Inter-embodied parental vigilance; the case of child food allergy

Stjerna, M-L and Brady, G ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3431-6543, 2023. Inter-embodied parental vigilance; the case of child food allergy. Frontiers in Sociology, 8: 1213769. ISSN 2297-7775

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Abstract

There is developing interest in issues of embodiment in studies of children, health and illness. We take our point of departure in the parent-child-health/illness triad to explore the embodied aspects of parental vigilance in parenting children who have a food allergy, utilizing the concept of inter-embodiment. Drawing on a focus group study with parents in Sweden the analysis reveals that this vigilance can be seen as the embodied manifestation of concern for children's bodies in perpetual liminality, when constantly exposed to allergens and the risk of becoming ill. We argue that the lens of inter-embodiment, with a focus on bodies in relation, captures how parents lived experience of managing food allergy intertwines with that of their children in the parent-child-health/illness triad. The analysis uncovers a form of embodied knowledge that is often not verbalized, offering potential for new understandings of parent-child relations that center on chronic child health conditions.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Frontiers in Sociology
Creators: Stjerna, M.-L. and Brady, G.
Publisher: Frontiers Media
Date: 27 July 2023
Volume: 8
ISSN: 2297-7775
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.3389/fsoc.2023.1213769
DOI
1755505
Other
Rights: © 2023 Stjerna and Brady. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: Laura Ward
Date Added: 28 Jul 2023 12:17
Last Modified: 28 Jul 2023 12:17
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49465

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