Chronic illness: the temporal thief

Abstract

Chronic illness is experienced in and through time. As the term ‘chronic’ suggests, the chronically ill body is one that reorients itself to the ways in which time is perceived, experienced and used, in a multiply of ways. New practices are developed and routines are established to manage chronic illness in personal and social contexts. As rhythms of bodily life change one’s expectations for the future might change, and their relations with other people (who have their own temporal rhythms) might also change. Meanings attributed to past and present experiences and practices, as well as future plans and imaginings, acquire new significance with chronic illness. For many people, chronic illness is experienced as a thief, stealing their imagined futures. Through public health and anthropological lenses this book investigates intersections between chronic illness and time.