Nina Veetnisha Gunnarsson
Biographic Data
| ID | 4436688 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nina Veetnisha Gunnarsson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nina Veetnisha |
| FAMILY NAME | Gunnarsson |
| SIGNATURE | GUNNARSSON N V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Jönköping University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8948-1055 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The pure and the dirty – self-harming in the Bible
Traditional research on self-harm has predominantly focused on medical models and individual-level psychological factors, but recent sociological perspectives have highlighted the importance of understanding self-harm within broader social contexts. This article explores self-harm in biblical texts, employing Mary Douglas’ cultural anthropological theory on systems of purity and dirt. The study identifies three distinct forms of self-harm in bibl…
From surveillance to resistance
Purpose This study aims to analyse the self-injury experiences of two adult women, exploring how sociocultural factors shaped their behaviours from adolescence into adulthood, and how they navigate societal expectations around mental health and emotional regulation. Design/methodology/approach A case study methodology was employed to examine the women’s narratives, focusing on how societal norms and institutions influence their behaviours and ide…
The Art of Self-Destruction
This poetic autoethnography delves into the author’s past self-destructiveness, encompassing addiction, self-harm, and suicidal ideation and attempts. Most poems were written in close proximity to the events, as she was engaging in destructive substance use, other self-harm behaviors, and was immersed in self-hatred. The author also draws on popular poetry and poetic inquiry to enhance the rigor of her own poems and reflexively ground her experie…
Working with emotions in social work practice. A pride-building model for institutional care of young people
In this article we point out why social workers and treatment staff must have knowledge of how to identify emotions, understand their own emotions and understand the emotions they elicit in others as a prerequisite for successful rehabilitation. In particular, the emotions of shame and pride play a crucial role in the interaction between social workers and clients. There is currently a need for empirically applicable models that facilitate social…
Stop acting like a child – you're immature”
The practice of self-injury is considered deviant and pathological, and the stereotype of a self-injuring individual is a young, white, middle-class woman. By using an autoethnographic approach, I elucidate how four women and I, aged 35-51, with experiences of self-injury in adulthood, use, internalize, and speak through dominant discourses of self-injury. The practice of self-injury is an embodied one, and self-injury is stereotypically associat…
The scarred body
Self-injury is deemed a pathology and a deviant practice that is not socially sanctioned and culturally accepted as soothing and healing the self. The marked female body is also pathologized and perceived as deviant; hence, having self-inflicted scars may easily lead to social stigma, shame, and the need to hide the scars. In this personal reflection I explore how self-inflicted scars can have the same meaning as self-injury to control the self a…
The “good” and the “bad” subject position in self-injury autobiographies
Utilizing published autobiographies, we explore how individuals who self-injure discursively construct their experiences of the self and self-injury. The authors construct their selves into two seemingly opposite subject positions, here named the “bad girl” and the “good girl.” For the most part, the authors identify themselves with the “bad girl” position. Although there is a struggle to uphold normalcy in front of others, they regard evidence o…
The Activation and Restoration of Shame in an Intimate Relationship
This paper is grounded in a first-hand account of my own experiences with self-injury and shame. By using my personal diary entries as support for this account and a sociological framework of shame, I explore the process of shame and shame reactions in an intimate relationship. I illustrate how shame was activated by my internalized critical other, how the shame cycle de-stabilized my relationship, and, finally, how shame was restored through the…
The Self-perpetuating Cycle of Shame and Self-injury
Although previous studies have considered shame to be a significant emotion in making sense of self-injury, the connection is still not fully understood. Drawing on sociological ideas on shame, this communication contributes to a theoretical understanding of actions of self-injury by demonstrating how shame operates and unfolds in social interaction. It argues for how shame and self-injury may reproduce and amplify each other, hence turning into …
Managing Family Relations and Controlling Information While Supporting an Allergic Child
This paper explores parental (particularly mothers’) support in the daily lives of children with allergies in a Swedish context. An ordinary life is established by making comparisons to what other children without allergies presumably can do (and eat). Although the parents’ goal is to support their child in managing allergies, neither their practical nor their interactional strategies work in a clear-cut direction to promote the child’s ordinary …
Mothers’ accounts of healthcare encounters
This article explores mothers’ accounts of initial interactions and encounters with healthcare professionals and the outcomes where questions about their children’s problems are concerned. A case-based storyline was reconstructed as part of the analysis, focusing on when and how mothers claimed to be responsible parents. The outcomes of these encounters were presented by the mothers in this study as a drawn-out process, with disagreement between …
Organizing allergy and being a `good' parent
The article focuses on the early and problem-solving phases of the child's illness trajectory and on how child allergies are constructed and organized by the parents in a moral everyday context. The parents' narratives were reconstructed as narratives, describing the pathways parents take before they decide to seek professional medical aid as well as showing how they construct themselves as responsible parents. Before consulting health profession…
Organizing allergy and being a `good' parent
The article focuses on the early and problem-solving phases of the child's illness trajectory and on how child allergies are constructed and organized by the parents in a moral everyday context. The parents' narratives were reconstructed as narratives, describing the pathways parents take before they decide to seek professional medical aid as well as showing how they construct themselves as responsible parents. Before consulting health profession…
The Activation and Restoration of Shame in an Intimate Relationship
This paper is grounded in a first-hand account of my own experiences with self-injury and shame. By using my personal diary entries as support for this account and a sociological framework of shame, I explore the process of shame and shame reactions in an intimate relationship. I illustrate how shame was activated by my internalized critical other, how the shame cycle de-stabilized my relationship, and, finally, how shame was restored through the…
Stop acting like a child – you're immature”
