Down representation and conflicts with the different: discursive aspects of the Clarinha project, a doll with traces of Down Syndrome

Abstract

This article is part of a broader project entitled "Inclusion, representation and identity construction of minorities and vulnerable groups in the media", which uses the theoretical and methodological framework of Critical Discourse Analysis proposed by Norman Fairclough. The focus of this project is on the silencing of these groups, even when they seem to be inserted in the media, and on the discursive conflicts that emerge from this attempt of inclusion. The corpus of this study is composed of two texts: one published in "Época" magazine, before the release of "Clarinha" – a doll with traces of Down syndrome; and the other published in the newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" after the doll’s release. The analysis indicates the presence of discursive hybridism, indicating different views of the group that the doll represents, pointing out to a tension between the social sphere and advertising goals. This conflict indicates a general inability to deal with diversity.