This research is concerned with dietitians' experiences of education and practice, which together
constitute dietitian identity. The author, herself a dietitian and dietetic educator, recruited twelve female
dietitians to participate in individual interviews and collaborative workshops where they shared their '
experiences and reflections on the themes of the research. This dissertation is arranged in three panels
to achieve multiple perspectives on the research findings. The first panel explores the potential of using
reflexive autoethnography as a research method. The second panel enacts an autoethnographic tale
emphasizing the complexities of dietetic education and practice. The third panel is an academic rendering
of the research that posits a theory of dietitian performativity. Arranging the findings as a textual triptych
protracts the complex interplay of the research themes. In particular, participants enter the profession
sustained by promises of being able to make a difference in the lives of others with respect to nutritional
health. Dietetic practice comes to be understood as performative through a series of uncontested,
repetitive acts. In the mode of dietitian performativity, dietitians' lived realities are sometimes found to be
discontinuous from promises of professionalism. Dietetic education, while not considered solely
responsible for generating these promises, might operate to sustain or amplify their effects. Dietitians'
passion for dietetics is open to question when performativities are found discrepant from promises.
Profoundly melancholic expressions are associated with dietitians' inability to engage in liberatory
practice, despite believing such practices were achievable. Melancholia instigated dietitians' desire to
leave the profession. An imagined, embodied curriculum depicting what might result if dietetic students,
educators, and practitioners acknowledge the relationality, emotionality, and promises of their profession
is offered in response. The author calls for a renegotiation of what counts as knowledge in dietetic
education through the asking of "Who am I?" In posing this question, the dietitian engages in a reflexive
turn towards self-recognition such that 'doing' (performativity) emerges from 'being' (identity) and
potentially nutrition discourse expands. Dietitian performativity initiated through critical social discourse
begs the question of what it means to be human while endeavouring to embrace the joys, complexities,
and contradictions that are dietetic education and practice. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/18545 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Gingras, Jacqueline Rochelle |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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