Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Saukko, Paula.

Title The anorexic self : a personal, political analysis of a diagnostic discourse / Paula Saukko
Published Albany : State University of New York Press, ©2008

Copies

Description 1 online resource (viii, 134 pages)
Contents Introduction: interrogating the anorexic self -- Rereading the stories that became me: an autoethnography -- Fat boys and goody girls: Hilde Bruch's work on eating disorders and the American ideal of freedom -- From autonomy to flexibility: news discourses on Karen Carpenter and Princess Diana -- Voices and discourses: layering interviews on eating disorders -- From time-based diagnosis to space-based critical reflection
Summary "Traditionally, women's eating disorders are thought to be strongly influenced by media images idealizing a normative thin female body. Taking a different approach, The Anorexic Self critically examines diagnostic and popular discourses on anorexia that construct narrow and ideal notions of the female self. Paula Saukko analyzes the personal and political implications of discourses on the anorexic self in multiple contexts, including her own experience of being diagnosed anorexic; psychiatrist Hilde Bruch's postwar research on anorexia; and media coverage of Karen Carpenter, Princess Diana, and other women with eating disorders. Saukko traces the history of the discourses from postwar idealization of masculine autonomy to postindustrial valorization of feminine flexibility, and also explores their politically progressive and psychologically healing - as well as sexist and humiliating - dimensions. Drawing on narrative therapy, dialogic theory, and multisited ethnography, The Anorexic Self cultivates a less judgmental and more self-reflexive way of relating to ourselves, others, and societies in which we live."--Jacket
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 117-128) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Anorexia nervosa -- Social aspects
Feminist theory.
Discourse analysis
SELF-HELP -- Depression.
Anorexia nervosa -- Social aspects
Discourse analysis
Feminist theory
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781435658639
1435658639
0791478300
9780791478301