This qualitative study explores the discursive constructions of health, the narratives about the body and appearance as well as the meanings of fitness among Canadian youth from English- and French-language high schools as well as from the Portuguese-Canadian community in Ottawa, Canada. Small group discussions and a "write and draw" schedule were used to gather qualitative materials among 63 youth aged between 13-15 years. Qualitative materials were submitted first to thematic analysis followed by a discourse analysis method informed by feminist postructuralist theory. In the first instance, participants were found to construct health mostly as a corporeal notion and as something under their responsibility: health was discursively constructed as "being physically active," "not being too fat or too skinny," "eating well" and "avoiding bad habits." Although no major linguistic or ethnic differences were observed between participants in how they discursively constructed health, gender differences were noticed in discussions of body weight. Furthermore, it was revealed that most participants adopted subject positions within dominant bodily discourses, including the discourses of obesity and personal responsibility for health. Another area explored in this study was the participants' narratives of the body and appearance. It was found that these young people discuss their body and appearance in a way that is very much tied up with larger discourses of beauty and the so-called "obesity epidemic." In addition, the results highlight how most of the participants want something they do not have, which is a different body. Major gender differences were observed, as male participants wanted to be taller and more muscular, while female participants wanted to lose weight. Although gender differences were observed, no major ethnic or linguistic differences were noted in their narratives about the body and appearance. The last area explored in this study was the participants' meanings of fitness. Four major themes emerged from the participants' narratives. Regardless of language or ethnic background, for these youth, fitness meant "being physically active," "a way to stay healthy," "a way to look good" and/or "a disease prevention strategy." Meanings of fitness were gendered with female participants resisting the conventional ideas associated with fitness and male participants appropriating them. While conveying their meanings of fitness, participants generally located themselves at the intersection of complementary dominant discourses (of healthism, beauty, and obesity) and constructed normative gender subjectivities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29489 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Roma-Reardon, Josianne |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 330 p. |
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