Natalia Fernández Díaz-Cabal, Ph.D.
Autonomous
University of Barcelona and University of Shanghai
DISPLAYING, HIDING: NARRATIVES AND IMAGES OF SARCOMA
Despite its "insignificance" from the
point of view of its social and cultural impact, sarcoma, throughout its
history as an identified and identifiable clinical entity, shows some
curiosities that we would like to deal with: its visibility from the monstrous
(the dimensions of a sarcoma can be of a remarkable enormity compared to other
malignant tumors) to the invisibility of the term itself (sarcoma evokes bitter
destinies and especially since the irruption of AIDS - Kaposi's sarcoma - gives
it a definitive deadly connotation). This displaying or exhibiting objectifies
the patient - the principle that the patient is only his/her illness applies.
The human subject is not of interest; only his/her exceptionality and stigma
do.
In order to understand the meaning of what is displayed,
it is necessary to delve into the etymology of the word "sarcoma",
which comes from the Greek and which, from Galen until the late 19th century,
was used in its most literal sense: fleshy excrescence. This excrescence is
what was shown at medical and media gatherings, and to a general public eager
for oddities, as were human specimens exhibited in several cities in Europe at
that time. Currently, sarcoma is just a rare tumor (a variety of rare tumors)
and narratives of patients remain silenced (if not ignored).
We are going to explore this initial body
display at the end of 19th century, where the patients were just objects to be
exposed. It will be the best framework to approach to the work of the Irish
writer Lucy Grealy, author of “Autobiography of a face”, where she narrates
her experience with Ewing sarcoma in her face and her permanent war against
mirrors due to deformity and the social imperative of being beautiful.
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