Sick and Tired: Narratives of Contested Illness in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Blogs, 2019, Sanchez

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https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1479-354720190000011028/full/html

Sick and Tired: Narratives of Contested Illness in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Blogs
Morgan V. Sanchez
New Narratives of Disability

ISBN: 978-1-83909-144-5, eISBN: 978-1-83909-143-8

ISSN: 1479-3547

Publication date: 25 November 2019

Abstract
Implications/Value
This study brings voices of people with contested illnesses into the discourse on disability, where their perspectives have historically been poorly represented. The study also suggests that blogs can become sites of resistance and social change by providing a space in which counternarratives can be constructed and circulated.

Keywords
Citation
Sanchez, M. (2019), "Sick and Tired: Narratives of Contested Illness in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Blogs", New Narratives of Disability (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 11), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 245-260. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-354720190000011028

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Publisher
:
Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited

 

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Abstract
Purpose
While web logs often are taken to be “Internet diaries,” unlike diaries that are private and serve only the needs of their authors, public blogs serve as a technological tool, allowing for the formation of Internet communities and challenges to institutional and/or cultural narratives.

Methods/Approach
I analyzed narratives constructed in two years of blog posts for each of five individuals with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). I sought to understand the relationship between personal stories of contested illness and broader illness narratives.

Findings
My findings suggest these personal illness stories operate within the artificial confines of the dominant models of a given society. Blogs are used not only as a chronicle of day-to-day happenings, but as a means of engaging with traditional illness narratives, challenging cultural narratives about CFS, and of resisting institutional narratives concerning the illness process.

Implications/Value
This study brings voices of people with contested illnesses into the discourse on disability, where their perspectives have historically been poorly represented. The study also suggests that blogs can become sites of resistance and social change by providing a space in which counternarratives can be constructed and circulated.