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The Abject Embodiment of Cancer Patients: Dignity, Selfhood, and the Grotesque Body
Author(s) -
Waskul Dennis D.,
van der Riet Pamela
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2002.25.4.487
Subject(s) - personhood , dignity , situated , physical body , self , aesthetics , the symbolic , sociology , psychology of self , psychology , social psychology , psychoanalysis , epistemology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law
The body is the empirical quintessence of the self. Because selfhood is symbolic, embodiment represents the personification and materialization of otherwise invisible qualities of personhood. The body and experiences of embodiment are central to our sense of being, who we think we are, and what others attribute to us. What happens, then, when one's body is humiliating? How does the self handle the implications of a gruesome body? How do people manage selfhood in light of grotesque physical appearances? This study explores these questions in the experiences of dying cancer patients and seeks to better understand relationships among body, self, and situated social interaction.