An ethnography of disordered eating in urban Canada

This thesis examines the problem of disordered eating based on ethnographic fieldwork in emergency shelters, soup kitchens, and eating disorder support groups, as well as interviews with medical professionals, and other residents of a Canadian city. This person-centered ethnography that explores the eating behaviors of not only those who have been diagnosed with 'eating disorders', but also those who are unable at times to provide themselves with food reveals that in spite of a prevailing discourse that determines eating as an independent act, food choices and eating patterns are dependent social 'works of the imagination' affected and shaped by social determinants and cultural norms. From eating disorders to type 2 diabetes and 'food as gift,' the lived experience of individuals indexes the ways in which food, power, and identity are enmeshed and embedded within culture. This critical perspective argues that disordered eating is socially and culturally produced and reproduced.

Grantor dc:publisher

Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, 2006

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Authors dc:creator

• Tanner, Janis
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

Advisor dc:contributor.supervisor

• Ferzacca, Steven

• Dissertations, Academic
• Eating disorders -- Canada -- Cross-cultural studies
• Eating disorders -- Social aspects -- Canada

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier

hdl:10133/362

OAI record oai:identifier

https://opus.uleth.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Aopus.uleth.ca%3A10133%2F362