Sociodiscursive representations about leprosy in educational campaigns: implications on stigma reduction

ABSTRACT Objectives: to analyze the socio-discursive representations about leprosy produced in posters of educational campaigns of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Methods: a documentary and discursive research about posters of campaigns about leprosy produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and available on Google Search Images. For the analysis, we used the Critical Discourse Analysis approach and the Grammar of Visual Design. Results: the socio-discursive representations of leprosy are based on the biomedical ideology, through a normative-curative discourse that focuses on the dermatological manifestations of the disease. Regarding the construction of the compositional space, there are posters that emphasize the meaning that the disease does not prevent affectionate relationships, and others highlight as “new” the clinical manifestations of the disease. Final Considerations: the normative-curative discourse produced in the campaigns is not enough to face stigma related to the disease. For leprosy to be understood as a common chronic disease, it is first necessary to fight the “social leprosy”: the stigma.

摘要：研究目的为分析巴西卫生部麻风病教育宣传海报中所呈现的麻风病社会话语表征。研究方法：本研究为文献与话语研究，分析对象为巴西卫生部制作、可在谷歌图片搜索（Google Search Images）中获取的麻风病防治宣传海报；分析过程采用批判性话语分析（Critical Discourse Analysis）与视觉设计语法（Grammar of Visual Design）两种分析框架。研究结果显示，麻风病的社会话语表征以生物医学意识形态为基础，通过聚焦该疾病皮肤临床表现的规范性-治疗性话语展开。在版面空间建构层面，部分海报强调"该病不会阻碍亲密关系"的内涵，另有部分海报将该疾病的临床表现标榜为"新型"症状。研究结论：本次宣传活动所产出的规范性-治疗性话语，不足以应对与麻风病相关的污名化问题。若要将麻风病认知为一种常见慢性病，首先需对抗"社会麻风病"——即对该病的污名化。