MAIS 602

When I first read Dawney’s (2018) piece on Figurationing, what stood out most was how she treated “figures” as living things. She does not describe them as simple images or metaphors to be analyzed from a distance. Instead, she treats them almost like characters that move through the world, picking up experiences, emotions, and social meaning along the way (Dawney, 2018). The mother, the soldier, the stranger, the child; these aren’t just images or symbols; they carry emotion, history, and power. They influence how we see ourselves, how we judge others, and how we learn what is acceptable or expected. That stayed with me because I have been paying closer attention to what I would call “wellness figures” that show up repeatedly on social media. The influencer with her morning matcha and perfect routine, the survivor who shares a polished story of healing and the minimalist who escapes ‘the noise’. These are not just people posting online. They have become cultural figures that quietly teach us what a good life should look like, and what success, balance, or happiness ought to mean.

​

What I appreciated most in Dawney’s (2018) approach is that she refuses to separate theory from feeling. She encourages us to spend time with the figure, to notice not only what it says, but what emotion it stirs up in us. There is something powerful about pausing before naming something, and instead simply noticing what it evokes. Dawney (2018) describes this as paying attention to repetition, recognition, and sensation, rather than rushing to categorize. That resonates with what we explored in Unit 11 around affective analysis, where the focus is on noticing the immediate, pre-verbal response before meaning is attached (Marks, 2018). It is that tiny wee space between the feeling and the interpretation, the moment where the body reacts first and thought follows. This matters to me because so much of what circulates through wellness culture works at an emotional level first. We sense envy, motivation, guilt, pressure, calm, or comparison before we ever put language to it. Both Dawney’s (2018) invitation to sit with the figure and the idea of affective analysis (Marks, 2018) remind me that understanding often starts with sensation rather than explanation. If we rush to label or interpret too quickly, we can strip away meaning that might have surfaced if we had stayed with the feeling a little longer. I will admit, this is something many of us struggle with as adults, because we are so used to analyzing right away.

​

My verb, unfolding, grew out of not interpreting too quickly. For me, unfolding is the act of gently opening something that has been tightly wrapped. Unfolding allows us to take time with the layers, instead of rushing to the centre. Wellness discourse on social media is full of layers; full of messiness. A self-care post might seem harmless at first, but when you unfold it, you can often see messages about productivity hiding underneath. There are also gendered layers, where women are expected to stay calm, look good, and manage their emotions. When you add to this the neoliberal idea that wellness is a personal project we must invest in and fix on our own, it starts to form a powerful wellness figure who is expected to hold everything together. This connects to figuration because these images and messages shape a familiar cultural character that many of us begin to recognize, measure ourselves against, and even perform.

​

Unfolding, for me, is a way of slowing down and noticing how these meanings build up over time. Dawney (2018) treats figures, as something living that shape how people feel (and behave). It is a method that fits the kind of research I want to do, because wellness discourse is not one-dimensional. It looks soft on the surface, but it carries ideology, power, and expectation. Unfolding helps me work through all of that without flattening it into a single interpretation.

​

Appropriate methods and methodologies

​

In reflecting on the methodologies and methods from Units 3 and 4, I found myself surprised by how many of them could genuinely apply to my research question. At first, I expected only a few to align, however, as I moved through the readings, it became clear that most of the methods could open many pathways (depending on the angle taken).

Although I see value in several, the ones that stayed with me the most (besides figurationing) were imaging, affective analysis, rescaling and issuecrawling. Imaging did not feel eye opening, it felt obvious. It revealed things sitting just below the surface, and that shift in awareness changes the whole experience. The imaging method works with intuition and the emotional “under layers” that shape how people make meaning (Coleman, 2018). Coleman (2018) talks about images not as fixed objects to analyze, but as part of the research process itself, something that is made and circulated, and that carries feeling and experience with it.

This matters for my research because I am not only interested in what people say about wellness on social media. I want to understand how certain messages, images, and wellness figures get ‘under the skin’ and quietly shape what feels normal. Visual and imaginative methods, like imaging, can bring out subtle influences that people often feel but struggle to put into words. Some of the strongest messages are the ones we absorb without even realizing it, and imaging can help those quiet, hidden layers rise to the surface.

