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Abject Relations
Everyday Worlds of Anorexia
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Megan Warin
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2009
About this book
Abject Relations presents an alternative approach to anorexia, long considered the epitome of a Western obsession with individualism, beauty, self-control, and autonomy. Through detailed ethnographic investigations, Megan Warin looks at the heart of what it means to live with anorexia on a daily basis. Participants describe difficulties with social relatedness, not being at home in their body, and feeling disgusting and worthless. For them, anorexia becomes a seductive and empowering practice that cleanses bodies of shame and guilt, becomes a friend and support, and allows them to forge new social relations.
Unraveling anorexia's complex relationships and contradictions, Warin provides a new theoretical perspective rooted in a socio-cultural context of bodies and gender. Abject Relations departs from conventional psychotherapy approaches and offers a different "logic," one that involves the shifting forces of power, disgust, and desire and provides new ways of thinking that may have implications for future treatment regimes.
Author / Editor information
Megan Warin is a social anthropologist who has worked in psychiatry, gender studies, and public health at various institutions, including Durham University, the University of Adelaide, and Flinders University of South Australia.
Reviews
"An intensive, wide-ranging study, the author investigates the meanings of anorexia and the everyday lives of those who suffer from it. Warin offers a brilliant study that departs from conventional psychotherapeutic perspectives and places anorexia in an intriguing sociocultural context. Highly recommended."
— Choice"Warin's book is an experientially grounded, theoretically sophisticated, and accessible account of anorexia that is unique and compelling."
— Signs"Warin has taken the topic of anorexia, which many of us feel that we know something about, and brilliantly cast a whole new light on it. Through vivid ethnography and evocative prose, she ensures that you won't think about anorexia or those affected by it in quite the same way ever again."
— C. H. Browner, UCLA School of Medicine"Anthropologist Megan Warin combines rich multi-sited ethnographic research on anorexic women's lived experiences with a sophisticated theoretical approach based on concepts of abjection and relatedness to offer fascinating and original insights into anorexia nervosa."
— Carole M. Counihan, author of The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning, and PowerTopics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Preface
ix -
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Acknowledgments
xi -
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1. Introduction
1 -
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2. Steering a Course between Fields
21 -
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3. Knowing through the Body
51 -
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4. The Complexities of Being Anorexic
70 -
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5. Abject Relations with Food
99 -
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6. “Me and My Disgusting Body”
128 -
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7. Be-coming Clean
152 -
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8. Reimagining Anorexia
179 -
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Notes
191 -
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References
209 -
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Index
227 -
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About the Author
231
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 23, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780813548210
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780813548210
Keywords for this book
anorexia; eating disorder; disordered eating; individualism; beauty; standard; Western obsession; Western; self-control; autonomy; social; body image; worthless; shame; guilt; psychotherapy; culture; gender; relationships; desire; support; anorexic; body; body positivity; self image; weight loss; weight gain; disorder; mental disorder; mental illness; mental health; wellbeing; emotional; health; medical anthropology; social science; anthropology; medical; medicine; anorexia nervosa; food restriction; physical health; self control; gender studies; binge eating; bulimia; bulimia nervosa; body dysmorphia; body dysmorphic disorder; diet; dieting; anxiety; anxiety disorder; depression; substance abuse; food; eating; ethnography; social anthropology; public health
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
