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Disability and anticipatory discourse: The interconnectedness of local and global aspects of talk

Disability and anticipatory discourse: The interconnectedness of local and global aspects of talk

Authors :
Najma Al Zidjaly
Source :
Communication Medicine. 3:101-112
Publication Year :
2006
Publisher :
Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2006.

Abstract

In this paper, I use nexus analysis framework to examine how one quadriplegic man from Oman, named Yahya, directs the course of his present (and his future) through anticipatory discourse. In particular, I analyze conversations between Yahya and me regarding his future as they relate to actions I undertake on his behalf to effect a social change: to secure Yahya, an unmarried man, a permit to hire his own resident nurse/assistant (permits for such hirings are reserved only for married couples in Oman). I demonstrate how Yahya influences me to follow his agenda through constructing a helpless identity in narrative discourse. Reciprocally, I suggest that through the actions Yahya's caregivers subsequently undertake, they succeed in giving him a sense of control over an important aspect of his life (being able to hire his own assistant), and I demonstrate how Yahya subsequently displays agentivity in his narratives. I thus illustrate the interconnectedness of Yahya's anticipatory discourse and his caregivers' (macro-level) actions that cause societal change, as well as the interconnectedness of these actions and the kinds of selves Yahya constructs through anticipatory discourse in private (micro-level) interactions.

Details

ISSN :
16133625 and 16121783
Volume :
3
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Communication Medicine
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....c10808060f6a497cf28c70817b5b734d
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1515/cam.2006.013