In:Discourses on the Edges of Life
Edited by Vicent Salvador †, Adéla Kotátková and Ignasi Clemente
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 26] 2020
► pp. 85–96
Religion, collusion, and “fighting”
Pediatric cancer end-of-life discourses in Catalonia, Spain
Published online: 9 April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.26.06cle
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.26.06cle
Abstract
This chapter is based on an ethnographic study of
communicative practices surrounding the death of a five-year-old
pediatric cancer patient in a hospital in Catalonia (Spain). In the
present case study, I highlight the significant co-occurring
variation in how cancer and death are discussed or avoided within
the same sociocultural. Specifically, I focus on three ways of
talking about cancer and death: (1) using religious imagery, (2)
co-creating the optimistic and hopeful collusion that everything is
going well, and (3) using “let’s keep fighting” language.
Keywords: childhood, death, information non-disclosure, optimism, health communication
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Methods and analysis
- 3.Eli’s cancer trajectory
- 3.1Religious imagery: Eli’s awareness of death in private conversations with her mother
- 3.2Optimistic collusion and complete non-disclosure
- 3.3“Let’s keep fighting”
- 4.Conclusion
Acknowledgements Note References
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