When you have children, you're obliged to live'1

Motherhood, Chronic Illness and Biographical Disruption

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2265849
AutoresSarah Wilson (0000-0002-3835-5398, University of Edinburgh, autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume29
Fascículo4
Páginas610-626
Data de publicação2007-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01008.x
PMID17498171
OpenAlexW1526749674
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas54
Referências citadas41

Recent work on biographical disruption has emphasised the critical importance of timing and context to the understanding of the effects of illness on identity. This paper takes a different approach by examining the inter-relationship between illness and key sources of identity, in this instance HIV infection and motherhood. It is argued that, viewed in this light, biographical disruption remains a powerful analytic framework with which to explore the intense threat which may be posed to key identities by chronic, potentially fatal illnesses, and the fundamental re-working of such identities occasioned by such threats. With reference to the empirical study on which this paper draws, it is shown that the twelve respondents' emphasis on their need to survive and to protect their children, represented a fundamental re-formulation of their identities as mothers and, therefore, a type of biographical disruption while paradoxically also containing elements of biographical reinforcement. It is further argued that the incorporation of such key identities into the analysis problematises work that suggests that biographical disruption is less relevant to those who have experienced difficult lives, while also highlighting the need to take greater account of gender and caring responsibilities in further work in this field

Aesthetics · Computer security · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Identity (music · Key (lock · Sociology · Work (physics · Computer Science · Family Support in Illness · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Gender Studies · History · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology