Books by Luna Dolezal
Bloomsbury Academic, 2023
Download Open Access version of this book: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/covid-19-an... more Download Open Access version of this book: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/covid-19-and-shame-political-emotions-and-public-health-in-the-uk/
This open access book examines the various ways that shame, shaming and stigma became an integral part of the United Kingdom's public health response to COVID-19 during 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, it quickly became clear that experiences of shame, shaming and stigma dominated personal and public life. From healthcare workers insulted in the streets to anti-Asian racism, the online shaming of “Covidiots” to the identification of the “lepers of Leicester”, public animus about the pandemic found scapegoats for its frustrations. Interventions by the UK government maximised rather than minimized these phenomena. Instead of developing robust strategies to address shame, the government's healthcare policies and rhetoric seemed to exacerbate experiences of shame, shaming and stigma, relying on a language and logic that intensified oppositional, antagonistic thinking, while dissimulating about its own responsibilities. Through a series of six case studies taken from the events of 2020, this thought-provoking book identifies a systemic failure to manage shame-producing circumstances in the UK. Ultimately, it addresses the experience of shame as a crucial, if often overlooked, consequence of pandemic politics, and advocates for a "shame sensitive" approach to public health responses.
The open access edition of this book is available under a CC BY NC ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com Open access was funded by The Wellcome Trust.
Palgrave, 2018. Edited by Clara Fischer and Luna Dolezal
SUNY Press, September 2017. Edited by Luna Dolezal and Danielle Petherbridge
Feminist Philosophy • Phenomenology "In this very well-written and eminently readable book, Luna ... more Feminist Philosophy • Phenomenology "In this very well-written and eminently readable book, Luna Dolezal deftly explores the concept of body shame from both the phenomenological and the social constructivist points of view, finding a tension between the phenomenological emphasis on constitution and the social constructionist emphasis on social constraint. Dolezal expertly presents and evaluates the contributions to the analysis of embodiment and intercorporeality in Husserl, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, and Norbert Elias. This is a deeply original and instructive work, a genuine contribution to the study of embodiment and to the understanding of human social encounters." -Dermot Moran, University College Dublin "Every woman-indeed every member of an oppressed group-will find this topic resonant. Dolezal argues that, while 'acute' body shame is necessary to socialization (what Norbert Elias called 'the civilizing process'), 'chronic' body shame is undermining; its destructive potential is exemplified in the case of cosmetic surgery. Dolezal skilfully weaves together social theory (Elias, Foucault, Goffman) with phenomenology (Sartre, Merleau-Ponty) to outline a theory of the socially shaped body that will be required reading for feminists and social theorists alike." -Katherine Morris, Oxford University
Journal Articles by Luna Dolezal
Health, 2024
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Finland, we report on the trial of a teleoperated care robot... more Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Finland, we report on the trial of a teleoperated care robot named Välkky introduced onto a fully operational hospital neurological ward. Our data revealed a narrative arc where participants' early expectations of the hospitalbased trial altered as the project unfolded. Greeted with techno-excitement and experimental enthusiasm about the place of robotics in reshaping roles within clinical care, Välkky became the focus for collaborative in situ learning, adaptation and redesign
Journal of Medical Humanities, 2024
Graphic Medicine
Journal of Medical Humanities, 2024
In this article, we argue that shaming interventions and messages during Covid-19 have drawn the ... more In this article, we argue that shaming interventions and messages during Covid-19 have drawn the relationship between public health and shame into a heightened state of conten- tion, offering us a valuable opportunity to reconsider shame as a desired outcome of public health work, and to push back against the logics of individual responsibility and blame for illness and disease on which it sits. We begin by defining shame and demonstrating how it is conceptually and practically distinct from stigma. We then set out evidence on the conse- quences of shame for social and relational health outcomes and assess the past and present dimensions of shame in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, primarily through a corpus of international news stories on the shaming of people perceived to have transgressed pub- lic health directions or advice. Following a brief note on shame (and policymaking) in a cultural context, we turn to the concept and practice of ‘shame-sensitivity’ in order to theo- rise a set of practical and adaptable principles that could be used to assist policymakers in short- and medium-term decision-making on urgent, tenacious, and emerging issues within public health. Finally, we consider the longer consequences of pandemic shame, making a wider case for the acknowledgement of the emotion as a key determinant of health.
