Belonging, Becoming, and the Female Body: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Inquiry into Overweight Women's Experience of Belonging in Western Contexts

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atmire.migration.oldid6060
dc.contributor.advisorField, James
dc.contributor.authorBeierling, Susan Patricia
dc.contributor.committeememberMoules, Nancy
dc.contributor.committeememberLaing, Catherine
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-27T18:25:04Z
dc.date.available2017-09-27T18:25:04Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.date.submitted2017en
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this study, which utilized a phenomenological hermeneutic methodological framework, was to gain a deeper understanding, through the lived experience of self-proclaimed overweight women, of the sense of belonging. Five middle-aged women participants participated in group gatherings as well as one-on-one interviews with the researcher, where the experience of belonging was the central focus. The data was then analyzed via an hermeneutic framework guided by Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. Findings from this research revealed that overweight women face some powerful tensions as they come to terms with their growing bodies. An exploration of language and dominant discourses presented diverse and disparate meanings of specific words as well as grand ideals. Borrowing from van Manen’s work, four lived existentials (lived space, lived, time, lived body, and lived relation) are explored in a form of interpretation to gain deeper understanding of one participant’s words. Stigma and shame are explored, leading to the suggestion that living under a highly negative stigma can lead to a form of embodied shame (Bouson, 2009). Heidegger’s notions of homelessness, abiding, and homecoming are considered in coming to better understand the experience of moving between belonging and not, as the participants’ bodies became factors that cast them from their familiar lives into a form of abiding homelessness, in which each participant has had to find her own way. More conversations with and between like and different individuals, I conclude, are necessary in breaking through silences and allow for deeper understanding of self and other. Additionally, this research speaks to the need to draw attention to the grand narratives, and to explore and listen to other, non-dominant, and perhaps, more meaningful discourses.en_US
dc.identifier.citationBeierling, S. P. (2017). Belonging, Becoming, and the Female Body: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Inquiry into Overweight Women's Experience of Belonging in Western Contexts (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25107en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/25107
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11023/4137
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectEducation
dc.subjectEducation--Curriculum and Instruction
dc.subjectEducation--Early Childhood
dc.subjectEducation--Elementary
dc.subjectEducation--Health
dc.subjectPhilosophy
dc.subjectAnthropology--Physical
dc.subjectGender Studies
dc.subjectWomenÕs Studies
dc.subjectEducation
dc.subjectPublic Health
dc.subject.otherOverweight
dc.subject.otherObesity
dc.subject.otherBelonging
dc.subject.otherStigma
dc.subject.otherBody-Image
dc.subject.otherHermeneutics
dc.subject.otherPhenomenology
dc.subject.otherSelf-Understanding
dc.subject.otherDialogue
dc.titleBelonging, Becoming, and the Female Body: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Inquiry into Overweight Women's Experience of Belonging in Western Contexts
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineEducational Research
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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