The Material and Social Predicaments of Home: Women's Experiences After Aortocoronary Bypass Surgery

Abstract

Several authors argue that women's lives are conditioned by social locations such as class, race, ethnicity, age, and chronic illness or (dis)ability. Patterns of advantage and disadvantage, domination and oppression are formed which constitute the groundwork of women's health. An institutional ethnography was designed to follow the experiences of 18 women on their return home following aortocoronary bypass surgery. Using the narratives of 3 women as examples, the author highlights the everyday activities pursued by the women in the first month after their return home. The author describes the circumstances under which the activities occurred and discusses the social relations reflected in the descriptions. From this analysis it is argued that research and substantive work would benefit from a more critical understanding of women's different experiences of the home and of home care.