Clinical Ethics, 2023
This paper is particularly concerned with shame, sometimes considered the ‘master emotion’, and i... more This paper is particularly concerned with shame, sometimes considered the ‘master emotion’, and its possible role in affecting the consent process, specifically where that shame relates to the issue of diminished health literacy. We suggest that the absence of exploration of affective issues in general during the consent process is problematic, as emotions commonly impact upon our decision-making process. Experiencing shame in the healthcare environment can have a significant influence on choices related to health and healthcare, and may lead to discussions of possibilities and alternatives being closed off. In the case of impaired health literacy we suggest that it obstructs the narrowing of the epistemic gap between clinician and patient normally achieved through communication and information provision. Health literacy shame prevents acknowledgement of this barrier. The consequence is that it may render consent less effective than it otherwise might have been in protecting the person's autonomy. We propose that the absence of consideration of health literacy shame during the consent process diminishes the possibility of the patient exerting full control over their choices, and thus bodily integrity.
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2023
This article provides an introduction to the special issue "Emotions of the Pandemic: Phenomenolo... more This article provides an introduction to the special issue "Emotions of the Pandemic: Phenomenological Perspectives". We begin by outlining how phenomenological research can illuminate various forms of emotional experience associated with the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we propose that a consideration of pandemic experience, in all its complexity and diversity, has the potential to yield wider-ranging phenomenological insights. We go on to discuss the thirteen contributions that follow, identifying common themes and points of complementarity.
Literature and Medicine, 2022
Through exploring the relation between shame, guilt, and medical error in Ann Patchett's novel St... more Through exploring the relation between shame, guilt, and medical error in Ann Patchett's novel State of Wonder alongside author-physician Danielle Ofri's autobiographical reflections in her essay "Ashamed to Admit It: Owning up to Medical Error," this essay considers how fiction and medical nonfiction might contribute to an understanding of the experience of medical error and being a "second victim" from the point of view of the medical learner. We argue that State of Wonder expands the scope of Ofri's work on shame about medical error; the novel presents a more durational examination of an error's consequences in non-medical contexts.
The Senses and Society, 2023
This Editors’ Introduction defines the theme of ’affective technotouch’
as referring to multidime... more This Editors’ Introduction defines the theme of ’affective technotouch’
as referring to multidimensional embodied encounters with
technologies which can trigger emotional and affective responses,
while also being concerned with social, political, cultural and ethical
dimensions of technological touch. With reference to neuroscience
and developmental studies, we outline how touch is foundational
in human experience. We then discuss contemporary technologies,
such as haptic gadgets and care/companion robots, which illustrate
the complexities of affective technotouch. Finally, we offer critical
outlines of the six contributing articles to this Special Issue on
Affective Technotouch.
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2023
In this paper, we analyse the particular phenomena of COVID-19 pandemic shaming. We examine Sartr... more In this paper, we analyse the particular phenomena of COVID-19 pandemic shaming. We examine Sartre's account of the undifferentiated other in the experience of 'the look', and his insistence on shame as a foundational relational affect, in order to give a robust theoretical frame to understand how pandemic shaming circulated both online and offline, in targeted and diffuse manners. We focus on two features of pandemic shaming. First, we draw attention to the structural necessity of an audience in acts of pandemic shaming, where the shamer acts on behalf of a community of others, the audience, to perform and enforce a set of standards, values or norms. We turn to the we-experience and collective emotions literature and discuss how the shamer believes themselves to be 'speaking' on behalf of a community who share their outrage along with their values. Second, we discuss how the presumption of a collective emotion was frequently mistaken in acts of pandemic shaming, where shaming frequently led to shame backlashes, where the audience revealed themselves not to share the emotion and values of the shamer, consequently shaming the shamer. We argue that Jean-Paul Sartre's voyeur example is usefully illustrative of the tripartite structure of (1) shamed, (2) shamer and (3) shamer of the shamer that occurs in iterative processes of pandemic shaming, which are accompanied by shaming backlashes. We conclude by reflecting on the socio-historical context for Sartre's accounts of shame and 'the look', namely the German occupation of Paris and Sartre's experience of the French Resistance movement, and how these yield a particular socio-historical framing that makes evident how the extraordinary pseudo-wartime conditions of COVID-19 rendered atmospheres of distrust and suspicion prevalent.
