Restoring femininity through religious symbols after breast cancer. The case of the Polish Amazonki

Abstract

Breast cancer operations have a great impact on women, not only on their bodies but also on their sense of self as women and mothers, and their sexuality. This paper analyses the ways in which a Polish breast cancer support group called Amazonki deals with this, and offers alternative models of femininity. In particular we will analyse the religious symbols and practices related to the Catholic Holy Mary and to the pilgrimage to Polands major religious shrine, that of the Black Madonna of Cze¸stochowa, and their meaning in terms of gender identity. It is argued that through these religious symbols and practices, as well as in the related discussion in their magazine, opposing and at times seemingly conflicting models of femininity are combined and reconciled, but also renegotiated with other social actors.

Keywords::

• breast cancer advocacy groups
• femininity
• body image
• religious symbols
• Mary
• Poland

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]

^3. Radley quotes the article ‘Cancer is/as Spectacle: An Analysis of Illness as Art’ by L. Alice (1996) published on the website http://www.cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/women_with_cancer/papers/lalice/lalice.html, [Accessed 15 March 2000]; however, the website does not exist any longer and the article could not be found anywhere else for verification.

^4.

W sercu was ludzie noszę

W sercu za wami proszę

Z serca piosenki śpiewam

W sercu urazy nie mam

Nie ma rzeczy, nie ma rzeczy niemożliwych

Wszystkich ludzi uszczęśliwię

Tylko daj mi Panie proszę

Skrawek nieba

I nic więcej mi do życia nie potrzeba.

Sercem do was przemawiam

Serce miłościę zaprawiam

Do serca troski zabieram

Serce me dla was zamiera.

^5. Like McCarthy Brown (2001), we use the spelling Vodou here deliberately to differentiate the actual practice of the religion from its various widespread misconceptions under the title Voodoo. The latter often refers only to the black magic that can also be part of it, but it neglects the so-called white version of Vodou that is not aimed at harming, but at helping people. This is the dimension referred to here.

Additional information

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding) for subsidizing part of this research.

Notes on contributors

Judith Samson

Judith Samson defended her Ph.D. thesis in September 2012, ‘Sexuality and Gender discourses at European pilgrimage sites’, at Radboud University, Nijmegen. She has published articles for the general public on pilgrimages to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa and her scholarly article, The gender agenda: new strategies in Catholic fundamentalist framing of non-heterosexuality in Europe, appeared in Journal of religion in Europe, 4 (2), 2011, 1–27.

Willy Jansen

Willy Jansen is an anthropologist and Professor of Gender Studies at Radboud University, Nijmegen. She has published widely on the topics of gender, religion, pilgrimage, sexuality and education. She co-edited with A.K. Hermkens and C. Notermans Moved by Mary: the power of pilgrimage in the modern world (2009).

Catrien Notermans

Catrien Notermans is an assistant professor at the Anthropology Department of Radboud University, Nijmegen. She has conducted fieldwork on religion (pilgrimage, material religion, African Christianity, witchcraft and Hinduism) and kinship (polygyny, fosterage, transnational kin networks). She co-authored with W. Jansen, 2011. Ex-votos in Lourdes: contested materiality of miraculous healings, Material religion, 7 (2), 168–193.