From “little flu” to genocide

meaning displacements and inversions during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

From the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Brazil, this paper analyzes the meaning effects attached to the term “little flu” as a catalytic index of the paraphrasing in the discursive formations (ORLANDI, 1999). The central hypothesis refers to the fact that the movement of meaning displacement and inversion (PÊCHEUX, 1990) is based on class struggles, since it is considered as a central engine to the process. In order to foster a neoliberal austerity policy strategy, the government of Jair M. Bolsonaro minimizes the effects of the new coronavirus by using the term “little flu”. However, we notice that the representational dynamics of the pandemic is inverted as the policy practiced by the president provokes deaths and attacks on the working class. The research points out that discourse constitutes a web of imaginary formations where meanings are stitched into the dynamic twists of Discursive Formations (PÊCHEUX, 2014).