A critical analysis of the discourse and reconstructed stories shared by recovering female alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous

This dissertation provides a tripartite reading of recovering female alcoholic discourse. The dissertation seeks to: (1) develop a perspective that enhances understanding of female recovery stories, and (2) privilege female voices of recovery from alcoholism. The concept of linguistic split is identified as the starting point of a rhetorical system. Recovery from alcoholism is viewed within this perspective as a discursive journey that allows women to (re)construct the language systems they use in self-evaluation. Ethnographic tools are used to collect the discourse. Discourse is analyzed through three readings. The polarity of male/female understandings are examined within a reading of Flowers\u27 (1982) individuation toward an androgyne archetype. The polarity of separation/participation is examined within a reading of Shoham\u27s (1982) concept of ontological alienation. The discourse and the readings are re-read through a Lacanian psychoanalytic framework. The synthesis suggests that women in recovery (re)construct stories of dominance, abuse, separation, and power by subverting the dominant linguistic system. Women, in order to recover, begin to enter the language system by speaking a language of feeling. Recovery is a process of creating new anchor points for self-evaluation that force women to encounter their feelings. The readings implicate the dominant language system as one which excludes women. Furthermore, the absence of a language of touch may be sentencing men to silence their needs to talk about pain as well. Conclusions demonstrate the need to privilege and empower the voice of female recovery, suggesting the need for further research and for revision of treatment modalities