who I am? I am healthy. A qualitative study on health in relation to identity

Larsen, Camilla Overgaard

4. term

Culture, Communication and Globalization, Master

2016

2016-05-31

This thesis explores how the health wave in a Danish context—focusing on the global LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) trend—interacts with identity construction on Instagram. The aim is to understand Danish LCHF practitioners’ experiences and perceptions of the concept and how their chosen lifestyle influences how they present themselves. The study is based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with nine Danish informants who follow LCHF and share images of LCHF food on Instagram. Drawing on the role of social media (Web 2.0) and contemporary health discourses, the analysis indicates that LCHF is experienced as flexible, simple, and compatible with “good food” and quality of life, and that several informants describe a more natural and positive relationship with health and food. Instagram is used actively to define and communicate who one is (and is not), with images functioning as personal narratives and with deliberate choices about what to display or conceal to create a situation-specific, health-related identity. The rose-tinted side of the lifestyle is emphasized, and healthy living is associated with success and moral value. The thesis also discusses how global trends like LCHF are glocalized via social media within a Danish setting.

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan sundhedsbølgen i en dansk kontekst – med fokus på den globale trend LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) – hænger sammen med identitetsskabelse på Instagram. Formålet er at forstå danske LCHF-udøveres erfaringer og opfattelser af konceptet samt, hvordan deres valgte livsstil påvirker den måde, de præsenterer sig selv på. Studien bygger på semistrukturerede kvalitative interviews med ni danske informanter, der lever efter LCHF og deler billeder af LCHF-mad på Instagram. Med udgangspunkt i nyere sociale mediers rolle (Web 2.0) og sundhedsdiskurser viser analysen, at LCHF opleves som fleksibel, enkel og forenelig med “god mad” og dermed god livskvalitet, og at flere informanter beskriver et mere naturligt og positivt forhold til sundhed og mad. Instagram bruges aktivt til at definere og kommunikere, hvem man er (og ikke er), hvor billeder fungerer som personlige fortællinger, og hvor der kurateres mellem det, der vises, og det, der skjules, for at skabe en situationsspecifik, sundhedsrelateret identitet. Den glansbilledeprægede side fremhæves, og en sund livsstil forbindes med succes og moralsk værdi. Afhandlingen diskuterer desuden, hvordan globale trends som LCHF glokaliseres via sociale medier i en dansk sammenhæng.

[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]

Social media & identity

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Larsen, Camilla Overgaard:

• “WHO I AM? – I AM HEALTHY”: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON HEALTH IN RELATION TO IDENTITY (2016)