Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2026

Constructing Transnational Security Logics: The Representation of Mothers and Communities in Global Maternal Health Narratives

Priyanka Ganguly Texas Tech University

Abstract

This article examines United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID's) maternal health (MH) success stories as transnational assemblages that deploy security logics to justify external governance while appearing to celebrate local agency. Through rhetorical-cultural analysis of 25 narratives, I identify three recurring strategies—crisis amplification, representational homogenization, and paratextual techniques—that frame MH as requiring urgent intervention. These stories obscure local expertise and align care with donor-defined metrics and narrative arcs. Findings show that security logics circulate through genre conventions and design templates that normalize intervention as technical and humanitarian. I argue TPC scholars must examine assemblage mechanisms’ role in shaping representation, risk, and care transnationally.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2026-01-01
DOI
10.1177/00472816251384927
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Baniya (2022)
    Transnational Assemblages in Disaster Response: Networked Communities, Technolo…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Participatory Localization: A Social Justice Approach to Navigating Unenfranchi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Frost (2013)
    Transcultural Risk Communication on Dauphin Island: An Analysis of Ironically L…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

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