This paper analyzes the symbolic role of Biosciences in the imagery of life and health, presenting results of observational research of science magazines found on newsstands in three Brazilian cities: Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias and Porto Alegre. It presents a synthetic analysis of the observation of newsstands and the set of covers exposed in them, using illustrative tables, according to a scheme of interpretation of the rhetoric present in these covers. We note that the meanings resulted of image/word symbiosis spread by periodicals, are persuasive tools on the universe of representations and social practices concerning a supposedly healthy lifestyle.Keywords: Social imaginary. Biosciences. Midia divulgation. Rhetoric of life and health.
IntroductionThis article summarizes interpretations of the activities of the project "Culture in the contemporary world: Media dissemination of scientific knowledge and building the social imaginary", developed between 2012 e 2014a (e) , the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), with researchers from the Federal University State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) and State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), presenting a methodological proposal of analysis of selected magazine covers, considering the symbiosis image / word as original nucleus of the rhetoric senses and meanings assigned to life and health as the central focus of our analysis.
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COMUNICAÇÃO SAÚDE EDUCAÇÃOWe favored the illustrative analysis of recurring meanings and representations in the scientific dissemination of vehicles present on newsstands. Our focus was on the science and technology information produced and published by scientists / experts in the publishing scene of newsstands, aiming science education from the sharing of knowledgeWe understand the importance of observing the transition from the scientific debate to the publishing scene, recognizing the social role of the media reporting as a representative construction of reality, capable of producing practical effects, whether they are related to mobilization / demobilization, control / social release 2 . Therefore, we aimed to interpret this rhetoric present in these practices and the ways in which this particular production of meanings can influence the imaginary, assuming occasionally a normative character 3-5 .We tried to identify the symbolic power of Biosciences, generated through continuous reproduction of knowledge on the regulation of health and illness. It constitutes an imaginary impregnated with scientific information, full of senses and social meanings, generated and disseminated through representations, ways of thinking, feeling, acting, and evaluating 6-9 .Although bearers of meanings, the resulting messages are not always made up of words, but also images in a symbiotic process. We understand that to treat them separately, as the linguistic and the semiotic traditionally do, would be insufficient to identify the meanings that emerge from the shared and processed collectively messages. In this process, social representation...