Narrazioni mediatiche intorno al cancro

Journal title SALUTE E SOCIETÀ
Author/s Sebastiano Benasso, Luisa Stagi
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2015/2
Language Italian Pages 16 P. 127-142 File size 88 KB
DOI 10.3280/SES2015-002010
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

After a long time during which the public discussion on it was socially banned, the issue of cancer finally found some places for its social representation. Such a space was initially opened up by some celebrities. The so-called pathographies were in the beginning mostly diary-shaped, while they developed later in multiple expression forms, ranging from videos on YouTube to blogs. This article will especially examine these latter expressions, studying their functions and the discursive repertoires that they adopt and they reproduce in a reflexive manner. In this sense, humour and positive thinking will be considered as major analytical keys for the comprehension of the grammar of these textual forms. Specifically, thanks to the analysis patterns utilised in previous researches, the narrative styles of some Italian cancer blogs, that became quite popular in the media, will be analysed.

Keywords: Pathography, cancer blogger, positive thinking, blogtherapy, disease diaries, media narratives

  1. Anderson A.G. (2014). Cancer Bloggers’ Styles of Humor While Coping with Cancer, University of Texas at Austin – http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/24788/ANDERSON-THESIS-2014.pdf?sequence=1
  2. Anderson J.O., Geist-Martin P. (2003). Narratives and healing: Exploring one family’s stories of cancer survivorship. Health Communication, 15: 133-143. DOI: 10.1207/S15327027HC1502_
  3. Armstrong-Coster A. (2005). In morte media jubilate: a study of cancer-related pathographies. Mortality, 10(2): 97-102. DOI: 10.1080/1357627050010288
  4. Baker J. (2010). Claiming volition and evading victimhood: Post-feminist obligations for young women. Feminism and Psychology, 20: 186-204. DOI: 10.1177/095935350935914
  5. Benasso S., Cossetta A. (2011). From geek to massive: le nuove forme di socializzazione in rete. In: Rauty R., a cura di, Il sapere dei giovani. Roma: Aracne Editrice
  6. Hinyard L.J., Kreuter M.W. (2007). Using Narrative Communication as a Tool for Health Behavior Change: A Conceptual, Theoretical, and Empirical Overview. Health Education & Behavior, 34(5): 777-792. DOI: 10.1177/109019810629196
  7. Holland J. (2000). The Human Side of Cancer: Living with Hope, Coping with Uncertainty. New York: HarperCollins Publishers
  8. Høybye M.T. (2002). Storytelling of Breast Cancer in Cyberspace. Online counteractions to the isolation and demeaning of illness experience. København: Københavns universitet, Videnskabsbutikken
  9. Kim S. (2009). Content analysis of cancer blog posts. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 97(4): 260-266. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.97.4.00
  10. Lupton D. (1994). Femininity, Responsibility, and the Technological Imperative: Discourses on Breast Cancer in the Australian Press. International Journal of Health Services, 24(1): 73-89. DOI: 10.2190/1B6J-1P5R-AXCR-MRNYMcQueenA.,KreuterM.W.,KalesanB.,AlcarazK.I.(2011).UnderstandingNarrativeEffects:TheImpactofBreastCancerSurvivorStoriesonMessageProcessing,Attitudes,andBeliefsAmongAfricanAmericanWomen.HealthPsichology,30(6):674-682.DOI:10.1037/a002539
  11. Pistrang N., Barker C. (1995). The partner relationship in psychological response to breast cancer. Social Science and Medicine, 40: 789-797. DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(94)00136-
  12. Raisborough J., Frith H., Klein O. (2012). Media and Class-making: What Lessons Are Learnt When a Celebrity Chav Dies? Sociology, 47(2): 251-266. DOI: 10.1177/003803851244481
  13. Riggs N.A. (2013). Following Bud: Blogging at the End-of-Life. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(3): 376-384. DOI: 10.1177/107780041350553
  14. Seale C. (2002). Cancer heroics: a study of news reports with particular reference to gender. Sociology, 36(1): 107-126. DOI: 10.1177/003803850203600100
  15. Seale C. (2003). Health and media: an overview. Sociology of Health & Illness, 25(6): 513-531. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.t01-1-0035
  16. Seale C. (2005). New directions for critical internet health studies: representing cancer experience on the web. Sociology of Health & Illness, 27(4): 515-540. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2005.00454
  17. Sontag S. (1978). Illness as Metaphor. New York: Farrar, Straus And Giroux
  18. Sontag S. (1989). AIDS and its Metaphors. New York: Farrar, Straus And Giroux
