Oltre le parole. Saperi e identità in un percorso di co-costruzione tra arte e narrativa

Abstract

This contribution aims to explore some methodological aspects emerged during medical anthropology research with relatives of Huntington’s patients. It also deepens the illness narratives in a help-self groups and art therapy activities, organized by Associazione Italiana per la Còrea di Huntington (AICH) of Milan. The field is characterized by exchange of personal experience of illness and disciplinary concepts. Participants and therapists collaborate in the creative process of co-construction of lay knowledge and identity: caregivers, people at genetic risk and therapists highlight different representations and ideas about Huntington’s disease. Therefore, they encourage the creation of new subjectivities. Genetic identity are engendered by the relationship between emotions, experiences and shared knowledge. For this reason, the lateral perspective is necessary to explore the different concepts in a multidisciplinary approaches. In this way, the participant observation put on evidence the production and re-production of nomadic knowledge, that moves concepts and meanings in multiple disciplinary fields.