Rescaling (Lobato, 2018) stood out to me the most, and I would say it was the one I connected with most strongly. It helped me think about shifting perspective, like adjusting a camera lens to move from the personal level, to the community, and then to the bigger system. My research looks at how personal experience, social messages, and larger systems overlap and therefore, rescaling feels like a natural fit. It makes it possible to see how small, ordinary interactions are tied to much bigger forces that shape how people think, act, and understand themselves.

​

Affective analysis was definitely one of the methods that stood out to me, even though I am still unsure as to whether it will fit. It captures the raw moment before meaning is placed onto an experience. Marks (2018) explains that affect moves through the body and creates a feeling before we make sense of it. I am not sure if affective analysis would be my main (or even secondary) method, but the idea has changed how I think about understanding. It has made me more aware that knowledge does not always come from logic (which feels odd to admit). Regardless, even if it does not become a method that I use, I believe its influence will remain in how I analyze and interpret the data I do collect, for not only this project but all future projects.

​

Issue crawling (Rogers, 2018) also caught my attention because it complements my research question in a unique way. While affective analysis focuses on internal, felt responses, issue crawling maps how ideas circulate externally across networks (Rogers, 2018). It lets me see how wellness discourse moves through digital spaces by tracking links between influencers, brands, and lifestyle platforms. This process can reveal which accounts or sites form the core of what Rogers (2018) might call the “wellness web” (a network that shapes and spreads wellness narratives online). The core represents the most influential or highly connected accounts that drive dominant ideas, while the margins (outer core) include smaller voices that still contribute to the broader conversation. Understanding this web helps reveal who holds power, how ideas gain traction, and how wellness values are shared and reinforced through online interaction.

​

Overall, these methods feel like a good fit for the kind of research I want to do. They push me to look beyond what is obvious and to pay attention to the quieter forces that shape how people see themselves and their world. What I appreciate is that they leave room for uncertainty, emotion, imagination, and the things we feel in our bodies before we fully understand them. That approach aligns with how I want to study wellness stories on social media, because so much of that content works subtly, through mood, tone, and unspoken expectations, not just through the words in the posts/comments.

​

Looking Back Across Units 3 and 4

​

When I compare the methodologies I initially chose with the methods I now feel most aligned with, I can see a shift, like a camera lens zooming out. The methodologies I chose in unit 3, such as Critical Discourse Analysis and Narrative Inquiry, were like zooming in; they gave me focus and clarity. But now, after exploring a wider range of methods, I can see how the lens has expanded. It’s like I’ve stepped back to take in a broader view of what could fit within those methodologies.

​

I see that many methods could work within my research question, but it’s also important to choose those that I’m genuinely drawn to. For me, that means imaging, rescaling, and issue crawling; methods that feel intuitive and that I have a solid grasp on. They allow me to explore my topic in a way that feels both creative and grounded, expanding how I understand and approach my research.

I now see my approach less as choosing tools and more like working with a camera. When the lens is zoomed in too tightly, you get sharp detail but miss everything happening around the edges. That was how I started, with a narrow focus on a few methodologies that gave structure but limited what I could see. As I began to zoom out, my view widened, and I could see how different methods (like imaging, rescaling, and issue crawling) fit together within the larger picture

​

Research Question

​

When I review my research question, “How does wellness discourse on social media normalize distinct value systems through the language and stories it produces?”, I realize it’s almost a paradox. I have to broaden the range of methods I use, like zooming a camera out to see the bigger picture, while also focusing in on the fine details of my question. The result is a bit like a broken camera, constantly zooming in and out. But in all seriousness, it’s about finding balance; expanding my view to capture the complexity of wellness discourse while narrowing my focus to understand how those meanings take shape.

​

Revised Research Question

​

How do social media wellness influencers in North America use language, imagery, and storytelling to normalize particular value systems within the wellness industry?