Description
Special exhibition “Social Contagion”, Moesgård Museum, February 11 – May 14, 2017.
Lone Grøn: Obesity, kinship and relatedness in Denmark
It runs in the family. What is contagious in the obesity epidemic?
How does obesity spread? Can one say that something is contagious in the obesity epidemic? And if, then what is contagious, and how does it actually happen? My research builds upon experiences and statements from four families that I followed in my PhD fieldwork in 2001-2003. I contacted them again 14 years later, in connection with this research project. Together we have drawn maps over the most important relations for the family members, and how obesity is represented in these social networks. Furthermore, individual and family talks about the obesity epidemic and social contagion have been carried out. Reflections and life stories from four families show that obesity ‘runs in the family’ and that family members are ‘connected’ in ways that evade simple explanations. And that Danish ‘hygge’ (coziness) casts eerie shadows.
Lone Grøn: Overvægt, slægtskab og samhørighed i Danmark
Familiens vægt. Hvad smitter i overvægtsepidemien?
Hvordan spredes overvægt? Kan man tale om, at noget smitter i overvægtsepidemien? Hvis ja, hvad er det, der smitter, og hvordan sker det helt konkret? Min forskning bygger på erfaringer og udsagn fra fire familier, som jeg fulgte i forbindelse med mit ph.d.- feltarbejde fra 2001-2003. Jeg tog kontakt til dem igen i 2014 i forbindelse med dette forskningsprojekt. Sammen har vi tegnet kort over de vigtigste relationer for familiemedlemmerne, samt over hvordan overvægt er repræsenteret i disse sociale netværk. Der er gennemført individuelle samtaler og familiesamtaler om overvægtsepidemi og social smitte. Familiernes refleksioner, erfaringer og livshistorier viser, at overvægt ’løber i familien’ og at familiemedlemmer ’hænger sammen’ på måder, der unddrager sig enkle forklaringer. Og at den danske hygge kaster uhyggelige skygger.
Project Details
A film by: EPICENTER
EPICENTER explores the social life of epidemics – including cultural epidemics. The Centre aims to fill a gap in scientific as well as popular understandings of contagion, by asking: What is contagion? The traditional distinction between communicable and non-communicable diseases is challenged through research. Currently epidemics of non-communicable diseases are spreading, but the social dynamics of how these diseases spread are poorly theorized. The Centre is currently hosting studies in Denmark, South Africa, Uganda, Siberia, Nepal, and Egypt on cancer, HIV, diabetes, drug addiction, trauma, suicide, migration, prevention and treatment regimes. The Centre will be a platform of communication between researchers and the public through museum exhibitions.
For more information visit: epicenter.au.dk