Williams, S.M. and Solbrække, K.N. (2018) ‘Cancer Coiffures’: Embodied Storylines of Cancer Patienthood and Survivorship in the Consumerist Cultural Imaginary. Body and Society, 24 (4). pp. 87-112. ISSN 1357-034X
Abstract
Cancer patienthood and survivorship are often narrated as stories about hair and wigs. The following article examines cultural representations of cancer in mainstream memoirs, films, and on TV across Western European and American contexts. These representations are both the ideological substrate and a subtly subversive staging of a newly globalized cancer culture that expresses itself as an embodied discourse of individual experience. Wigs have become staples of an alternative story of especially women’s cancer experience, one that contrasts with the advertising slogans of what has been termed ‘Cancer Inc.’ But wigs are also a prop for consumerist self-(re)invention and can be appropriated stereotypically, with regard to stock gendered expectations – despite and alongside their subversive potential.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | body image; cancer; consumer capitalism; cultural imaginary; gender; hair; wigs |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of Languages and Cultures (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2018 15:14 |
Last Modified: | 11 Aug 2020 14:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1357034X18781951 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:133586 |