Written Communication Jul 1990 Open Access

Establishing a Phenomenon: The Rhetoric of Early Medical Reports on AIDS

CAROL REEVES

Abstract

In the first three medical reports on AIDS which were published in 1981 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the writers' primary rhetorical agenda was to argue that a new medical discovery had been made. A secondary agenda was to offer etiological explanations for the new problem. To establish the new disease entity as deserving serious attention, the writers built a sense of mystery by confronting established medical knowledge about immunodeficiency and emphasizing the inability of modern medicine to diagnose and treat the problem. When they explained the phenomenon in etiological terms, rather than confronting the disciplinary matrix, the writers relied on established medical knowledge of infection rates in homosexual males as well as prevailing social views about the dangerous nature of male homosexual activity; consequently, they were able to imply that nothing was mysterious or surprising about immunodeficiency in homosexual males.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1990-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088390007003005
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Topics
rhetorical criticism
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. STRATMAN (2000)
    Readers' Perception of Bias in Public Education Documents: The Case of Ballot B…
    Written Communication
  2. REEVES (1996)
    Language, Rhetoric, and AIDS: The Attitudes and Strategies of Key AIDS Medical …
    Written Communication
  3. RIVERS (1994)
    Studies in the History of Business and Technical Writing: A Bibliographical Essay
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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Show all 26 →
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CrossRef global citation count: 7 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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