[Linganth] Narratives and Performances of "Wellness"

Sat Feb 18 01:50:48 UTC 2017

Hi all,

following up on Steven's email, if you think of the action of masking/concealing as a collaborative performance itself, I analyze in my book the coordinated performances of families and clinicians to conceal bad and uncertain news as well as to regulate public displays of negative emotions, to "protect" children with cancer. In the same way masking/concealing is maintained collaboratively, I also examine the performance of optimism and stoicism, that is, how families, clinicians, and often the children themselves, do "being optimistic and stoic" publicly when they are together, when they are on stage. Back stage is a different story. 

Clemente, I. (2015). Uncertain Futures: Communication and Culture in Childhood Cancer Treatment. Oxford & New York: Wiley Blackwell.

Also, if you go all the way back to Glaser and Strauss (1965) and to Bluebond-Langner (1978), the concept of "mutual pretense" seems to fit quite nicely with what you are describing: how participants in an group mask ailments, injury, or other things to maintain status and ensure continued participation in the group. In context of terminal illness, patients go along with the mutual pretense that everything is fine despite the fact that they know they are dying. Everybody knows the patient is dying but everybody pretends that s/he is not. Bluebond-Langner expands on Glaser and Strauss and argues that dying children, despite knowing that they are dying, participate in mutual pretense in order to avoid social exclusion and abandonment, "a fate worse than death itself." In other words, dying children engage in mutual pretense to continue participating in society. As long as everybody pretends that children will grow up, everybody has a social role to fulfill and the social order is maintained: doctors cure patients, parents take care of children, and children grow up and become adults. 

Bluebond-Langner, M. (1978). The Private Worlds of Dying Children. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1965). Awareness of dying. Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co.

If I confused you more than helped you, let me know!
Ignasi

On Feb 17, 2017, at 7:06 PM, Steven Black <stevepblack at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> If I'm understanding correctly, the object of inquiry is people masking injuries in performance ensembles. I don't think there is anything specifically on this topic, but combining a few relevant bodies of literature could be useful. E. g. 
> 
> Deception, sincerity... including Goffman's classic work in presentation of self, perhaps Susan Blum's work? And others? I have a piece in Ethos on disclosure and performance that probably isn't relevant but might have something in it for you. 
> 
> Performance and embodiment: including Haviland's piece on "Musical Spaces"; my piece "the intersubjective space-time of a Zulu gospel choir..." in Social Semiotics might be relevant, as might Devon Hinton's piece on flexibility primers in the Handbook of Medical Ethnomusicology. 
> 
> Then narrative: all the work mentioned, plus that of Elinor Ochs. I also have a piece in Pragmatics and Society "narrating fragile stories..." that may touch on some topics of relevance. 
> 
> I'd be happy to send along a more comprehensive bibliography on embodiment, performance, and language if you email me directly. 
> 
> Take care,
> Steve Black
> 
> Please excuse any typos (sent via mobile device)
> 
> Steven P. Black
> Chair of the Committee on Ethics of the American Anthropology Association
> Department of Anthropology
> Georgia State University
> 
> On Feb 17, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Eleanor Wynn <eleanorwynn3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Are people reading Deleuze?
>> 
>> This tome, which you might get from your library, applies assemblages theory to health.
>> 
>> https://www.amazon.com/Assemblages-Health-Deleuzes-Empiricism-Ethology/dp/9401788928/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487372797&sr=1-4&keywords=deleuze+health
>> 
>> On Fri, Feb 17, 2017 at 12:36 PM, Benjamin Smith <bnjmn99 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> In addition to the lovely pieces already cited, I'd recommend taking a look at Jim Wilce and Sonya Pritzker's work. If I may, I'd also suggest browsing some of my own work on "authenticity/real selfhood" in therapeutic discourse (discover-able here: https://sonoma.academia.edu/BenjaminSmith). Good luck with what sounds like an interesting project.
>> 
>> Ben  
>> 
>> On Fri, Feb 17, 2017 at 11:46 AM, Charles Briggs <clbriggs at berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> I would add Summerson Carr's wonderful Scripting Addiction. I've worried about narratives, wellness and disease a bit in a few books, Stories in the Time of Cholera, Making Health Public, and Tell Me Why My Children Died. But there's a lot more out there. The Mattingly and Garro  Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing is very helpful, for example.
>> Charles
>> 
>> On 2/17/17 11:22 AM, Deborah Keller-Cohen wrote:
>>> You might try some of Cheryl Mattingly's work on narrative in the practice of occupational therapy. 
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Feb 17, 2017 at 2:08 PM, Michael H. Agar <magar at umd.edu> wrote:
>>> Showing my age here, but Erve Goffman keeps coming to mind, especially as he combines "presentation of self" with "forms of talk." Phil Manning did an overview of his work – see URL below.
>>> 
>>> Hope that helps.
>>> 
>>> Mike
>>> 
>>> 
>>> https://www.amazon.com/Erving-Goffman-Sociology-Contemporary-Thinkers/dp/0804720266/ref=sr_1_36?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487358064&sr=1-36&keywords=erving+goffman
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Feb 17, 2017 at 10:29 AM, Peterson, Leighton C. <lpeterson at miamioh.edu> wrote:
>>> Hello All,
>>> 
>>> I have a student working on a project we are tentatively calling "Narratives and Performances of Wellness," where she is interested in how participants in an organized arts/music group mask ailments, injury, or other things to maintain status and ensure continued participation in the group.  Methodologically we are not having an issue (but if you have suggestions, please advise!). However, we are having a bit of a problem locating linganth/siociolinguistic/linguistic work related to the subject matter at hand.  Any resources you could suggest would be most appreciated.
>>> 
>>> best,
>>> 
>>> leighton
>>> 
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>>> Deborah Keller-Cohen
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>> 
>> 
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