Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, Communication Theory and Process (Communication)

The goal of this research is to reveal the connections, contradictions, tensions, and paradoxes inherent in the narratives of breast cancer created by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Breast Cancer Coalition by exploring three research questions: Q1: How do the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Breast Cancer Coalition perform a narrative of breast cancer at their respective events? Q2: How are these performed narratives shaped by the cultural and historical context of breast cancer awareness in the United States? Q3: How do these performed narratives shape current breast cancer awareness in the United States. In addressing these questions, the historical and cultural roots of breast cancer campaigns in the US are addressed, as well as current narrative health communications scholarship. The organizational stories are told through ethnographic thick descriptions and analyzed using Goffman's Frame Analysis to reveal narrative structure, cultural and historical themes, and speculate about the future of breast cancer awareness efforts in the US. This study serves as a record of events, a model of culturally and historically based narrative research, and a demonstration of how narrative theories can extend beyond the scope of a single author and explain collective authorship as well. Reframing narrative scholarship in this way expands on current theories and offers a new perspective for analyzing the ways that we communicate about health-based narratives.

Committee: Nagesh Rao (Advisor) Subjects: Speech Communication