From ‘disorder’ to political action: Conversations that invite collective considerations to individual experiences of women who express concerns about eating and their bodies by Kristina Lainson
Concerns about eating and its effects on bodies are often articulated in terms of individualised pathologies. This video describes an interweaving of narrative practices which has proved helpful for a number of women experiencing such concerns. By inviting collective considerations to their individual experiences, and by recognising and naming their existing commitments and agentive responses to societal expectations, it became more possible to move away from ideas of ‘stuckness’ towards a sense of being influential both in their own life, and possibly in the lives of others similarly concerned.
Kristina is a Narrative Therapist based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Most of her work to date has been in a small community based counselling service. She is currently working on a PhD in which she hopes to unsettle some of the less helpful discourses about people whose lives are impacted by ‘anorexia’.
Further Reading
Denborough, D. (2008). Collective Narrative Practice. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
Kitzinger, C., & Perkins, R. (1993). Changing our minds: Lesbian feminism and psychology. New York, USA: New York University.
Saukko, P. (2008). ‘I Feel Ridiculous About Having Had it’ – Critical Readings of Lived and Mediated Stories on Eating Disorders. (Chapter 2). In M. Riley, M. Burns, H. Frith, S. Wiggins & P. Markula (Eds). Critical Bodies: Representations, Identities and Practices of Weight and Body Management. Basingstoke UK: Palgrave Macmillan. [Book Chapter]
