El cáncer a la mesa. Experiencias, sentidos y emociones de pacientes con cáncer de laringe (España)

Abstract

For a little over three decades, the relationship between diet and cancer has been thoroughly researched through quantitative studies, by medical experts in nutrition and cancer. However, the narratives and experiences of cancer patients with respect to food and the emotional climates that surround the nutritional process – understood as an entirely social fact – are understudied. The subordination of this perspective reflects short-sightedness towards these narratives. This paper proposes an ethnographic approach to the dietary experience of a group of patients suffering from laryngeal cancer in Spain. Herein we will analyze the senses and meanings they give to the loss of “normality” in dietary practices, the feelings and emotions they assign to these practices, the importance placed on nutrition, the recommendations of health professionals, or the process of resistance. Notions such as shame, stigma or identity reinforce the thesis that we must pay close attention to these worlds of experience, which have traditionally been subordinated to physiological needs.