Breaking free of cancerland: changing the stories we tell about breast cancer
Kuupäev
2025-01-23
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus
Abstrakt
Käesolevas doktoritöös “Vähimaast lahtiütlemine: Rinnavähist räägitavate lugude muutmine" uurin Ameerika Ühendriikides rinnavähki haigestunud naiste autobiograafilisi narratiive. Rinnavähki neoliberaalsest ja individualistlikust perspektiivist vaatlevad lood moodustavad olulise kaasaegse kultuurinähtuse ning on osa ulatuslikust objektide, struktuuride ja tähenduste võrgustikust, mis määravad inimeste arusaamu rinnavähist ning selle üle toimuvaid arutelusid laiemalt. Uurimistöös selgus, et peavoolu rinnavähinarratiivid asetavad enamasti rõhu ellujäämisele ja positiivsele mõtlemisele, isiklikule vastutusele ja heteronormatiivsetele/keskklassi väärtustele, varjutades seega tegelikkuse ja eksistentsi mitmekesisust ning takistades inimestel kaalumast teistsuguseid jutustamisvõimalusi, mis tõstaksid esile taoliste jutustamispraktikate seoseid majandus-poliitiliste huvide ja olukordadega ning kutsuksid esile eetilisemaid ja kogukonnale suunatud lähenemisi. Lisaks peavoolu rinnavähinarratiivide kriitikale ja diskussioonile erinevatest teguritest, mis neid kujundavad ja neile kaalu annavad, panen ette pöörduda kriitiliste autobiograafiliste rinnavähilugude ehk vastandnarratiivide poole, mis tõrguvad vastu “võitjate“ ehk “sangarite“ loojutustamise mustrile. Analüüsin kolme sellist narratiivi ning vaatlen neid seoses nii nende eripära kui ka ’aktivistlike’ omadustega. Väidan, et erinevad lood (mis ei rõhuta sidusust ja kangelase enesearengut; ei räägi rangelt individualistlikust vaatepunktist; ei järgi kirjutamiskursuste ja käsiraamatute juhiseid, kuidas kirjutada tänapäeval edukat memuaari) võivad aeglaselt ja järk-järgult kuuldavaks teha marginaliseeritute hääled ja aja jooksul viia eetilisemate eksistentsiviisideni.
In this dissertation, Breaking Free of Cancerland: Changing the Stories We Tell About Breast Cancer, I examine autobiographical narratives written by women with breast cancer in the U.S. These stories, looking at breast cancer from a neoliberal, individualist perspective, constitute a big contemporary cultural phenomenon as well as part of an extensive network (of objects, structures, and meanings) that determines people’s perception of breast cancer and, consequently, what happens or does not happen on a broader level about it. In my research, I found that mainstream breast cancer narratives mostly emphasize survivorship and positive thinking, personal responsibility and heteronormative/middle class values of life. In doing so, they obscure different realities and modes of existence, and preclude people from considering different responses to this storytelling epidemic, such that might foreground its links to economic-political interests and circumstances, and elicit more ethical and community-oriented approaches. Alongside my critique of mainstream breast cancer stories and a discussion of various factors that shape them and keep them in currency, I suggest turning to counter-narratives – critical autobiographical breast cancer stories that resist the storytelling pattern of winners’/heroes’ tales. I analyze three such narratives that stood out for me and I look at them in connection to their own specific features and with respect to their activist qualities. I maintain that different stories (not emphasizing coherence and the hero’s self-development, not told from a strictly individualist point of view, not following the instructions of writing courses and manuals on how to write a successful memoir today) can slowly and gradually make the minoritarian voices heard and, over time, lead to more ethical ways of existence.
In this dissertation, Breaking Free of Cancerland: Changing the Stories We Tell About Breast Cancer, I examine autobiographical narratives written by women with breast cancer in the U.S. These stories, looking at breast cancer from a neoliberal, individualist perspective, constitute a big contemporary cultural phenomenon as well as part of an extensive network (of objects, structures, and meanings) that determines people’s perception of breast cancer and, consequently, what happens or does not happen on a broader level about it. In my research, I found that mainstream breast cancer narratives mostly emphasize survivorship and positive thinking, personal responsibility and heteronormative/middle class values of life. In doing so, they obscure different realities and modes of existence, and preclude people from considering different responses to this storytelling epidemic, such that might foreground its links to economic-political interests and circumstances, and elicit more ethical and community-oriented approaches. Alongside my critique of mainstream breast cancer stories and a discussion of various factors that shape them and keep them in currency, I suggest turning to counter-narratives – critical autobiographical breast cancer stories that resist the storytelling pattern of winners’/heroes’ tales. I analyze three such narratives that stood out for me and I look at them in connection to their own specific features and with respect to their activist qualities. I maintain that different stories (not emphasizing coherence and the hero’s self-development, not told from a strictly individualist point of view, not following the instructions of writing courses and manuals on how to write a successful memoir today) can slowly and gradually make the minoritarian voices heard and, over time, lead to more ethical ways of existence.
Kirjeldus
Märksõnad
doktoritööd