Date of Award
5-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Legacy Department
Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design
Committee Member
Dr. Todd May, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Cynthia Haynes
Committee Member
Dr. Steven B. Katz
Committee Member
Dr. Sarah Winslow
Abstract
This dissertation examines the relationship between diagnostic communication practices and deliberative rhetoric through the lens of Actor-Network theory and feminist theory. Specifically, I argue that Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT) provides a generative framework for tracing diagnostic networks as it accounts for uncertainty, dispersed agency, community stakeholders, and nonhumans. The chapters explore how a networked approach to diagnosis opens up opportunities to reform doctor-patient relationships, expands our conceptions of diagnostic actants, suggests ways to respond to patients living at risk for disease, and broadens our understanding of ethos in healthcare contexts. Furthermore, I also consider how a networked framework can help us comprehend how public misdiagnoses happen so we can prevent them in the future. I conclude by advocating for healthcare providers to reform diagnostic communication practices to account for the agency and expertise of non-specialist stakeholders, particularly patients. I also explore methods for intervening within global health networks and addressing the intersectional problems they collaboratively solve.
Recommended Citation
Gay, Kristen, "Post-Diagnosis: A Networked Framework for Narrative Reassemblage" (2017). All Dissertations. 1899.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/1899