Collective identity construction in the covid-19 crisis: A multimodal discourse-historical approach

What is it about?

This study explores how the Chinese state-run news agency People’s Daily discursively presented the covid crisis in its mass media by examining the high-frequency topoi and actively constructed national and medical group identities through referential and predicational strategies to mobilize medical workers, unify political stances, boost domestic solidarity, and promote international support.

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Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study integrates a multimodal perspective into the classic Discourse-Historical Approach to more intensively probe into the multimodal ensembles on TikTok during the covid crisis in China. By explicating how linguistic, visual, and aural resources contribute to the formation of positive/negative Self and Others and how the embedded values are influenced by various contexts, we have theoretically offered new insights into the multimodal discursive construction of identity. Simultaneously, these attempts can facilitate the understanding of the official promotion of collective identity in crises in contemporary China.