Jen Tarr

Experience Keywords

chronic pain; ethnography, visual and sensory methods; ethnography; qualitative interviewing; qualitative research methodologies; sociology of health

Research Summary

I have expertise in qualitative methodology and sociology of health. My current research interests are in the area of visual images used in healthcare contexts in relation to pain and injury. This stems from my work on pain and injury amongst contemporary dancers (with Professor Helen Thomas, 2005-7) which used participant-generated images to examine how dancers make sense of their experiences of pain and injury and how they distinguish between them.

Previously, I have done work on somatic education techniques (Alexander Technique, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Rolfing, Body-Mind Centring), examining how the discourses of the founders of these techniques are negotiated in contemporary practice, and how this relates to the ways in which the body and health are conceptualised in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). I am also interested in research ethics, particularly in relation to visual images.

Languages

French [Spoken: Basic, Written: Basic]; German [Spoken: Basic, Written: N/A]