Prelims

Half Title Page

Researching Contemporary Wellness Cultures

Title Page

Researching Contemporary Wellness Cultures

EDITED BY

NAOMI SMITH

University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

CLARE SOUTHERTON

La Trobe University, Australia

and

MARIANNE CLARK

Acadia University, Canada

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL.

First edition 2024

Editorial Matter and Selection © 2024 Naomi Smith, Clare Southerton, and Marianne Clark.

Individual chapters © 2024 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80455-585-9 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80455-584-2 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80455-586-6 (Epub)

Contents

List of Figure and Tables

About the Editors

Naomi Smith is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Primarily, her research has focussed on the intersection of the internet and bodies (including anti-vaccination sentiment), how online communities influence the way we make sense of our bodies, and how we manage them. She also researches misinformation, conspiracy theories and wellness cultures

Clare Southerton is a Lecturer in Digital Technology and Pedagogy at La Trobe University. Her research explores how social media platforms and other digital technologies are used for learning and sharing knowledge, as well as misinformation and conspiracy theorising. Her work has explored digital youth cultures, surveillance and privacy, digital health and sexuality.

Marianne Clark is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology, Acadia University, Canada and a Visiting Fellow at the Vitalities Lab, UNSW, Sydney. Her research interests include girls’ and women’s health with a focus on embodiment as well as the intersections of physical and digital cultures.

About the Contributors

Monica Barratt is a Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University and has over 20 years’ experience in health and social research in the areas of drug harm reduction and policy reform, with a specific focus on digital technologies, drug market dynamics and drug monitoring systems. Her work has been published in over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and she has attracted over $4 million in competitive grant funding. She serves as an Editor for leading journals in the drugs field: International Journal of Drug Policy and Drug and Alcohol Review. She has provided critical evidence to the Victorian Coroner about further ways in which we can prevent drug-related deaths. She also serves as the Executive Director of Bluelight.org, a global drug harm reduction community, and leads research activities for The Loop Australia, a charity aiming to conduct drug checking interventions both at festivals and in the community.

Julia Coffey is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Newcastle, Australia and Deputy Director of the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre. She researches in the areas of youth, gender, embodiment, wellbeing and feminism. She is currently leading an ARC DP ‘Understanding selfie-editing apps in youth digital cultures’ with co-investigators Akane Kanai, Amy Dobson and Ros Gill. Her most recent books are Everyday Embodiment: Rethinking Youth Body Image (Palgrave, 2021) and Gender in an Era of Post-truth Populism (co-edited with Burke, Kanai & Gill; Bloomsbury, 2022).

Rob Cover is Professor of Digital Communication at RMIT University, and Co-director of the RMIT Digital Ethnography Research Centre, Australia. He is the Lead Investigator on several Australian Research Council Discovery Projects including the “Digital Hostility Australia” study, and a Co-investigator on an ARC Linkage Project with the History Trust of South Australia examining minority migration. His research focusses on digital communication in the context of social belonging, minority youth, wellbeing and resilience. His recent books include: Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Gender and Relationships in a Digital Era (Routledge, 2019), Fake News in Digital Cultures (with Thompson & Haw, 2022), Identity in Digi tal Communication: Concepts, Theories, Practices (Routledge, 2023), and Identity in the COVID-19 Years (Bloomsbury, 2024), among others.

Maddison Cuerton is an Anthropologist and PhD candidate in the School of Social Science. Her Honours thesis drew on Foucauldian theory to examine the promotion of sovereignty beyond digital access to cultural heritage. Her PhD examines carers’ experiences of medicinal cannabis in advanced cancer settings.

Clare Davies is a PhD candidate at The University of Sydney. Her research interests include public health, wellness, food culture and digital technology. Clare’s current research explores how digital technologies shape normative ideals of individual health and female embodiment. Alongside her PhD, Clare is a sessional academic and works in health communication.

Jenny L. Davis is a Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University and Honorary Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University. Her work intersects technology studies and structural social psychology, focussing on social factors in technological design.

Leanne Downing is a communications professional specialising in health, education and corporate communications. She has held academic teaching and research positions at La Trobe University, The University of Melbourne, Massey University (NZ) and Victoria University Wellington (NZ) and, most recently, has been a Visiting Fellow at the Vitalities Research Lab, University of New South Wales.

Ruth Fitzpatrick is a Research Fellow with Deakin University and has served on a range of projects relating to religion, spirituality and contemplative traditions and their relationship to young people, death and dying, conspiracy movements, religious diversity and education. Her earlier research specialised on how cultural narratives shape what Australian Buddhists conceive Buddhist social engagement to be.

Phillip Good is a Specialist in Palliative Medicine. Leader of numerous clinical trials, he is currently leading an NHMRC grant examining multiple aspects of medicinal cannabis in the advanced cancer context. He has a particular interest in research involving palliative care patients, patient and carer experiences and palliative care for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Anna Halafoff is Associate Professor of Sociology in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University, Australia, and leads the Spirituality and Wellbeing Research Network. She has been a chief investigator on two recent and one current Australian Research Council Discovery Projects on the Worldviews of Generation Z Australians, Religious Diversity in Australia and Australian Spirituality. Her research interests include worldview diversity, contemporary spirituality, interreligious relations, religion and education, preventing violent extremism and Buddhism in Australia. She is the author of The Multifaith Movement: Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions (Springer, 2013), co-editor of Re-enchanting Education and Spiritual Wellbeing (with Marion DeSouza, Routledge, 2017) and co-author of Freedoms, Faiths and Futures: Teenage Australians on Religion, Sexuality and Diversity (with Andrew Singleton, Mary Lou Rasmussen and Gary Bouma; Bloomsbury, 2021).

