Constructing HIV/AIDS on the Internet: A Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of Online Narratives in the United States and in China

Authors

  • Jingwen Zhang University of Pennsylvania
  • Huiling Ding North Caroline State University

Keywords:

HIV/AIDS, interpretive description, illness and disease, social construction, research, cross-cultural, online

Abstract

Social constructions of HIV/AIDS have previously been explored in individual countries and cultures; however, little comparative study has been conducted. This article examines how online communications and the rhetoric(s) identified in discussion forum posts reveal and construct the meaning of HIV/AIDS. We explore how Chinese and American discussion forums rhetorically construct HIV/AIDS illness experiences. A rhetorical topoi analysis of 100 most-responded-to posts demonstrates how specific reasoning traditions and sociocultural beliefs shape the interpretation of and responses to HIV/AIDS. The findings suggest that whereas Chinese participants view contracting AIDS as fate and social death, American participants do not share this intense concern with moral criticism.

Author Biographies

Jingwen Zhang, University of Pennsylvania

Jingwen Zhang, MA, is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on HIV prevention and intervention in developing countries and the effects of persuasive messages and communication modalities of the Internet and online social media in the health context. She has published articles in American Journal of Public Health and China Media Research.Phone number: 864-643-9864

Huiling Ding, North Caroline State University

Huiling Ding, Ph.D, is an assistant professor of professional/technical communication at North Carolina State University. Her research interests include intercultural professional communication, health communication, risk communication, rhetoric of health and medicine, scientific communication, comparative rhetoric, writing in the disciplines, workplace communication, and second language writing. She has published articles in Written Communication, Rhetoric Review, Technical Communication Quarterly, etc.

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Published

2014-05-15

Issue

Vol. 8 (2014)

Section

Articles

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