A moment outside time: A critical discourse analytic perspective on dominant constructions of suicide

Dariusz Galasiński , Justyna Ziółkowska

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on definitions of suicide as texts which construct the mainstream view of the suicidal act. In particular, we are interested in two aspects: first, we are interested in how suicide itself is constructed; second, we explore the constructions of those who take their lives. Our argument is twofold: first, suicide is constructed either through its resulting ‘condition’ – death – or as an event which ‘happens’ outside any social or political reality; second, we consequently argue that those who kill themselves are systematically backgrounded in the definitions.