Janet Hardy is a Professorial Research Fellow at Mater Research – University Queensland. With a background in medical oncology, she has a particular interest in the management of advanced cancer. Following a long career in clinical palliative medicine, she now pursues research into the optimisation of cancer pain management, the use and abuse of steroids in cancer care and the development and testing of new analgesic agents. She has led NHMRC grants examining medicinal cannabis in advanced cancer contexts.

Ashleigh Haw is a Lecturer in Professional Communication at RMIT University. Her research focusses on discursive constructions of marginalised populations in Australian media, political and public discourse, with a particular interest in the implications for democracy, health and social policy. Her sole-authored book, Asylum Seekers in Australian News Media: Mediated (In)humanity’, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in January 2023, and she co-authored the monograph Fake News in Digital Cultures: Technology, Populism and Digital Misinformation (Emerald Publishing Group) with Prof Rob Cover and Dr Jay Daniel Thompson from RMIT University in 2022.

Edith Hill is an Associate Lecturer and Writer at Flinders University. Her research is concerned with online life narratives of health, illness and wellness, with a specific focus on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. She investigated the ethics of representing children’s health online, the role of health professionals in online spaces and health and wellness hoaxes. Her memoir in progress Granny Squares was recently shortlisted for the Deep Creek residency fellowship. She is affiliated with the Life Narrative Lab.

Keesha Abdul Khalil is a final year undergraduate student at the University of Queensland, pursuing degrees in Economics and Religious Studies. Keesha also undertook a summer internship in the School of Social Science, UQ, providing support to the initial development of the chapter included here.

Alexia Maddox is a Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy and Education Futures at La Trobe University. She has a background in the sociology of technology and specialises in researching digital frontiers and socio-technical transformation. Her most recent research draws together insights into emerging technology spaces with immersive environments/sensory experiences and technology trends surrounding artificial intelligence, machine learning, algorithmic processes, Web3, gamification, pleasure and play. She combines a long-term interest in the social impacts of the internet with practical questions about human–technology encounters and how to research them.

Rebecca Olson is a Reader in Sociology at the University of Queensland. Funded by competitive national grants, her research intersects the sociologies of health and emotion. As a leading qualitative researcher, she employs video-based, participatory, reflexive, post-qualitative and post-paradigmatic approaches to inform translational inquiry. Her current work focusses on medicinal cannabis in advanced cancer settings, interprofessional education and practice and emotion management of climate anxiety. Her recent books include Towards a Sociology of Cancer Caregiving: Time to Feel (Routledge, 2015) and Emotions in Late Modernity (co-edited with Patulny, Bellocchi, Khorana, McKenzie and Peterie; Routledge, 2019).

Cristina Rocha is Professor of Anthropology and the Director of the Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney University, Australia. She co-edits the Journal of Global Buddhism and the Religion in the Americas Brill series. Her research focusses on the intersections of globalisation, (im)mobilities, religion and materialities. Her publications include: Cool Christianity: Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities (OUP 2024); John of God: The Globalization of Brazilian Faith Healing (Oxford University Press, 2017), The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions (with Manuel A. Vásquez; Brill, 2013); Buddhism in Australia (with Michelle Barker; Routledge, 2010); and Zen in Brazil: The Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity (Hawaii University Press, 2006).

Alexandra Smith is a medical anthropologist working across both the academic and health service spheres, with a focus on research in cancer, palliative care, the experiences of regional, rural and remote patient populations and an interest in the intersection of new materialism and feminist post-structuralism in comprehending bodies and body work. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Queensland, she is engaged in qualitative research currently focussed on medicinal cannabis, advanced cancer, palliative care, and patient experiences. She also works within the health service setting managing a clinical trials unit in a regional hospital, and engaging with patients and clinical staff to facilitate trial participation and clinical research opportunities.

Jay Daniel Thompson is a Senior Lecturer in Professional Communication at RMIT University. His research asks what ‘ethical online communication’ might look like, and how this might assist in mitigating digital hostility and networked disinformation to create safer online spaces for media professionals and consumers. Dr. Thompson is the co-author of two books, both published in 2022: Fake News in Digital Cultures (Emerald Publishing; co-authored with Professor Rob Cover and Dr. Ashleigh Haw, RMIT University); and Content Production for Digital Media (Springer Nature; co-authored with Associate Professor John Weldon, Victoria University). He is currently under contract with Routledge to write a sole-authored monograph about the ethics of journalistic reportage on conspiracy actors.

Justine Topham is a Sociology PhD student at Federation University Australia (Mount Helen). Her Honours thesis focussed on the transformation of diet culture into wellness, as observed in YouTube What I Eat In A Day videos. She has a keen interest in wellness, self-improvement and social media and how these phenomena construct and shape our everyday experience.