Abstract

LLAMAS MARTINEZ GARZA, Alicia. The Meaning of Silence among La Castañeda Inhabitants in the Turning of the 20^th Century: Methodological Considerations for its Approach. Desacatos [online]. 2013, n.43, pp.15-30. ISSN 2448-5144.

This paper faces the problem of silence using a critical discourse analysis based on the clinical records of three inhabitants under arrest that lived at Mexico's City General Madhouse at the beginning of the 20^th century, in the first ten years of its operation (1910-1920). The concept of silence is introduced as an entity full of meaning and as a sign in itself. It is therefore treated as a discourse that binds individuals with their environment, enhancing its metonymic quality, represented by actions and interactions subdued to the differential positions occupied in the institutional structure, instead of conceiving it as absence of words and subjectivity.

Keywords : silence; discourse; sign; intertextuality; Mexico City's General Madhouse.