The role of facework in navigating trauma: stories from a superdiverse consulting room. 

The role of facework in navigating trauma: stories from a superdiverse consulting room

by Emma Brooks

Using a linguistic ethnographic lens, my research explores the range of resources used by participants during antenatal consultations in a south London hospital. This data analysis workshop focuses on a consultation, where a pregnant patient appears to have an allergic reaction to a routine injection. While the midwife immediately administers emergency adrenalin and the patient suffers no long-term effects, the period of recovery following the incident is observed to involve extensive strategies of repair. I would like to take advantage of working with peers, to explore how Goffmanian conceptualisations of ‘facework’ (1972) can illuminate participant response to unpredictable events.