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Representing diabetes: ‘Brightside’ and ‘chaos’ in autobiography

Lucherini

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Abstract

This paper examines six autobiographical sources written by people with type 1 diabetes. In seeking to improve the understanding of diabetic lifeworlds; some of the autobiographies present heroic stories of ‘overcoming’ diabetes while others present a more ‘chaotic’ narrative. Regardless of their form, all the autobiographies highlight how the everyday problems and concerns associated with diabetes can be hidden and silenced. Therefore, I ask the question of how to use autobiographies as sources of evidence, being aware of the power constructs that may have directed their form. Despite this question, I argue that autobiographies remain crucial sources for exploring the experience of everyday life and much of the silencing in the texts reflects spatial and emotional challenges faced by the authors. I also consider the limitations of representation in the autobiographies calling for an understanding that the experience of diabetes carries with it feelings, emotions and affects that are non-representable and so never entirely knowable. Thus, this paper builds on recent geographical research on emotion and ‘contested’ illnesses, especially those that are not obviously visible or are easily hidden.

Acceptance Date Feb 15, 2019
Publication Date May 1, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Emotion, Space and Society
Print ISSN 1755-4586
Publisher Elsevier
Pages 10-17
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2019.02.004
Keywords diabetes, health, emotion, autobiography, narrative, representation
Publisher URL http://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2019.02.004

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