الفهرس 
Towards Understanding Anorexia NervosaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion. Michel Foucault’s theoretical framework that many feminist critics draw upon is adopted in this thesis. His concept of power and its effects on the body are central to the discussion of the three novels; Skinny (2004) by Ibi Kaslik, Wintergirls (2009) by Laurie Halse Anderson and The Vegetarian (2007/2015) by Han Kang. The introduction is a preview of the thesis. It conveys what the thesis is about, bringing the reader into the writer’s perspective and building interest in its topic. Establishing a frame of reference for its content, it aims to assert the thesis’ main argument and to clarify the way it is structured.
Chapter one is divided into two sections. The first section is devoted to define anorexia nervosa as a psychological disease and explains the debate on its classification and meaning. It also sheds light on its coinage as a term and the biasness of the French and English physicians who introduce it as a disease specific to girls or women. Of course, this view finds its expression and is supported by the profoundly patriarchal and ideological discourses that present women as innately lacking, deviant and mad. The genealogical construction of anorexia nervosa is addressed in the light of Foucault’s critical and genealogical works that the feminist and post-structuralist critic, Helen Malson (1965- ) has emphasized in her deep analysis of anorexia nervosa in her book, The Thin Woman (1998), investigating how women in psychiatric and medical literatures have been stigmatized as sick. The thesis highlights a socio-cultural/ feminist perspective, taking into consideration Luce Irigaray’s theory of sexual difference and Judith Butler’s performativity theory, to discuss such a serious problem as eating disorders. As such, the first chapter’s subsection examines how gender or women as a category can be theorized rather than being assumed and how knowledge about women and anorexia is politicized. Stressing the socio-economic, cultural and political conditions or context within which eating disorders have developed, the thesis argues that they are the products of culture, i.e. the effects created due to the strong alliance between culture and gender. Seen from this angle, anorexia is understood as a metaphor of Western culture’s imprint on the female body. Among the cultural axes that converge in anorexia is ”the dualist heritage” that is predominantly shaped by the Western tradition. This discourse of Cartesian dualism, according to which the bodily realm of human existence is thought of as alien or the confinement that the soul/ mind must liberate itself from, parallels the yin/yang binary that finds its expression in Confucianism. Therefore, the theoretical framework developed in this thesis is set to deconstruct the Western and Korean philosophical traditions that propagate the hierarchal/ gendered representations of femininity. The second section explains the meaning of ”body politics”, a term first used by Foucault in Discipline and Punish (1977) and appropriated by American and British feminist theorists like Susan Bordo (1947- ) and Janet L. Wolff (1922-2014) to illustrate the cultural inscription of the female body.
Chapter two investigates how Foucault’s concept of power relations is of relevance in analyzing the content of the novels under study. It elucidates how the processes of socialization or disciplinary powers play a role in constructing/constituting the subjectivity of the main female characters. It also displays the authors’ attitude to such problematic issue, laying bare the cultural contexts or conditions that trigger the characters’ anorexic behavior. Giselle’s anorexic conduct is informed by the Cartesian dualist/phologocentric thinking that requires her and other young girls to regulate her bodily/ unruly desires to meet her parents’ gendered expectations. Like Giselle, Lia is confronted by the Western culture’s message to women to be fit and beautiful. Driven by her sense of shame and low self-esteem, she wants to sustain a perfect size. Likewise, Yeong-hye’s anorexia is triggered by the South-Korean culture that normalizes the practice eating meat. Undoing her gender or the role expected from her as a woman or wife, she resists the Korean ideology by which she is circumscribed. Challenged by the homogenizing South-Korean culture, Yeong-hye’s rejection to eating meat culminates in her becoming anorexic.
Chapter three, on the other hand, sheds light on the techniques used by the novelists and their correspondence to the content of their novels, examining how they relate to each other to make clear their messages. Resorting to ghost and mirror imagery, the novels show how women are entrapped in patriarchy and how their identities are constituted. The paradoxical relationship between eating food and hunger is intensified in Skinny and more clearly in Wintergirls through the element of typography wherein Lia both expresses her desire for food and denial of it by crossing her words out. Stressing the notion of women’s place in patriarchal cultures (Western and South-Korean), the thesis, through ghost, mirror and dream images, explores how women are reflected back. It reclaims the power of these images as tools or devices. Not only do they show the characters’ weaknesses that the Western and South-Korean cultures uphold, but also they exhibit their very greatness and agency.
The conclusion sums up the findings of the research, assessing the fundamental issues that have been pinpointed. Besides the interplay of a number of aspects that may cause this pathological condition, be they are biological or psychological, the thesis demonstrates how cultures (Western and South Korean) are implicated in its development. In other words, the real cause for eating disorders has more to do with just losing weight. The three novels, under examination, show that eating practices are directly linked to the belief system and traditions which support them. Women’s media images as well as women’s role in society are part of the belief system to which they must abide by otherwise they would be viewed as deviant. Looking at eating problems from a feminist point of view, the thesis affirms that the processes by which young girls/ women become anorexic are gendered.