British Journal of Hospital Medicine , 2022
Acknowledging stigma has become very useful in healthcare. It helps both practitioners and patien... more Acknowledging stigma has become very useful in healthcare. It helps both practitioners and patients make sense of the social impact of an illness or condition. Stigma can reveal how the experience of ill health may coincide with a range of negative social events, such as discrimination, judgement, social exclusion, vilification, ostracism, labelling, loss of status, prejudice and unfair treatment, among others (Link and Phelan, 2001). People with a number of illnesses or conditions, such as obesity, HIV or lung cancer, are commonly stigmatised for their association with purportedly 'negative' lifestyle habits. Infectious diseases are also heavily stigmatised because of fears around contamination and infection, while many other conditions are stigmatised merely because they deviate from widespread standards regarding what is 'good', 'healthy' or 'acceptable'. However, it is important to note that stigma in the clinic may not be at all health-related, but nonetheless be health-relevant. Stigma associated with low literacy levels, poverty, social deprivation, food insecurity, homelessness, criminal justice, sexual violence, domestic abuse or other traumas may be highly relevant in healthcare contexts. Overall, the negative impacts of health-related stigma are serious and directly affect health and health outcomes. As Corrigan and Penn (1999) noted: 'Stigma's impact on a person's life may be as harmful as the direct effects of the disease.'
Human Studies, 2022
Experiences of shame are not always discrete, but can be recurrent, persistent or enduring. To us... more Experiences of shame are not always discrete, but can be recurrent, persistent or enduring. To use the feminist phenomenologist Sandra Lee Bartky's formulation, shame is not always an acute event, but can become a "pervasive affective attunement" (Bartky, 1990: 85). Instead of experiencing shame as a discrete event with a finite duration, it can be experienced as a persistent, and perhaps, permanent possibility in daily life. This sort of pervasive or persistent shame is commonly referred to as "chronic shame" (Pattison, 2000; Nathanson, 1992; Dolezal, 2015). Chronic shame is frequently associated with political oppression and marginalization. In chronic shame, it is the potentiality of shame, rather than the actuality, that is significant. In other words, the anticipation of shame (whether explicit or implicit) comes to be a defining feature of one's lived experience. Living with chronic shame has important socio-political consequences. Thus far, chronic shame has eluded simple phenomenological analysis, largely because chronic shame often does not have a clear experiential profile: it is frequently characterised by the absence rather than the presence of shame. The aim of this article is to provide a phenomenology of chronic shame, drawing from Edmund Husserl's formulation of the 'horizon' as a means a to discuss structural aspects of chronic shame experiences, in particular how chronic shame is characterised by structures of absence and anticipation.
Sociology of Health & Illness, 2023
This article explores the dynamics between fat shaming, neoliberalism, ideological constructions ... more This article explores the dynamics between fat shaming, neoliberalism, ideological constructions of health and the 'obesity epidemic' within the UK, using the UK Government's recent Tackling Obesity campaign in response to Covid-19 as an illustration. We draw attention to how fat shaming as a practice that encourages open disdain for those living with excess weight operates as a moralising tool to regulate and manage those who are viewed as 'bad' citizens. In doing so, we begin by outlining how the ideological underpinnings of 'health' have been transformed under neoliberalism. We then
Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 2022
Since its foundation in 2010, the annual philosophy thematic edition of this journal has been a f... more Since its foundation in 2010, the annual philosophy thematic edition of this journal has been a forum for authors from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, enabling contributors to raise questions of an urgent and fundamental nature regarding the most pressing problems facing the delivery and organization of healthcare. Authors have successfully exposed and challenged underlying assumptions that framed professional and policy discourse in diverse areas, generating productive and insightful dialogue regarding the relationship between evidence, value, clinical research and practice. These lively debates continue in this thematic edition, which includes a special section on stigma, shame and respect in healthcare. Authors address the problems with identifying and overcoming stigma in the clinic, interactional, structural and phenomenological accounts of stigma and the ‘stigma-shame nexus’. Papers examine the lived experience of discreditation, discrimination and degradation in a range of contexts, from the labour room to mental healthcare and the treatment of ‘deviancy’ and ‘looked-after children’. Authors raise challenging questions about the development of our uses of language in the context of care, and the relationship between stigma, disrespect and important analyses of power asymmetry and epistemic injustice. The relationship between respect, autonomy and personhood is explored with reference to contributions from an important conference series, which includes analyses of shame in the context of medically unexplained illness, humour, humiliation and obstetric violence.
Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 2022
Stigma has been associated with delays in seeking treatment, avoiding clinical encounters, prolon... more Stigma has been associated with delays in seeking treatment, avoiding clinical encounters, prolonged risk of transmission, poor adherence to treatment, mental distress, mental ill health and an increased risk of the recurrence of health problems, among many other factors that negatively impact on health outcomes. While the burdens and consequences of stigma have long been recognized in the health literature, there remains some ambiguity about how stigma is experienced by individuals who live with it. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the phenomenology of stigma, or to describe how it is that stigma shows up in the first-person experience of individuals who live with stigma and its burdens. Exploring the relationship between shame and stigma, I argue that shame anxiety, or the chronic anticipation of shame, best characterises the experience of living with a health-related, or health-relevant, stigma. Understanding the experiential features, or phenomenology, of shame anxiety will give healthcare professionals a greater sensitivity to stigma and its impacts in clinical settings and encounters. I will conclude by suggesting that ‘shame-sensitive’ practice would be beneficial in healthcare.
