Approaching Health in Landscapes: An Ethnographic Study with Chronic Cancer Patients from a Coastal Village in Northern Norway

• Published in: Anthropology in action (London, England : 1994) England : 1994), 2017-03, Vol.24 (1), p.27
• Main Authors: Skowronski, Magdalena, Risor, Mette Bech, Foss, Nina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthropology; Anxiety; approaching health; Bodily sensations; Cancer; Cancer patients; chronic cancer; Chronic pain; Coasts; Diseases; Emotions; Ethnography; Everyday life; Fieldwork; Landscape; landscapes; northern Norway; Norwegian language; Patients; Psychological aspects; Psychology: 260; Psykologi: 260; Recurrence (Disease); Relapse; Samfunnsvitenskap: 200; Social aspects; Social science: 200; Symptoms; taskscape; Time; Towns; VDP
• ISSN: 0967-201X; 1752-2285; 1752-2285
• DOI: 10.3167/aia.2017.240105

Chronic cancer patients (CCPs) pay attention and act in response to diverse bodily sensations they experience in everyday life after a cancer episode. Here, we analyse how North Norwegian CCPs use their familiar surroundings in an effort to counter bad mood, anxiety and symptoms of relapse and to strengthen their health. The core participants of the anthropological fieldwork over the course of one year were 10 CCPs from a small coastal village in northern Norway. By drawing on Tim Ingold's understanding of taskscape, it is suggested that the participants after cancer treatment dwell in and engage with the surroundings of the village, including the core task of staying healthy. The participants are part of and embody the landscape through the temporality of taskscape, related to their ways of dealing with pain, worries and bodily sensations in everyday life. Keywords: approaching health, chronic cancer, landscapes, northern Norway, relapse, taskscape