Gender & Society, Vol. 20, No. 3, 402-421 (2006)
Poor Women's Discourses of Legitimacy, Poverty, and Health
Colleen Reid
Simon Fraser University
Allison Tom
University of British Columbia
In this study, we sought a better understanding of how poor women made
meaning of their poverty and health. Twenty research participants used
varied, multiple, and at times contradictory discourses that shaped their
identities as both legitimate and powerful and illegitimate and powerless.
We identified four discourses in the women's talk—illegitimate
dependencies, legitimate dependencies, overwhelming odds, and critique and
collectivism. These four discourses revealed complexes of meanings and
networks of interpretation that subverted, accommodated, and reinterpreted
dominant discourses of poverty and health. This examination is relevant for
feminist researchers attempting to understand the impact of dominant
discourses in the lives of socially marginalized women who continually
struggle to establish and strengthen claims to legitimacy and moral worth.
Key Words: discourse • identity • poverty • women's health • feminist
action research
-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH
DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.
To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname
To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.
For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]
To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST
To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html
|
