Breathing Beyond Biology: How postcolonial theory, literary analysis, and phenomenology can be used to better understand experiences of breathlessness

While the medical-scientific basis of breathing/breathlessness are relatively well understood, the subjective experiences of and discourses surrounding breathing/breathlessness are poorly understood. Moreover, breathlessness is disproportionately experienced by people living in the “global south,” yet has never been researched through a (post)colonial framework. My project addresses these research gaps in two ways. Firstly, I will analyze representations of breath/breathlessness in postcolonial literatures. By tracing how literature shapes discourses surrounding breath/breathlessness, one can better understand the unique cultural and social significance attributed to breath/breathlessness outside the dominant Euro-American paradigm. Secondly, I will develop a postcolonial phenomenological methodology to better understand embodied experiences of breathlessness as they intersect with issues related to (post)colonialism (e.g. culture, nationality, and ethnicity). In these ways, my research will help bridge the gap between the ways patients experience, describe, and understand breathlessness and the ways medical professionals do–especially across cultural, national, and ethnic borders.

Faculty Supervisor:

Joel Faflak

Student:

Partner:

Durham University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Western University

Program: