How many flukes do you need? Stories on breast cancer at the Ambassador Bridge
Standing
Graduate (PhD)
Type of Proposal
Oral Presentation
Faculty
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale
Proposal
1 in 8 Canadian women are diagnosed with breast cancer and incidence is rising. Only 5 to 10% of cases are genetic though when consulted, many women seem believe it is the most important factor in developing the disease. The scientific evidence increasingly tells us that up to 70% of breast cancers are linked to environmental exposures. Air pollution currently has the attention of many breast cancer researchers with multiple studies finding elevated incidence among women in high levels of exposure. My research with women workers at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, ON, the busiest border crossing in North America, where over 20,000 transport trucks and other vehicles cross each day, and a workplace where women are getting breast cancer at rates 16 times higher than the rest of the county, explores the layers influencing understandings, decisions, meaning-making and perceptions of environmental breast cancer risks in all their richness. The complexity of intersections of biological and sociological factors for breast cancer risks reveals this is not simply a public health issue, but also one of environmental justice. Kleinman’s cultural model of illness guides the identification of the subject in this study and how subject location influences understandings, interpretations and use of knowledge from different sources (e.g., personal and vicarious experiences, popular and social media, authoritative sources) in creating narratives and discourses of breast cancer risk. By analyzing in-depth individual interviews with 25 women workers from the Bridge, a story emerges about how women construct their narratives for risks for breast cancer by incorporating varying sources of information and making decisions about using that information based on “what really matters” to them. Personal experiences and interpretations of risk are intertwined, bringing together the biomedical, cultural and personal.
Location
University of Windsor
Grand Challenges
Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities
How many flukes do you need? Stories on breast cancer at the Ambassador Bridge
University of Windsor
1 in 8 Canadian women are diagnosed with breast cancer and incidence is rising. Only 5 to 10% of cases are genetic though when consulted, many women seem believe it is the most important factor in developing the disease. The scientific evidence increasingly tells us that up to 70% of breast cancers are linked to environmental exposures. Air pollution currently has the attention of many breast cancer researchers with multiple studies finding elevated incidence among women in high levels of exposure. My research with women workers at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, ON, the busiest border crossing in North America, where over 20,000 transport trucks and other vehicles cross each day, and a workplace where women are getting breast cancer at rates 16 times higher than the rest of the county, explores the layers influencing understandings, decisions, meaning-making and perceptions of environmental breast cancer risks in all their richness. The complexity of intersections of biological and sociological factors for breast cancer risks reveals this is not simply a public health issue, but also one of environmental justice. Kleinman’s cultural model of illness guides the identification of the subject in this study and how subject location influences understandings, interpretations and use of knowledge from different sources (e.g., personal and vicarious experiences, popular and social media, authoritative sources) in creating narratives and discourses of breast cancer risk. By analyzing in-depth individual interviews with 25 women workers from the Bridge, a story emerges about how women construct their narratives for risks for breast cancer by incorporating varying sources of information and making decisions about using that information based on “what really matters” to them. Personal experiences and interpretations of risk are intertwined, bringing together the biomedical, cultural and personal.