The practice of self-injury is considered deviant and pathological, and the stereotype of a self-injuring individual is a young, white, middle-class woman. By using an autoethnographic approach, I elucidate how four women and I, aged 35-51, with experiences of self-injury in adulthood, use, internalize, and speak through dominant discourses of self-injury. The practice of self-injury is an embodied one, and self-injury is stereotypically associat…
The Self-perpetuating Cycle of Shame and Self-injury
Although previous studies have considered shame to be a significant emotion in making sense of self-injury, the connection is still not fully understood. Drawing on sociological ideas on shame, this communication contributes to a theoretical understanding of actions of self-injury by demonstrating how shame operates and unfolds in social interaction. It argues for how shame and self-injury may reproduce and amplify each other, hence turning into …
Mothers’ accounts of healthcare encounters
This article explores mothers’ accounts of initial interactions and encounters with healthcare professionals and the outcomes where questions about their children’s problems are concerned. A case-based storyline was reconstructed as part of the analysis, focusing on when and how mothers claimed to be responsible parents. The outcomes of these encounters were presented by the mothers in this study as a drawn-out process, with disagreement between …
Organizing allergy and being a `good' parent
The article focuses on the early and problem-solving phases of the child's illness trajectory and on how child allergies are constructed and organized by the parents in a moral everyday context. The parents' narratives were reconstructed as narratives, describing the pathways parents take before they decide to seek professional medical aid as well as showing how they construct themselves as responsible parents. Before consulting health profession…
Managing Family Relations and Controlling Information While Supporting an Allergic Child
This paper explores parental (particularly mothers’) support in the daily lives of children with allergies in a Swedish context. An ordinary life is established by making comparisons to what other children without allergies presumably can do (and eat). Although the parents’ goal is to support their child in managing allergies, neither their practical nor their interactional strategies work in a clear-cut direction to promote the child’s ordinary …
Mothers’ accounts of healthcare encounters
This article explores mothers’ accounts of initial interactions and encounters with healthcare professionals and the outcomes where questions about their children’s problems are concerned. A case-based storyline was reconstructed as part of the analysis, focusing on when and how mothers claimed to be responsible parents. The outcomes of these encounters were presented by the mothers in this study as a drawn-out process, with disagreement between …
The Activation and Restoration of Shame in an Intimate Relationship
This paper is grounded in a first-hand account of my own experiences with self-injury and shame. By using my personal diary entries as support for this account and a sociological framework of shame, I explore the process of shame and shame reactions in an intimate relationship. I illustrate how shame was activated by my internalized critical other, how the shame cycle de-stabilized my relationship, and, finally, how shame was restored through the…
The Self-perpetuating Cycle of Shame and Self-injury
Although previous studies have considered shame to be a significant emotion in making sense of self-injury, the connection is still not fully understood. Drawing on sociological ideas on shame, this communication contributes to a theoretical understanding of actions of self-injury by demonstrating how shame operates and unfolds in social interaction. It argues for how shame and self-injury may reproduce and amplify each other, hence turning into …
The scarred body
Self-injury is deemed a pathology and a deviant practice that is not socially sanctioned and culturally accepted as soothing and healing the self. The marked female body is also pathologized and perceived as deviant; hence, having self-inflicted scars may easily lead to social stigma, shame, and the need to hide the scars. In this personal reflection I explore how self-inflicted scars can have the same meaning as self-injury to control the self a…
The “good” and the “bad” subject position in self-injury autobiographies
Utilizing published autobiographies, we explore how individuals who self-injure discursively construct their experiences of the self and self-injury. The authors construct their selves into two seemingly opposite subject positions, here named the “bad girl” and the “good girl.” For the most part, the authors identify themselves with the “bad girl” position. Although there is a struggle to uphold normalcy in front of others, they regard evidence o…
Stop acting like a child – you're immature”
The practice of self-injury is considered deviant and pathological, and the stereotype of a self-injuring individual is a young, white, middle-class woman. By using an autoethnographic approach, I elucidate how four women and I, aged 35-51, with experiences of self-injury in adulthood, use, internalize, and speak through dominant discourses of self-injury. The practice of self-injury is an embodied one, and self-injury is stereotypically associat…
Working with emotions in social work practice. A pride-building model for institutional care of young people
In this article we point out why social workers and treatment staff must have knowledge of how to identify emotions, understand their own emotions and understand the emotions they elicit in others as a prerequisite for successful rehabilitation. In particular, the emotions of shame and pride play a crucial role in the interaction between social workers and clients. There is currently a need for empirically applicable models that facilitate social…
From surveillance to resistance
Purpose This study aims to analyse the self-injury experiences of two adult women, exploring how sociocultural factors shaped their behaviours from adolescence into adulthood, and how they navigate societal expectations around mental health and emotional regulation. Design/methodology/approach A case study methodology was employed to examine the women’s narratives, focusing on how societal norms and institutions influence their behaviours and ide…
The Art of Self-Destruction
This poetic autoethnography delves into the author’s past self-destructiveness, encompassing addiction, self-harm, and suicidal ideation and attempts. Most poems were written in close proximity to the events, as she was engaging in destructive substance use, other self-harm behaviors, and was immersed in self-hatred. The author also draws on popular poetry and poetic inquiry to enhance the rigor of her own poems and reflexively ground her experie…
The pure and the dirty – self-harming in the Bible
Traditional research on self-harm has predominantly focused on medical models and individual-level psychological factors, but recent sociological perspectives have highlighted the importance of understanding self-harm within broader social contexts. This article explores self-harm in biblical texts, employing Mary Douglas’ cultural anthropological theory on systems of purity and dirt. The study identifies three distinct forms of self-harm in bibl…
Psychology (11 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies (6 works) · Shame (5 works) · Developmental psychology (4 works) · Self (4 works) · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control (3 works) · Identity (music (3 works)