Pandemic and Crisis Discourse: Communicating COVID-19 and Public Health Strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked critical reflections on discourse practices related to public health issues. This book explores the discursive strategies used in various settings, focusing on the communicative tasks and challenges for speakers and their public audiences. It covers global discourses from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, and New Zealand, using corpus-based data to shed light on these issues from different languages.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 512 pages
Publication date: 22 February 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a multitude of critical examinations of discourse practices related to public health issues. Positioning crisis communication at the forefront of societal and political discussions about pandemic responses, this volume delves into the discursive strategies employed in diverse contexts. By exploring how crisis discourse has evolved into a crucial aspect of managing the public health crisis, this book specifically focuses on the communicative responsibilities and challenges faced by speakers and their audiences in seven key areas:

Establishing discursive and political authority: Examining how speakers and their audiences establish credibility and authority in their communication.

Official governmental and expert communication to the public: Analyzing the strategies used by governments and experts to communicate with the public during a crisis.

Public understanding of government communication: Investigating how the public perceives and interprets government communication during a crisis.

Legitimizing public health management as a 'war': Analyzing how public health management is framed as a military-like endeavor.

Judging and blaming a collective other: Examining how individuals and groups are blamed and judged for their actions during a crisis.

Cross-national comparison and rivalry: Exploring how different countries and regions compare and compete in their responses to the crisis.

Empathy and encouragement: Analyzing how communication can foster empathy and support among individuals and communities during a crisis.

Spanning global discourses from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, and New Zealand, the chapters in this book utilize corpus-based data to shed light on these issues from various linguistic perspectives. Given the ongoing national and international debates surrounding appropriate communicative styles, information management, and 'verbal hygiene,' Pandemic and Crisis Discourse provides an authoritative intervention from language experts.

Weight: 1041g
Dimension: 244 x 169 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350232723