INVENTING NEOLOGISMS REGARDING BREAST CANCER IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA Miwon Seo, Ph. D candidate Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Cadis-CRC MIWON.SEO [AT]GMAIL.COM At the conference “Qualitative Cancer Research: Taking Stock, Stepping Further” April 29th, 2014. at 2 p.m. Berlin School of Public Health, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
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Inventing Neologisms Regarding Breast Cancer in the Republic of Korea
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INVENTING NEOLOGISMS ���REGARDING BREAST CANCER ���IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Miwon Seo, Ph. D candidate Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Cadis-CRC MIWON.SEO [AT]GMAIL.COM
At the conference “Qualitative Cancer Research: Taking Stock, Stepping Further”
April 29th, 2014. at 2 p.m. Berlin School of Public Health, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
ABSTRACT
! Objectives:
o Understanding the usage of newly created expressions to call cancer
o Neologism: a newly made expression with existing words, to give a new meaning
o Link to patients’ subjectivity
! In Seoul, Republic of Korea, Ethnography and semi-structured interviews
Nappŭn (나쁜 /nappŭn/): (bad, evil) the opposite word of ‘chakhan’
KEYWORDS
Kŏbugi (거북이 /geobugi/): a turtle
(meaning being slow like almost everywhere in the world)
KEYWORDS
Myŏngpum (명품 /myŏngpum/): luxury goods
KEYWORDS
! Ajumma (아줌마 /adjumma/): married, mostly middle-aged, who spent most of her life for the well-being of her family
NEOLOGISMS USED IN NEWSPAPERS
! To assert that the life is not threatened by cancer
The five-year survival rate of pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer that Steve Jobs have is over 50 %. Medical circles thus say that Jobs got 'chakhan am’. (Joongang Daily, 5th Mar. 2011)
'Chakhan am' is cancer that barely threatens life. (Hwang (M.D.), Daily Kyunghyang, 8th Mar. 2014)
NEOLOGISM USED BY WOMEN ���WITH BREAST CANCER
The president of the national breast patients’ association said, “breast cancer grows slowly and the survivor rate is high, so it is named as ‘chakhan am’”. Detected early, the survival rate of breast cancer is over 95 %. (Joongang Daily, 2nd Sep. 2013)
“The president of our self-help group heard that she had a 'chakhan am' cancer from her doctor, she was operated three years ago. I didn't realize that our doctor uses 'chakhan' or 'nappŭn' for cancer. He told the president that she had a 'chakhan am’ (she didn't hear him saying it before)”. (Interview with a patient named Hanna, Feb. 24, 2014)
NEOLOGISMS USED IN NEWSPAPERS
! To build a contrast between the newly built belief and the expert’s opinion
Many people consider small-sized thyroid cancer (smaller than 5mm of diametre) as 'chakhan am’, which sometimes leads them not to remove it. So called 'kŏbugi am', thyroid cancer grows slowly, thus there is no urgency to remove it, but it should be removed one day. (Maeil Daily, 26th Jul. 2013)
As thyroid cancer grows more slowly than other cancers, it is called 'kŏbugi am'. However, if we leave it in the body, the character of cancer changes into an evil one. (interview with Park (M.D.), Chosun Daily, 2nd Aug. 2013)
NEOLOGISM USED BY WOMEN ���WITH BREAST CANCER
! To highlight the positive side of having a cancer and consider it as a turning point
! “I did not name breast cancer a ‘myŏngpm am' by chance. This is a ‘myŏngpm am’, as there are many women who are well treated after being ill. Their livelihood has been changed. They look back on their own life and they change also what they were wrong.” (Interview, 29th Oct. 2013)
NEOLOGISM USED BY WOMEN ���WITH BREAST CANCER
Hanna: Do you know what a 'chakhan am’?
Me: Well, thyroid cancer is named as 'chakhan am’.
Hanna: No, I met a patient who got thyroid cancer three years ago, her doctor told her that not every cancer is bad, but the one with higher degree of aggressiveness is a 'nappŭn’ (evil or bad) one.
Me: You learned that your cancer is a 'nappŭn am’ after gathering information with your closest people then from your doctor.
Hanna: I would like to hear the same thing from my doctor. In spite of my leading questions, he never said that.
(Interview with Hanna, 24th Feb. 2014)
DISCUSSION
! A cliché
! In a continuous negotiation process
! A fluctuating adjustment process
! Positioning of physicians far less forceful and designating and putting emphasis on individual's autonomy and responsibility
! Individual's autonomy and responsibilities to patients’ side to take good care of their body.
DISCUSSION
! No consensus for their usage, but more restrictive usage in written sources
! Little space for debate and discussions engaging biomedical knowledge
! The need for democratization of knowledge on the disease from the experts' side
! Interpretations on personal illness experience from patients’ side
CONCLUSION
! A change from an authoritarian, paternalistic attitude to a more responsive and sensitive perception of the patient
! Patients who feel free and confident to consent to treatments that a physician suggests
! Power relation between patient and doctor : money
! What is a good communication?
REFERENCES
u Grounded Theory
• Barney G. Glaser; Anselm L. Strauss (1967), The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. Chicago.: Aldine.
• Anselm L. Strauss; Juliet Corbin (1990), Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques, Sage
• Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory : a practical guide through qualitative analysis. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications
• Chapter 10. Qualitative Data Analysis, p. 320-357 in Russell K. Schutt (2012) Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research: Seventh Edition, SAGE Publications, Inc, 2012.
REFERENCES
u More on Korean Breast Cancer Patients
• Myungsun Yi et al. “Informational Needs of Korean Women with Breast Cancer: Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Toronto Informational Needs Questionnaire of Breast Cancer”, Asian Nursing Research, December 2007;1(3):176-186.
• Nelson, Laura C. 2012. “Diagnosing Breast Cancer in South Korea: ‘Western’ Behaviors, Stress, and Survivor Activism.” Journal of Korean Studies, 17 (2): 253–68. doi:10.1353/jks.2012.0020.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING ������
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ���PLEASE EMAIL ME AT MIWON.SEO [AT]GMAIL.COM
Research Funding : French National Institute of Cancer 2013-2015
Ph. D under supervision of Philippe Bataille and Alain Delissen