Ten years of Ana: lessons from a transdisciplinary body of literature on online pro-eating disorder websites

Casilli, Antonio A., Tubaro, Paola and Araya, Pedro (2012) Ten years of Ana: lessons from a transdisciplinary body of literature on online pro-eating disorder websites. Social Science Information, 51 (1). pp. 120-139. ISSN 0539-0184 (print), 1461-7412 (electronic) (doi:10.1177/0539018411425880)

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Abstract

This paper offers a methodical review of the scientific literature of the last decade that concerns itself with online services offering supportive advocacy for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (‘pro-ana’ and ‘pro-mia’). The main question is whether these studies reproduce the traditional divide in the study of eating disorders, between clinical and social science perspectives, with limited mutual exchanges. Having first identified a specific body of literature, the authors investigate its content, methods and approaches, and analyse the network of cross-citations the components generate and share. On this basis, the authors argue that the scientific literature touching on pro-ana websites can be regarded as a single
transdisciplinary body of knowledge. What’s more, they show that the literature on computermediated sociabilities centred on eating disorders displays different structural characteristics with respect to the traditional, non-Web-related research on eating disorders. In the latter, the social sciences have usually provided a critical counterpoint to the development of a health sciences mainstream. In the case of Web-related research, however, the social sciences have taken the lead role in defining the field, with the health sciences following suit.

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