  19. Stiles W.B. (1987). “I have to talk to somebody”: A fever model of disclosure.
  20. In: Derlega V. e Berg J., a cura di, Self-disclosure: Theory, research, and therapy. New York: Plenum Press
  21. Sulik G. (2011). Pink ribbon blues: How breast cancer culture undermines women’s health. New York: Oxford University Press
  22. Sulik G. (2014). #Rethinkpink: Moving beyond Breast Cancer Awareness SWS Distinguished Feminist Lecture. Gender & Society, 28(5): 655-678. DOI: 10.1177/089124321454099
  23. Walter, T. (2009). Jade’s dying body: the ultimate reality show. Sociological Research Online, 14(5). DOI: 10.5153/sro.206
  24. Walter T. (2010). Jade and the journalists: Media coverage of a young British celebrity dying of cancer. Social Science & Medicine, 71: 853-860. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.06.00
  25. Woodthorpe K. (2010). Public dying: death in the media and Jade Goody.
  26. Sociology Compass, 4(5): 283-294. DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00279
  27. Bingley A., McDermott E., Thomas C., Payne S., Seymour J., Clark, D. (2006). Making sense of dying: a review of narratives written since 1950 by people facing death from cancer and other disease. Palliative Medicine, 20(3): 183-195. DOI: 10.1191/0269216306pm1136o
  28. Boni F. (2005). Media, identità e globalizzazione. Luoghi, oggetti, riti. Milano: Carocci
  29. Cartwright L. (1998). Community and the public body in breast cancer media activism. Cultural Studies, 12(2): 117-138. DOI: 10.1080/09502389833550
  30. Charon R. (2006). Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  31. Cipolla C., Maturo A., a cura di (2008). Scienze sociali e salute nel XXI secolo. Milano: FrancoAngeli
  32. Cipolla C., Maturo A., a cura di (2009). Con gli occhi del paziente. Una ricerca nazionale sul vissuto di cura dei malati oncologici. Milano: FrancoAngeli
  33. Cipolla C., Maturo A., a cura di (2014). Sociologia della salute e web society.
  34. Milano: FrancoAngeli Clarke J.N. (1999). Prostate cancer’s hegemonic masculinity in select print mass media depictions (1974-1995). Health Communication, 11(1): 59-74. DOI: 10.1207/s15327027hc1101_
  35. Coward R. (2014). How to die well: Aesthetic and ethical issues in confessional cancer diaries. Journalism, 15(5): 615-628. DOI: 10.1177/146488491452323
  36. Donovan-Kicken E., Caughlin J.P. (2010). A multiple goals perspective on topic avoidance and relationship satisfaction in the context of breast cancer. Communication Monographs, 77: 231-256. DOI: 10.1080/0363775100375821
  37. Donovan-Kicken E., Caughlin J.P. (2011). Breast cancer patients’ topic avoidance and psychological distress: The mediating role of coping. Journal of Health Psychology, 16: 596-606. DOI: 10.1177/135910531038360
  38. Ehrenreich B. (2010). Smile or Die. How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World. London: Granta Books
  39. Giarelli G. (2005). Storie di cura: medicina narrativa e medicina delle evidenze: l’integrazione possibile. Milano: FrancoAngeli
  40. Giddens A. (1990). The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press
  41. Goffman E. (1971). Modelli di Interazione. Bologna: il Mulino
  42. Goldenberg M. (2010). Working for the cure: Challenging pink ribbon activism. In: Roma H., Wathen N. e Wyatt S., a cura di, Configuring health consumers: Health work and the imperative of personal responsibility. Amsterdam: Palgrave Macmillan
  43. Goldsmith D.J., Miller L.E., Caughlin J.P. (2008). Openness and avoidance in couples communicating about cancer. In: Beck C.S., a cura di, Communication Yearbook, 31 (pp. 62-115). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
  44. Good B. (1999). Narrare la malattia: lo sguardo antropologico sul rapporto medico-paziente. Torino: Edizioni Di Comunità
  45. Green J. (2012). Colpa delle stelle. Rizzoli
  46. Green M.C., Strange J.J., Brock T.C. (2002). Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations. New York: Erlbaum
  47. Gualtieri L., Akhtar F.Y. (2013). Cancer Patient Blogs: How Patients, Clinicians, and Researchers Learn from Rich Narratives of Illness, paper presentato al Convegno Int. Conf. on Information Technology Interfaces, Giugno 24-27, 2013, Cavtat, Croatia
  48. Henriksen N., Tjørnhøj-Thomsen T., Ploug Hansen H. (2011). Illness, everyday life and narrative montage: The visual aesthetics of cancer in Sara Bro’s Diary. Health, 15(3): 277-297. DOI: 10.1177/136345931039797

Sebastiano Benasso, Luisa Stagi, Narrazioni mediatiche intorno al cancro in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" 2/2015, pp 127-142, DOI: 10.3280/SES2015-002010