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2022
In this article, we outline and define for the first time the concept of shame-sensitivity and pr... more In this article, we outline and define for the first time the concept of shame-sensitivity and principles for shame-sensitive practice. We argue that shame-sensitive practice is essential for the trauma-informed approach. Experiences of trauma are widespread, and there exists a wealth of evidence directly correlating trauma to a range of poor social and health outcomes which incur substantial costs to individuals and to society. As such, trauma has been positioned as a significant public health issue which many argue necessitates a trauma-informed approach to health, care and social services along with public health. Shame is key emotional after effect of experiences of trauma, and an emerging literature argues that we may 'have failed to see the obvious' by neglecting to acknowledge the influence of shame on posttrauma states. We argue that the trauma-informed approach fails to adequately theorise and address shame, and that many of the aims of the trauma-informed are more effectively addressed through the concept and practice of shame-sensitivity. We begin by giving an overview of the trauma-informed paradigm, then consider shame as part of trauma, looking particularly at how shame manifests in post-trauma states in a chronic form. We explore how shame becomes a barrier to successful engagement with services, and finally conclude with a definition of the shame-sensitive concept and the principles for its practice.
New England Journal of Medicine, 2022
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Books by Luna Dolezal
This open access book examines the various ways that shame, shaming and stigma became an integral part of the United Kingdom's public health response to COVID-19 during 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, it quickly became clear that experiences of shame, shaming and stigma dominated personal and public life. From healthcare workers insulted in the streets to anti-Asian racism, the online shaming of “Covidiots” to the identification of the “lepers of Leicester”, public animus about the pandemic found scapegoats for its frustrations. Interventions by the UK government maximised rather than minimized these phenomena. Instead of developing robust strategies to address shame, the government's healthcare policies and rhetoric seemed to exacerbate experiences of shame, shaming and stigma, relying on a language and logic that intensified oppositional, antagonistic thinking, while dissimulating about its own responsibilities. Through a series of six case studies taken from the events of 2020, this thought-provoking book identifies a systemic failure to manage shame-producing circumstances in the UK. Ultimately, it addresses the experience of shame as a crucial, if often overlooked, consequence of pandemic politics, and advocates for a "shame sensitive" approach to public health responses.
The open access edition of this book is available under a CC BY NC ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com Open access was funded by The Wellcome Trust.
Journal Articles by Luna Dolezal
as referring to multidimensional embodied encounters with
technologies which can trigger emotional and affective responses,
while also being concerned with social, political, cultural and ethical
dimensions of technological touch. With reference to neuroscience
and developmental studies, we outline how touch is foundational
in human experience. We then discuss contemporary technologies,
such as haptic gadgets and care/companion robots, which illustrate
the complexities of affective technotouch. Finally, we offer critical
outlines of the six contributing articles to this Special Issue on
Affective Technotouch.
This open access book examines the various ways that shame, shaming and stigma became an integral part of the United Kingdom's public health response to COVID-19 during 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, it quickly became clear that experiences of shame, shaming and stigma dominated personal and public life. From healthcare workers insulted in the streets to anti-Asian racism, the online shaming of “Covidiots” to the identification of the “lepers of Leicester”, public animus about the pandemic found scapegoats for its frustrations. Interventions by the UK government maximised rather than minimized these phenomena. Instead of developing robust strategies to address shame, the government's healthcare policies and rhetoric seemed to exacerbate experiences of shame, shaming and stigma, relying on a language and logic that intensified oppositional, antagonistic thinking, while dissimulating about its own responsibilities. Through a series of six case studies taken from the events of 2020, this thought-provoking book identifies a systemic failure to manage shame-producing circumstances in the UK. Ultimately, it addresses the experience of shame as a crucial, if often overlooked, consequence of pandemic politics, and advocates for a "shame sensitive" approach to public health responses.
The open access edition of this book is available under a CC BY NC ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com Open access was funded by The Wellcome Trust.
as referring to multidimensional embodied encounters with
technologies which can trigger emotional and affective responses,
while also being concerned with social, political, cultural and ethical
dimensions of technological touch. With reference to neuroscience
and developmental studies, we outline how touch is foundational
in human experience. We then discuss contemporary technologies,
such as haptic gadgets and care/companion robots, which illustrate
the complexities of affective technotouch. Finally, we offer critical
outlines of the six contributing articles to this Special Issue on
Affective Technotouch.