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 (Online) (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.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	anorexia, bulimia, internet, nutrition, technology in healthcare
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business > Networks and Urban Systems Centre (NUSC) > Centre for Business Network Analysis (CBNA) Faculty of Business > Department of International Business & Economics Faculty of Business
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	15 Oct 2016 02:20
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/7009

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