Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2005

“You Just Don’t See Enough Normal”: Critical Perspectives on Infant-Feeding Discourse and Practice

Amy Koerber Texas Tech University

Abstract

Building on Herndl’s concept of critical practice, this article presents a case study of attempts to change the discourse practices surrounding breast-feeding in today’s medical environment. To complicate readers’ understanding of rhetorical agency, resistance, and discursive change, the author considers the rhetorical efforts of two high-profile physicians alongside those of the nonphysician breast-feeding advocates she interviewed. Ultimately, this dual perspective shows that discursive efforts to change medical practices can fail, even when supported by powerful figures within the medical establishment, if the new ideas communicated in such efforts conflict with long-established material conditions.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2005-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651905275635
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Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis qualitative research
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Reed (2018)
    Building on Bibliography: Toward Useful Categorization of Research in Rhetorics…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Lawrence (2015)
    Book Review: Vaccinations and Public Concern in History: Legend, Rumor, and Ris…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Burleson (2014)
    Communication Challenges in the Hospital Setting: A Comparative Case Study of H…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Derkatch (2012)
    Demarcating Medicine's Boundaries: Constituting and Categorizing in the Journal…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Brasseur (2012)
    Sonographers' Complex Communication during the Obstetric Sonogram Exam: An Inte…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

References (16) · 5 in this index

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    Mothers and medicine: A social history of infant feeding, 1890-1950
  2. Barton (2001)
    Design in Observational Research on the Discourse of Medicine: Toward Disciplin…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Barton (2004)
    Discourse Methods and Critical Practice in Professional Communication: The Fron…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Blum, L. M. (1999)
    At the breast: Ideologies of breast-feeding and motherhood in the contemporary United States
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Show all 16 →
  1. Herndl (2004)
    Introduction to the Special Issue: The Legacy of Critique and the Promise of Practice
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. HERNDL et al. (2000)
    Research as Social Practice: A Case Study of Research on Technical and Professi…
    Written Communication
  3. Koerber, A. (2002). U.S. breastfeeding education and promotion, 1978-99: A feminist rhe…
  4. Lawrence, R. A. (1999)
    Breast-feeding: A guide for the medical profession
  5. Martin, E. (1994)
    Flexible bodies: Tracking immunity in the American culture— From the days of polio to the…
  6. Martin, E. (1999)
    Revisioning women, health, and healing: Feminist, cultural, and technoscience perspectives
  7. REEVES (1996)
    Language, Rhetoric, and AIDS: The Attitudes and Strategies of Key AIDS Medical …
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CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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