REPRESENTATIONS OF TRADITIONAL HEALTH CARE DISCOURSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN MOROCCO: DR MOHAMED FAID’S DISCOURSE AS A CASE STUDY

Resumen

This paper examines representations of traditional health care discourse propagated on social media by a nutritionist called “Dr Mohamed Faid” and other social actors in Morocco. The significant emergence and popularity of traditional healing discourse on social media during the upheavals of the pandemic challenged the discourse created by the sovereign power in Morocco and won the hearts of so many social media users. This study aims at uncovering the rules of production and distribution of such online discourse during covid-19 pandemic in Morocco. The data collection and analysis were based on a qualitative approach consisting of grounded theory and multimodal critical discourse analysis. The data was collected from social media platforms based on the honeycomb framework of social media and a three-layer model of data thickening. The data collected was analysed following a process of constant comparative analysis for coding and category development. In the same vein, multimodal critical discourse analysis was used to cater for the semiotic choices, both lexical and visual, of the analysed discourses. The results of the study reveal that this discourse of traditional health care draws largely on religious beliefs of the Muslim community and popular culture and that this discourse may stand in opposition to the scientific discourse or at times be complementary to it. This discourse, as it can be argued, is culturally conservative and can be easily fuelled by conspiracy theories in the times of uncertainty, fear and crisis.