'If I can walk that far': space and embodiment in stories of illness and recovery

Sociology of Health & Illness
Emily Heavey

Abstract

Illness and recovery transform embodied experience, and transform the experience of space. Space, in turn, is a valuable resource in the telling of an illness narrative. Starting from a phenomenological perspective that takes the body to be the centre of experience, and hence of selfhood and storytelling, this article offers an argument for and an approach to analysing space as a narrative resource in stories about illness and recovery. Using a case study of one woman's stories about her amputation, it demonstrates how both narrated space and narrating space can be used as devices to structure the narrative and position its characters and interlocutors to construct the narrator's embodied experiences and identities. The article reveals intersections between embodied experience, space, and narrative identity construction, offering a new way of attending to illness narratives and a new way of engaging with narrative space.

References

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Jul 5, 2005·Patient Education and Counseling·Regina OverbergBertie Zwetsloot-Schonk
Jan 27, 2009·The Journal of Rural Health : Official Journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association·Joan R CatesJennifer S Smith
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Apr 30, 2015·Sociology of Health & Illness·Catherine Kohler Riessman

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