crisis in 2009-2010 as a model, I put forward the main discourse genres involved in the construction of the pandemic as a new social event, and its potential interdiscursive ties. Its connections with the rhetorical-argumentative strategies of the public health authorities in the crisis communication management has been also underlined.