Stories stirring the quest of the good: narratives of women living with chronic rheumatic conditions

Abstract

This ethnography based study explored how four women living with chronic rheumatic conditions related to and communicated moral issues in their everyday activities. Narrative analyses were conducted and showed that the women linked everyday events and happenings to moral quests rather than to moral issues. The analyses are presented in the form of four stories, stories which are emplotted with different moral quests, quests that are grounded in the women's everyday doing. For example, one woman was concerned if she was doing well enough and another woman was wondering about her society's good. The four stories that form our interpretation show how the women experienced and managed unpredictability and contradictions in their everyday life and activities, due to their conditions and society's labelling traditions. The quests communicate the significance of their experiences as human beings participating in a society where they are considered to be different.

Keywords:

• narrative analyses
• everyday activities
• moral
• chronic conditions
• ethnography

Notes

1. Kirby and Mièle are expensive vacuum cleaners of high quality, but with slightly different functions.