Approaching Health in Landscapes

An Ethnographic Study with Chronic Cancer Patients from a Coastal Village in Northern Norway

in Anthropology in Action
Author:
Magdalena Skowronski The Arctic University of Norway msk046@uit.no

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Mette Bech Risør The Arctic University of Norway mette.bech@uit.no

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Nina Foss The Arctic University of Norway nina.foss@uit.no

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Abstract

Chronic cancer patients (CCPs) pay attention and act in response to diverse bodily sensations they experience in everyday life after a cancer episode. Here, we analyse how North Norwegian CCPs use their familiar surroundings in an effort to counter bad mood, anxiety and symptoms of relapse and to strengthen their health. The core participants of the anthropological fieldwork over the course of one year were 10 CCPs from a small coastal village in northern Norway. By drawing on Tim Ingold’s understanding of taskscape, it is suggested that the participants after cancer treatment dwell in and engage with the surroundings of the village, including the core task of staying healthy. The participants are part of and embody the landscape through the temporality of taskscape, related to their ways of dealing with pain, worries and bodily sensations in everyday life.

Contributor Notes

Magdalena Skowronski is conducting a PhD study in social anthropology at the National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM), The Arctic University of Norway (UiT). The study focuses on how chronic cancer patients sense and understand illness in everyday life, their care-seeking processes, and their therapeutic pathways in the healthcare system. E-mail: msk046@uit.no

Mette Bech Risør is mainly interested in researching symptoms and sensations in clinical encounters, as well as illness experiences and health-seeking practices, especially concerning functional disorders, cancer and lifestyle diseases. Her position at the General Practice Research Unit of UiT creates the basis for the interdisciplinary approach to both her research and teaching. E-mail: mette.bech@uit.no

Nina Foss is mainly interested in social and cultural processes between people who experience illness, their everyday relations and relations to health personnel, including alternative therapists. She has a special interest in how people with chronic illness cope in everyday life. E-mail: nina.foss@uit.no

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