Browsing by Author "Beasley, Annette Noble"
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- ItemBreastfeeding for the first time : a critical-interpretative perspective on experience and the body politic : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University(Massey University, 1993) Beasley, Annette NobleBiomedical discourse constructs the process of breastfeeding as purely physiological, assessing and understanding individual experience by its proximity to or divergence from a norm which biomedicine itself defines. Through a process of medicalisation, this discourse has taken on hegemonic status. This thesis explores the constitution of the breastfeeding body as a body politic, as the site where a number of discourses - hegemonic and counter hegemonic - converge and articulate with physical processes. The study draws on three sets of data: first, a survey of the literature on breastfeeding which demonstrates how even the best intentioned cultural studies are permeated and formed by the biomedical hegemony; second, the experience of the author as a mother who has breastfed all her children with the growing realisation of her own body as the site of struggle; and third, the experiences of four first-time breastfeeding mothers and their reflections on this experience during the first three months of their infant's lives. The investigation presents an experiential account of the process of breastfeeding focusing on the experience of physiological functioning, relationships with significant others and experiences of conflict and resolution. It adopts this strategy deliberately as a counter hegemonic one to demonstrate the irreducibility of the experience of breastfeeding to that constructed by biomedicine.
- ItemMenopause in context : a constructivist/interpretive perspective on the attitudes, perceptions, expectations and experiences among women in New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University(Massey University, 1999) Beasley, Annette NobleThis study examines the attitudes, perceptions, expectations and experience of menopause among women in New Zealand. It is based on focus groups and in-depth interviews with women aged thirty and above in the Feilding-Manawatu district and on narratives provided by respondents residing throughout the country. Additional information was collected from general practitioners, and readily accessible menopause educational programmes and material were also examined. The aim was to explore the social construction and individual experience of menopause with particular attention to the relation between the deficiency disease model and common sense knowledge about this life event. A constructivist/interpretive theoretical perspective was employed that recognises the socially constructed nature of menopause experience and accepts normative definitions of the feminine as crucial to social perception and individual experience. Contrary to the medical view of menopause as a disease of hormone deficiency, the women maintained a common sense perception of this event as a normal, natural life-stage. Overall, their knowledge of physiological processes was limited and reflected the impact of medicalisation. Three central meanings associated with menopause were identified as mid-life and ageing, loss of fertility and health risk. Control of the menopausal body (the body politic) emerged as the central aspect of experience across the four age groups of women who defined themselves as 'in' or 'through' menopause. Against a tradition of taboo surrounding matters of female reproductive functioning and sexuality, the mechanisms or strategies of control have changed over time. There has been a shift from a strategy of stoicism (among those aged sixty and above) to the use of 'natural' strategies and hormone replacement therapy (commonly adopted by women in their fifties and forties). Each of these strategies was a response to common sense understanding of this event and accompanying social sanctions. Two broad conclusions were reached. First, that the deficiency disease model presents a linear, causal explanation of menopause which fails to recognise medical knowledge as part of the broader socio-cultural and historical processes which give meaning to this event. Second, that as women's experience of menopause occurs at the interface of socio-cultural, historical and physiological processes, the meanings of menopause are fluid and change over time.