Date of Award
4-2008
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Dr. Ann Miles
Second Advisor
Dr. Bilinda Straight
Third Advisor
Dr. Robert Ulin
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
This thesis examines black women's understandings of and experiences with breast cancer through the use of narratives. These narratives offer different positions from which to critically analyze the dominate conceptualization of breast cancer in American society, which is primarily associated with white, middle class, heterosexual women. There is a focus on issues such as breast cancer 'risk', increased mortality rates among black women, dominate discourses and media representations of breast cancer, and mastectomy and body image. African American women's stories are used to 'deconstruct' and reveal how this disease is socially constructed in ways that has profound impact on their lives, particularly as it relates to issues of race, class and gender. There are not only differences in black women's lived experience of this disease, but there are also structural and institutional constraints that inhibit their ability access healthcare institutions and receive equal and quality treatment within the medical encounter. These impediments, as revealed in many narratives, are more likely to increase black women's mortality rates, as well as, significantly impact their 'risk' for developing the disease.
Recommended Citation
Gill, Cleothia, "Living and Dying on the Margins: A Journey into the Culture of Pink and Black Women’s Narrative Accounts of Breast Cancer" (2008). Masters Theses. 4597.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4597