Stories of illness as care of the self: a Foucauldian dialogue

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Abstract
Michel Foucault's idea of the ‘care of the self’ challenges whether ill people can be empowered by telling their own stories in the attempt to reclaim their own experiences from the medical appropriation of illness. This paper explores the ambiguity in what Foucault meant by care of the self and suggests that empowerment through narrative formulations of identity remains possible, though Foucault teaches us that telling our ‘own stories’ is never straightforward. The works of the classicist Page duBois and the philosopher Charles Taylor are used to provide a reconceptualized version of ‘care of the self’. If care of the self is more problematic after Foucault, it may also be more important, and personal narratives remain a crucial means of taking care of oneself.

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