NEWS World Health Day is celebrated annually on 7 April. Kätlin Koik, a doctoral student in English literature, researches how eating disorders – illnesses which are surrounded by myths and a common belief that they are mainly associated with beauty ideals – are represented in contemporary literature.
Doktorand vid Institutionen för språkstudier
ImageHans Karlsson– I want to contribute to a new way of looking at eating disorders. These illnesses are many times stigmatized and there are myths surrounding them. My interest is particularly in the common assumptions that eating disorders are linked to beauty ideals. However, our relationship with food is comprised of so many different aspects such as culture, religion, class, and gender.
Our relationship with food is comprised of so many different aspects such as culture, religion, class, and gender.
Originally from Estonia, Kätlin has spent several years travelling across Europe. She lived in Scotland before moving to Sweden to study her bachelor’s at Malmö University, followed by a master’s degree at Uppsala University.
– I am from Northern Europe and was curious to see what it would be like on the other side of the lake!
Since August 2022, Kätlin is a doctoral student at the Department of Language Studies. Her main interests are contemporary literature, autobiography studies, illness narratives, and medical humanities. Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine, humanities and social sciences and aims to understand and improve health and health care.
The way we ask questions in humanities contributes to the medical perspective.
– The way we ask questions in humanities contributes to the medical perspective. Issues related to health are put in a historical, cultural, and social context. For example, a disease is inside of the body, but it’s also a matter of how an individual experiences their illness and how it affects their social setting.
Kätlin’s focus is on the author, she specifically investigates how established authors write about eating disorders.
– There is much more debate around anorexia than bulimia and compulsive eating disorders. This could be related to the assumption that only anorexia is believed to have fatal health consequences.
