Bates - Vital Bodies

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

Policy Press University of Bristol 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 e-mail

North American office: Policy Press c/o The University of Chicago Press 1427 East 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637, USA t: +1 773 702 7700 f: +1 773-702-9756 e:

Policy Press 2019

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ISBN 978-1-4473-3506-1 paperback
ISBN 978-1-4473-3504-7 hardcover
ISBN 978-1-4473-3507-8 ePub
ISBN 978-1-4473-3508-5 Mobi
ISBN 978-1-4473-3505-4 epdf

The right of Charlotte Bates to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Policy Press.

The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the author and not of the University of Bristol or Policy Press. The University of Bristol and Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication.

Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality.

Cover design by Emily Bates
Front cover image: Anna
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My first acknowledgement has to be to the twelve people who took part in this project my heartfelt thanks to each of you for your time, candidness and trust. I hope that through this book they feel that their stories have contributed to something worthwhile. Everyone at Goldsmiths, where this study was made, has my deep thanks for their friendship over the years, especially Les Back, who has my deepest gratitude for his inspiration, generosity and guidance. I am grateful to Policy Press for taking on this project, and to my colleagues at Cardiff University, who have given me the time to write this book. I would also like to thank Emily Bates, who designed the cover for this book, and Anna, who photographed the tree. Lastly, my thanks go to my family for their patience and love.

This book is the story of twelve people, each living with illness. Based on ethnographic research conducted over one year, it unfolds everyday experiences of living with a long-term physical or mental health condition, from asthma to bipolar disorder, depression, type 1 diabetes, epilepsy, joint hypermobility syndrome, muscular dystrophy and rheumatoid arthritis. In doing so, the book offers an innovative account of the body, health and illness in everyday life told from a sociological perspective. This account is not based on anguish, isolation and powerlessness but on the refusal to be crushed by illness, as Havi Carel (2008) writes, it is possible to find health, and happiness, within illness. Paying attention to the routine and unfolding aspects of embodied everyday life, the book aims to highlight the moments of care and repair through which people make their lives liveable. Learning from the lives portrayed, it explores ideas of care, vulnerability and choice, questioning what it means to live a modern life with illness and illuminating the vitality of bodies along the way.

In writing this book, I hope to bring into question what might be at stake in the care of ordinary bodies. Delving into the routines and rhythms of everyday life reveals the significance of the things that we usually take for granted, from what we eat to when we sleep, how we move and what we wear. Close attention to concealing strategies and rituals of care (a particular choice of clothing, the preparation of a meal) unfolds the relationship between the practical and ongoing achievement of living with illness, vulnerability and bodily doubt, and the felt politics of stigma in everyday life. Told from different perspectives, it shows how these mundane and seemingly simple aspects of living are complicated by illness, and made in/visible by the ways in which they are written on the body.

In doing so, the book shows how and why everyday life matters. To the participants in the study this is glaringly obvious; in illness, the body no longer lies beneath our everyday perception, and it is no longer possible to take it for granted. The certainty that our bodies will behave and that our time is our own dissipates. Instead of being absent, forgotten or quiet, the ill body is present, unforgettable and communicative. As Mariam Fraser and Monica Greco (2005: 20) write,