Of butterflies and wolves

Enacting lupus transformations on the Internet

Bibliographic Data

ID2171863
AuthorsAnn Miles (Western Michigan University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume16
Issue1
Pages1-12
Publication date2009-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropology and Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1364-8470 • E-ISSN: 1469-2910
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13648470802425906
PMID27269637
OpenAlexW2025147787
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited22

This article explores how women with lupus use the Internet to construct discourses about illness and transformation. The textual and symbolic content of Internet websites and message boards offers unique perspectives on the relationship between embodied experience and textual construction, and demonstrates the ways in which women use their participation on the Internet to communicate about themselves. Using common search engines, an array of lupus websites were identified, including message boards and personal pages, and the textual and symbolic content was analysed for reoccurring themes. Three distinct types of transformational discourses were identified: adjustment narratives; expert narratives; and transformations of personhood. These transformations are achieved and given renewed value through online participation. The article suggests that online communication provides a unique opportunity to understand embodiment but also that transformational discourses may ultimately be limiting

Construct (python library · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Linguistics · Narrative · Personhood · Sociology · The Internet · Transformational leadership · Value (mathematics · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Psychology · Social Psychology · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development · Artificial Intelligence

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