“I Feel Bad for People Who Don’t Have a Chronic Illness:” Refusing Deviance and Reframing Illness Through Summer Camp

Abstract

Scholarship in medical anthropology has a history of characterizing chronic illness as a “deviant” condition. Emerging research problematizes this paradigm, however, and demands its reconsideration. The growing recognition of the significance of shared experiences of illness and community in coping with chronic illness diagnoses also contradicts traditional conceptualizations of illness as disruptive and socially stigmatizing. One example of this phenomenon can be found in pediatric medical summer camps. Stemming from a personal understanding of illness and the summer camp experience, this thesis investigates the transformative nature of these experiences through semi-structured interviews. In doing so, it applies Catherine Tan’s idea of “biographical illumination” to the experience of pediatric medical summer camps, arguing that these camps reframe campers’ understandings of illness through community, shared experiences, and a focus on personal growth. With this new understanding of chronic illness, individuals refuse the label of deviance and come to consider their diagnoses as illuminating.